I went to put on a pair of Hoplite Compression socks, put my hand inside and came out with a handful of dust. I put my feet in and immediately felt the grit between my toes. WTH?
It turns out I had worn those socks last at the Spartan Race in South Carolina and had slogged through gatorade-orange clay mud for quite a while. Some of that very fine silt and clay made its way into my socks.
The very same smooth, dense, compression knit that sheds dirt and debris can trap dirt inside the sock as well. The dirt inside the socks had been through the washer after being hosed out and soaked. Still the dirt remained inside.
I had a talk with some of our ambassadors and sponsored athletes and it looks like this is a common occurrence for our obstacle racers. All of them have methods for dealing with this that include spraying, soaking, and washing them twice.
So, with dirty fingers and toes I've learned my lesson.
1. Rinse the dirt and muck off your socks first.
(You might want to turn them out and rinse the inside too)
2. Wash them twice: right-side-out and inside-out.
3. Hang your socks out to dry.
(One of our more enterprising athletes rolls their socks up and squeezes them out, then unfurls them and swings them overhead for a minute to dry them).
We hope you find this advice useful (or totally obvious).
