Right now, the selection of winter shoes greatly benefits from (does depend on) vapor barrier socks (which we’ll talk about in a minute). At the moment, most vapor barrier of choice seems to be plastic lined plastic bags. The biggest issue with plastic lined bags, after you find out which ones wear well and which ones rip, is keeping them upright (not slipping down). I know that sounds crazy but it’s true – I’ve seen many pairs of thermal night time hiking socks that are made of thin plastic that don’t stay put all night long. These suck, because you end up having to roll them up or else they rip.
I like bread bags a lot for various reasons, so let’s talk about them for a moment. Bread bags are great because you can breathe comfortably with no chance of getting the moisture on your foot. Another advantage of bread bags is that there’s always a good amount of space between your toes and the bottom of your foot. What this means is that if you get a nice little river of water (like a bathtub) and sit in it for an hour or two with no socks on, your toes will stay dry and you won’t have to worry about moisture building up and causing pain. That’s a huge benefit of bread bags.
And that brings us to the final advantage of socks – they make walking in them much more comfortable than any other sock. A vapor barrier sock is incredibly soft and plush, while maintaining a sturdy construction. They also wick away moisture very well. All in all, the socks are great.