D
Deleted member 67185
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I thought I would share my initial impressions and wearing of the ArmaSkin socks. I haven't done any testing of their performance yet; this is just what I have found from trying them on and wearing them casually in order to get acclimated to the feel of these socks.
I received my order of two pairs of ArmaSkins yesterday; one pair in the size that ArmaSkin's chart says I should get (Medium), and one pair a full size larger (Large). The socks outer fabric of the socks are a synthetic mix which feels smooth and slightly satiny-slick. The interior is the opposite. The interior of the sock fabric is coated with a very 'grabby', almost sticky feeling, rubbery material.
The medium sized sock, which ArmaSkin indicated was the size I should purchase, was far too tight. Even though the socks are designed to be tight as a part of their designed function, it quickly became apparent that the medium size would be too uncomfortable to wear. They compressed the foot together so tightly that I could feel a cramp forming. The toe and the location where the heel should be did line up with how my foot fit, but only after struggling to pull the sock into position. In looking at the seam at the toe area, it was obvious that my foot was way too wide for that size of sock.
Both sizes of sock took a good effort to put on and shift into position. The stickiness of the sock's interior fought against my foot inserting itself. I would imagine putting the sock on in a timely manner comes easier with practice, though; but it will never be as quick or easy as a regular sock to put on and take off.
The additional forceful pulling and tugging to the fabric in getting the socks on had me wondering if the material is strong enough over the long term to not succumb to eventual tearing.
The large size fit much better, although the indicated heel area of the sock is higher up the back of my heel towards the bottom of the Achilles tendon. The large size still has a compression effect on the feet, but not as severely so as the medium size. I have been wearing them around the house off and on since yesterday afternoon. They have been on my feet all of today so far.
They do have an small impact on adding volume to the foot. My test shoe is slightly wide, which I like, with a lightweight and lightly padded Smartwool Ph.d crew sock. With the Armaskin added, the test shoe has a tiny bit of a snugger fit width wise. Not a huge difference, but noticeable nonetheless.
I am simply trying to desensitize myself to the new feel of the socks at this time so that this change is less of a distraction when worn for actual testing. It does make me wonder how my feet will react over a long day walking under this kind of compression, though. For all I know, it could be beneficial. We'll see. So far, there is nothing horribly out of place with the socks.
There is one thought that I had, and that was the sock could be used without a covering sock. As tight as it fits, and as stuck to the skin as it is, it provides a good basis for eliminating any shear force friction between the sock and the skin of the foot. All the shear friction will be between the sock and the shoe. But two factors against using it as the sole sock seem to be how friable the sock material is, and the lack of any real padding. Both of those factors are ameliorated by an outer sock.
Well, those are my thoughts for now. I will report more as I have time to put them through their paces. In the meantime, I need to initiate a return to Amazon of the Medium size ArmaSkins.
I received my order of two pairs of ArmaSkins yesterday; one pair in the size that ArmaSkin's chart says I should get (Medium), and one pair a full size larger (Large). The socks outer fabric of the socks are a synthetic mix which feels smooth and slightly satiny-slick. The interior is the opposite. The interior of the sock fabric is coated with a very 'grabby', almost sticky feeling, rubbery material.
The medium sized sock, which ArmaSkin indicated was the size I should purchase, was far too tight. Even though the socks are designed to be tight as a part of their designed function, it quickly became apparent that the medium size would be too uncomfortable to wear. They compressed the foot together so tightly that I could feel a cramp forming. The toe and the location where the heel should be did line up with how my foot fit, but only after struggling to pull the sock into position. In looking at the seam at the toe area, it was obvious that my foot was way too wide for that size of sock.
Both sizes of sock took a good effort to put on and shift into position. The stickiness of the sock's interior fought against my foot inserting itself. I would imagine putting the sock on in a timely manner comes easier with practice, though; but it will never be as quick or easy as a regular sock to put on and take off.
The additional forceful pulling and tugging to the fabric in getting the socks on had me wondering if the material is strong enough over the long term to not succumb to eventual tearing.
The large size fit much better, although the indicated heel area of the sock is higher up the back of my heel towards the bottom of the Achilles tendon. The large size still has a compression effect on the feet, but not as severely so as the medium size. I have been wearing them around the house off and on since yesterday afternoon. They have been on my feet all of today so far.
They do have an small impact on adding volume to the foot. My test shoe is slightly wide, which I like, with a lightweight and lightly padded Smartwool Ph.d crew sock. With the Armaskin added, the test shoe has a tiny bit of a snugger fit width wise. Not a huge difference, but noticeable nonetheless.
I am simply trying to desensitize myself to the new feel of the socks at this time so that this change is less of a distraction when worn for actual testing. It does make me wonder how my feet will react over a long day walking under this kind of compression, though. For all I know, it could be beneficial. We'll see. So far, there is nothing horribly out of place with the socks.
There is one thought that I had, and that was the sock could be used without a covering sock. As tight as it fits, and as stuck to the skin as it is, it provides a good basis for eliminating any shear force friction between the sock and the skin of the foot. All the shear friction will be between the sock and the shoe. But two factors against using it as the sole sock seem to be how friable the sock material is, and the lack of any real padding. Both of those factors are ameliorated by an outer sock.
Well, those are my thoughts for now. I will report more as I have time to put them through their paces. In the meantime, I need to initiate a return to Amazon of the Medium size ArmaSkins.
