Bonds Explorer Socks, "Original Wool Crew", $8/Pair at Coles and Woolworths

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For those who like Explorer Socks, they're on sale now, claimed to be half-price. The label says they're "Men's Socks", but surely socks are unisex?

The link to the right is for Woolworths, who have both black and navy colour, in sizes 6-10 and 11-14.
Here's the link for Coles, they're only showing one size and colour for me, maybe because of my location.

These are the "original recipe" ones, that say they're nylon on the outside for hard-wearing performance, and "inner wool cushioning for comfort".

These aren't the cotton ones, I previously tried those and they fell apart much faster than the wool ones.

Related Stores

Woolworths
Woolworths
Coles
Coles

Comments

  • I find the wool ones much better than the cotton variant on hot days. The cotton ones would soak up the sweat, but then keep my feet damp all the time. I don't know how the wool ones do it, but my feet stay relatively dry.

  • +1

    8 bucks for a pair of socks?

    • -1

      I wear these every day, cycling through about 16 pairs, and replace maybe one pair of socks a year. How long do your socks last?

      • I get cheap dickies socks when on special on Amazon and paid last time 30 bucks for 16 pairs. If there are any issues, Amazon refunds the whole lot.

        • +1

          If there are any issues, Amazon refunds the whole lot.

          So it sounds as though your socks wear out or fail quickly. Compared to my explorer socks, that last an average of 16 years each.

          • @Russ: It is hard to believe that they last you 16 years with all respect.

            • +2

              @Thrifty Dan: A bit over ten years ago I bought ten pairs on special, to use as the ones I had in use then wore out. I shouldn't have bought so many, but the price was very good. I've been using them up, pair by pair, since then. They still had the price docket in the bag with them, so when I got to the last pair in the bag, I read it and was amazed and remembered.

              That was only a few months ago, and I don't still have the price docket (from the era when some cash registers had dot-matrix printers instead of thermal printouts that fade). So I've been looking for a good price, on and off, since then.

              Which means six of my sixteen pairs are older than 10 years, and looking at them, I can easily see which are the oldest. They gradually get thinner and get more "pilled" as they age.

              Hint for anyone having trouble pairing their socks after doing the washing, when they all look almost the same: go to an art shop and buy a little jar of powdered pigment, in a colour that doesn't match any of your socks. Also buy some fabric glue that dries clear. Squirt a little glue into a milk-bottle cap, mix in some pigment powder, and you can "paint" numbers onto the arch area of your socks, using a toothpick to transfer the "paint".

              You'll have to experiment with the amount of powdered pigment you use, to get the right amount of contrast. I don't use much pigment, so the numbers on my socks are only faintly visible, but I can easily see them because I'm looking for the number.

              Compare this to using fabric paint:

              • it has almost always dried out the second time you want to use it
              • the colour is much more visible, you can't easily get the same almost-invisible appearance.
              • if my "paint" (glue) dries out, I can just buy another bottle, much cheaper than buying fabric paint. Glue bottles have 125ml or so, much more volume than the typical fabric paint bottle.
              • I can use the fabric glue as glue for other purposes too.
              • @Russ: Wow Russ, you know a lot about socks. Do you think the unisex thing is about a suggestion by the manufacturer? Also did you see on dragons den the guy that pitched having socks as pacs of three to solve the problem of one sock getting lost or whatever it was? The dragons did not invest, and its always confused me to the product/solution the pitcher was thinking, as some socks come in pairs of three so the product already seems to exists if they are all the same color 3 pack.

                • @Crownanchor:

                  you know a lot about socks

                  No I don't. I know a bit about these particular socks, having washed them hundreds of times and put them on thousands of times.

                  Do you think the unisex thing is about a suggestion by the manufacturer?

                  I don't know, but I've heard females complain a few times about how much expensive their shirts are compared to men's shirts, when there is often negligible difference otherwise. Perhaps this is the same idea, trying to sell some socks at a higher price.

                  did you see on dragons den

                  No, I don't like that program. I frequently work with start-up companies, helping them to get their first product manufactured, and bring it to market. I've seen a few companies succeed, and a few not get off the ground. I saw Dragon's Den once, and was so disappointed in how poor some of the presentations were, and also how greedy the "dragons" were. I'd never suggest anyone goes near that funding model.

            • +1

              @Thrifty Dan: 100% they do last - or the original ones did anyway. I've got some that are easily 20+ years old.

              As mentioned elsewhere they did some terrible ones for a few years that were much lower quality. Bought some of these today to see if the quality has returned - and to get some that aren't colour faded from so many washes.

              • @DJ:

                they did some terrible ones for a few years that were much lower quality.

                The original brand name was "Holeproof", I think the bad ones were made when the brand was sold to Bonds (Hanes Australasia) in 2016.

                Bonds seem to have "upped their game" since then, from reading comments on OzBargain about them.

    • 8 backs for socks. Now that is a SpEcIaL & should go on a Bargain site. Some people with defend the deal like it's their mom.

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