Being 92% natural Bamboo fibre the Extra Thick Bamboo sock do take longer to dry than others. They absorb much more moisture than a sock made from, say, wool and nylon, or even cotton. Because of the hollowness and fineness of the fibres, moisture does not travel quickly to the outside to evaporate. There is a big technical difference between ‘absorption’ and ‘wicking’. Research into this area of textiles physics is relatively recent and consequently new fibres have been developed that perform extremely well in this task; ie. transporting moisture from one area to another. A leading new fibre for this purpose is Coolplus which is a special type of polyester. We were looking for a material to mix or blend with bamboo fibre which would make the socks dry much faster and cope with the rigours of industrial laundries and Coolplus fulfils that role beautifully, reducing the drying time to half. Composition: 46% Bamboo/ 46% Coolplus/ 8% Elastane.Tests reveal that the great soft feel of the bamboo fabric has not been compromised and the majority of our testers reported that this sock feels even better than the 92% bamboo sock. However, there has been a trade off. The anti-bacterial effect has been slightly reduced. It has been reported by one of our testers, with very bad foot odour, that after one or two days of wearing without washing daily, odour developes in the Faster Drying Sock, compared to the 92% bamboo sock which could be worn for up to a week without washing. A further issue is increased flammability. Whilst the 92% bamboo Extra Thick Sock is very hard to ignite, the Faster Drying Sock is 46% polyester and performs similarly to other nylon and polyester blends.
