The Benefits of Wearing Merino Wool in the Backcountry

By Darn Tough Vermont

A note from PCTA Staff: this post is part of a blog exchange with Darn Tough Vermont. Check out their blog to see an upcoming article about volunteering on the PCT. 

“Cotton kills” – since you’re here reading this, high likelihood that you’ve heard this mantra. Maybe even shared it as a sage piece of outdoor wisdom. We’re not here to repeat the lessons your troop leader or mountain guru friend taught you about the dangers of cotton when you’re breaking a sweat in the wild. Instead, we’re here to offer an update: Cotton kills; Merino wicks.

Whether you’re planning a thru hike of the Pacific Crest Trail or just a short afternoon hike, knowing what you shouldn’t wear is important. But as any list of “dos and don’ts” makes clear, it’s not enough to know what you shouldn’t do – you’ve also got to know what you should do. That holds true for hiking clothing.

So, if you shouldn’t wear cotton in the backcountry… what should you wear? If you want comfortable, dependable clothing for your next hiking trip, we recommend Merino Wool.

Sock Obsessed

At Darn Tough Vermont, we’re obsessed with making the best socks for every activity – and hiking socks are our bread and butter. Making the best socks (socks that are durable, comfortable, fit great, and feel great) starts with choosing the best sock materials.

In our 40 years of sock-making experience, we’ve concluded that nothing beats Merino Wool when it comes to comfort, durability, and performance. And as the many hikers among us will testify, the reasons that make Merino Wool the top pick for hiking socks hold true for other clothing items as well.

What Is Merino Wool?

Merino Wool is a fiber that comes from a specific breed of sheep, the Merino sheep. Originally native to Spain, Merino sheep now thrive in a variety of climates around the world. And while the breed has existed for centuries, it wasn’t until the late 19^th and 20^th centuries that Merino Wool began to get international attention.

When you think of wool clothing, you might picture an incredibly warm but itchy, bulky winter sweater (we got those from Grandma, too). Merino Wool clothing takes those wooly problems and spins them on their head, keeping all of wool’s strengths and none of its weaknesses.

The Benefits of Merino Wool

From hiking shirts to socks to base layers, Merino Wool clothing offers hikers many important benefits:

• Moisture Wicking
• Thermoregulating
• Durable
• Fights Odor
• Easy Care
• Soft & Comfy
• Versatile
• Sustainable

Moisture Wicking

From stream crossings to rainy days to inordinate amounts of sweat, there’s no question your next-to-skin clothing items need to wick moisture. If you’re wet, you’re more susceptible to cold, blisters, and general moodiness.

Merino Wool wicks moisture (including sweat) away from skin, keeping whatever part of your skin it’s covering dry and comfy. Merino Wool’s inner core absorbs moisture away from your skin and releases it when appropriate (more on that in a minute). Merino Wool is such an efficient moisture wicking fabric, it can hold up to 30% of its weight in water and feel dry to the touch.

What’s even more amazing? If your Merino Wool clothing does get soaked, it keeps doing its other jobs. Wool is famous for being an excellent insulator, and Merino Wool is no exception. One of the reasons outdoor enthusiasts are steered away from cotton is, once wet, cotton loses all its ability to keep you warm, putting you at greater risk for hypothermia.

Unlike cotton, Merino Wool will keep insulating you even when wet. So if you’ve been walking in rain for the past three days, you might feel wet, but you won’t be chilled to the bone.

What does Merino Wool do with the moisture after it wicks it away from your skin? It strategically releases it to keep your body the right temperature, the fiber’s own form of evaporative cooling. This is all part of how Merino Wool thermoregulates.

Thermoregulation

When we say Merino Wool thermoregulates, we mean this: Merino Wool keeps you warm in cold weather and cool in hot weather. Go ahead, read that again.

We could go on for hours about why thermoregulation is invaluable, but we’ll stop ourselves at this one example: You’re thru-hiking, the first few days on the trail you’re stuck in a heat wave, then a cold front comes in unexpectedly. If you’re wearing Merino Wool, no need to worry – the same Merino socks and shirt you wore for that heat wave will actively work to keep your body at just the right temperature when it gets cold.

With its ability wick moisture and regulate temperature, Merino Wool is incredibly breathable fabric. The ultimate benefit to hikers is comfort, not matter what the weather throws at you.

Incredibly Durable

Durability is a common topic here at Darn Tough; maybe not surprising, as it’s so closely tied to our Unconditional Lifetime Guarantee. Hikers want durable clothes for a couple reasons:

• To save money. Investing in quality hiking clothing and gear can be expensive. If that gear breaks your third time out… not what you want
• To know your gear will last the whole trip. The last thing you need 5 days into your 2-week backpacking trip is for your sock seams to unravel or your jacket to snag and rip. Your clothing needs to be able to hold up for long miles, rough rocks, and other trail hazards, because once you’re out there, replacing items isn’t an option.

Like ants, Merino Wool fibers are disproportionately strong for their size. Merino Wool fibers are incredible thin – just half as thick as a piece of human hair – yet they are twice as resilient. The fibers are made of interlocking protein molecules, allowing each fiber to stretch and recover without breaking.

This resilience and elasticity are natural to the Merino fibers, and it allows them to be twisted up to 20,000 times without breaking. These fibers are spun into yarns and then knit or woven into socks, jackets, and other garments that can withstand years of use.

How many years? That depends on other factors – everything from the spinning process to strategically pairing Merino with other fibers that complement its abilities – but we confidently guarantee Darn Tough socks for life.

Fights Odor

More often than not, you can tell someone is a thru hiker by the scent that wafts around them. We mean that with the utmost respect – some of our own have walked into Walmart unwashed after backcountry trips to the surrounding glares. You’ve earned that ice cream.

But it’s no secret synthetic materials tend to hold onto stench, sometimes even through the wash. Merino Wool is naturally anti-microbial, meaning the stuff in your sweat that sticks around and causes that stink isn’t allowed to hang around and thrive.

We’re not saying your Merino Wool garments will never start to stink, but you’ll find they can go a lot longer before the stench starts. And if you take them off and let them air out overnight, by chances are by morning Merino will have done its work.

When the time does come though, Merino Wool garments are also great for how easy they are to care for, even miles from your washing machine.

Easy to Wash

First off, the good news is once you’re home from your hike, you can go ahead and throw your Merino Wool garments in the washing machine. Best practice, don’t forget to read the washing instructions for individual garments. For Darn Tough socks, that means turning the dial to cold water wash and tumble drying on low.

But if you’re out for days or weeks, you can easily give your garments a wash in the backcountry with a bag, biodegradable soap, and water. Attach your freshly rinsed clothing to the back of your pack and keep on walking for on-the-go line drying.

Soft & Comfy

If you’re hesitant to commit to wool garments on a trip where you don’t want any itching that’s not from forgetting to apply bug spray, we hear you, but fear not. Merino Wool isn’t your grandma’s wool. It’s soft, silky even.

Fiber thickness is measured in microns, and the lower the micron count, the softer a material generally is. Merino Wool is prized for having a much lower micron count (aka much thinner fibers) than your standard wool. The result? No itch, no prickle. Just softness and comfort.

A bonus benefit? That fine micron count also contributes to Merino Wool being so light. If you pick up a Merino Wool jacket, you’d likely first be surprised by how light and thin it felt. You’d be even more surprised the first cold snap you wore it through just how warm and cozy that light fabric could be.

Versatile

We’ve made our opinion known: we think Merino Wool makes the best hiking socks. But this fiber isn’t just great for socks – it’s incredibly versatile. The hikers in our midst recommend Merino Wool for all sorts of hiking garments, including:

• Socks
• Gloves
• Hats
• Underwear and bras
• Top and bottom base layers
• Shirts
• Leggings
• Jackets and mid-layers
• Neck gaiters
• Headbands

When in doubt, ask yourself “Do I want this clothing item to wick moisture, breathe, manage temperature, and keep me comfortable all hike long?” If the answer is yes… Merino Wool is a good choice.

Sustainable

Everything Merino Wool does, it does naturally. When grown, harvested, and processed ethically, Merino Wool can be a sustainable and renewable material choice.

The fiber naturally grows on sheep, can be shorn off without harming the sheep (much like a human getting hair cut), and then regrows. Standards like the Responsible Wool Standard can help you choose garments from companies that prioritize ethical farming and land management practices.

Reviews from the Trail

Does Merino Wool sound too good to be true? We get it, at one point each of us also questioned if a material could be that durable and comfortable. It only took one good hike to change our minds, and we’re not the only ones.

“You can’t beat the wicking strength of the Merino Wool.” – Manuel M.

“Merino Wool is hard to beat for its durability and moisture wicking properties.” — Gerard O.

“Merino Wool is the absolute best material!” — Bart S.

For the People in the Back

We covered a lot, but we hope our message was clear: if cotton is last fabric you’d want to wear for your backcountry adventures, Merino Wool should be one of the first.

“One of” because we aren’t claiming Merino Wool makes a great rain jacket. Moisture wicking and waterproof are two different abilities. But if you’re wearing the garment next to your skin, we don’t think you’ll be able to miss Merino’s benefits.

And if you’re convinced, we think Merino Wool socks are a great way to start. We collaborated with the PCTA to create the PCT Micro Crew Hiking Sock, a Merino Wool hiking sock purpose-built for the trail. Every purchase of this sock gives back to the PCTA and the work they do to protect one of America’s top thru hikes.

TL;DR: Merino Wool is great to wear in the backcountry because the material…

• Is breathable
• Wicks moisture
• Helps prevent blisters
• Keeps you warm in cold weather, cool in hot weather
• Holds up for miles of use and abuse
• Fights odors
• Is easy to wash
• Feels good and soft against your skin
• Feels good for the environment
• Makes great socks, jackets, underwear, hats, gloves… you get it

Remember: Cotton kills. Merino wicks.