Common questions

Yes. A sock is open at the top, so water deeper than the sock will go in, exactly as it would with any sock. No waterproof sock behaves differently, and anyone implying otherwise is overstating.

No more than any sock, as long as you wash them and let them air dry between wears rather than leaving them damp in a bag. A waterproof layer doesn’t cause odour. A wet sock left in a boot overnight does.

They loosen a little with wear, as knitted socks do. The shaped fit holds longer than a standard sock because it’s built into the knit rather than added on — and it’s also the property that matters for masah.

You can, but the outer knit is the wear surface, and walking on hard floors abrades it far faster than a boot does. It’s the quickest way to shorten their life.

Less so. They keep water out just as well, but in warm air your foot produces sweat faster than the waterproof layer can move it. In a British summer downpour a thin sock is often the better call.

Not below UK 3, which is where our smallest size starts. It fits older children but not younger ones, and we’d rather say so than sell you something that won’t fit.

A lot of people buy them for pilgrimage, where facilities are shared and there’s nowhere to dry anything. On the separate question of footwear restrictions in ihram, ask a scholar — that isn’t a question we should be answering.

Our sizes start at UK 3, so they fit older children. On whether and from what age masah applies for a child, ask a scholar rather than a sock company.

There’s no reason they wouldn’t be. The practical reason people buy them is for the places where wudu is harder — offices, sites, airports, universities — rather than a mosque with proper facilities.

No. It’s the same sock, the same waterproof layer and the same build whichever page you buy it from, at the same price. There’s no wudu edition and no wudu premium.

This is covered in the sources and it’s a point we’ve deliberately not paraphrased, because getting it approximately right would be worse than not answering.

Shaykh Mufti Saiful Islam of the JKN Institute in Bradford, and Mufti Amjad Mohammed of Dār al-ʿUlūm al-Zaytuniyya, also in Bradford.

Stand on a sheet of paper with your heel against a wall, mark where your longest toe ends, and measure from the wall to the mark. That measurement in centimetres is what our sizes are set by, and it’s far more reliable than your shoe size.

We don’t currently make anything above XL, which covers UK 12 to 14. We’d rather tell you plainly than sell you a pair that won’t fit.

They’re a close, stretchy fit rather than a loose one. If you normally need a wide fitting in shoes, take the bigger size — a sock that grips across the width is uncomfortable over a full day and hard on the waterproof layer.

They’re shaped to stay in place through a normal day rather than working loose. If a pair does slip, it’s usually a size too big, which is worth checking against the foot-length measurements.

You can, but there’s usually no need — the inner knit is designed to sit against your skin. Adding a liner adds bulk, which matters most in cycling shoes and safety boots where there’s least room.

You can’t, safely. Turn them inside out and air dry them at room temperature with air moving around them. Never on a radiator and never in a tumble dryer — direct heat is the most common way a waterproof sock dies.

Yes, on a cool cycle, as long as there’s no fabric softener in the load and nothing abrasive like zips or Velcro. Softener causes more problems than temperature does.

An ordinary liquid detergent is fine. Avoid anything sold as a softening or conditioning detergent, and avoid biological powder left undissolved against the fabric.

Rinse under a cold tap first to get the grit out, then wash cool. Grit left in the knit rubs against the waterproof layer from the inside, which does more damage than the mud does.

No, and it can’t be repaired. The waterproof layer is a continuous barrier — once it’s pierced by a toenail, a thorn or a stone, water goes through and no spray or treatment brings it back.

The United Kingdom, from our UK warehouse. Delivery is free on two pairs or more. On a single pair there’s a charge, and you’ll see the full total before anything goes in your basket.

This is still being confirmed, and we won’t promise a service we can’t yet support. If you’re outside the UK, email us and we’ll tell you honestly where things stand.

Returns are for unworn socks in the original packaging. You can try a pair on to check the size, the same as you would in a shop. If a pair is faulty that’s a different matter, and whether you’ve worn them makes no difference.

Email or phone us with your order number and we’ll chase it with the carrier. Until the parcel reaches you, getting it there is our responsibility.

If it hasn’t been dispatched, yes — email or phone straight away. After dispatch it becomes a return, and you have fourteen days from the day it arrives to tell us you’re cancelling.

If the size is wrong, the simplest route is to return the unworn pair and order the right one. Get in touch before sending anything back and we’ll tell you exactly what to do.

We have not published a country of manufacture yet, and we are not going to print one we have not confirmed with the manufacturer. It is a fair question, it will be answered here plainly when we can evidence it, and in the meantime what we can say is that HydroSox is a UK registered company shipping from a UK warehouse.

Yes. There’s no public trade pricing and no automated tiering — tell us what you sell and to whom on the trade page, and we’ll reply with terms that fit.

Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Shop Pay. Checkout is guest by default, so you don’t need an account. We never see or store your full card details.

No, we’re online only, from a UK warehouse. Our registered address and phone number are on every page rather than behind a contact form, so there’s always a person to reach.