I honestly never considered fancy socks, high-end socks, or socks with a mission attached to them, but I for the 2021 holiday season I purchased a bunch of Bombas socks. Here is a review of my experience with Bombas.
What Is Bombas?
Bombas — bombas.com — is a US-based socks and underwear brand that was founded 2013 with the mission of giving away a pair of socks for every pair they well.
As a consumer that might have some appeal to you, but it’s also worth knowing that they make and sell very high quality socks! These socks tend to be expensive, but they have very good fit, nicer materials, and above average styling.
Now, in 2022, Bombas sells relatively expensive (but not unapproachable or luxury) socks, underwear, and slippers for babies, toddlers, big kids, men, and women.
Bombas Merino Wool Calf Socks
The socks I’ve used most extensively from Bombas are the Merino Wool Calf Socks. These are a mid-calf men’s sock sold in small, medium, and large sizes.
These calves have a form fitting design isn’t quite tight, but they are definitely snug. They use elastic in the calf area so that they don’t get pushed down through the course of the day as well as a special elastic section that surrounds the middle of the foot. There is a honeycomb design in this mid-foot section as well as a tighter-than-usual fit. It’s not uncomfortable, and it does keep the sock in place, but it’s a bit odd at first.
The socks have no branding or logo on the calf area — just plain black on mine — but they do prominently say “BOMBAS” on your toes, facing you. So every time you look down you can see a big “BOMBAS” sign looking back at you (it’s facing you, not other people).
The socks have a snug fit, but the calf section will tend to slide down more than similar socks I’ve used, for instance Nike’s calf socks.
Bombas’ merino socks are of a moderate thickness and warmth. They are a good three-season sock, so perhaps a bit heavy heavy for the summer but great the rest of the year.
The merino wool is as soft as you’d expect, and they can be warm without being super thick. The merino breathes very well so my feet never felt too warm in them. If anything they were a bit less warm then you’d expect from a wool sock — but this is because these are everyday socks made of wool, not heavy woolen socks.
At $19 the socks aren’t cheap — they are about twice the price of the excellent and popular Nike Dri-Fit cushion crew socks, which of course aren’t merino. My main concern with the socks are that the soft merino won’t hold up well over time, but after a number of wears they haven’t started to deteriorate or to pill, so I have high hopes for these socks.
Bomba’s Toddler Socks
When doing my Bombas orders I also bought some kids and toddler socks as gifts. These included the Toddler Disney Princess 6-Pack and the Toddler Holiday Gripper Calf Sock 4-Pack.
My experience — albeit indirect as I’m not the one wearing them — with these has been very positive. The price of $6-7 per pair is rather high for kids socks (it’s less bad with frequent 20% off coupons), but once you get over that there are good things to be found.
First of all, all the socks I bought for the kids have gripper pads on the bottom, so they kids don’t slip-slide all over hardwood and tile floors. This is an important safety feature and I’m really happy to see that Bombas offers them. I’ve only purchased these “gripper” style socks and would recommend them.
The designs of the kids and toddler socks are quite nice — colorful and fun, but with no characters or logos on them. Even the Disney Princess pack uses colors inspires by the princesses but hasn’t have faces or logos on them, which would have been a dealbreaker for me. This kit came in a really nice gift tube, which was much more appreciated buy the receiver then the socks (at least at first).
The quality of the socks is quite high — as nice as that of the adult socks, though not in merino like those above. The fit also seem to be spot on, but my kids seem to be indifferent to the style of socks they wear so it’s always hard to say. That said, there were no complaints and the kids like the color schemes.
On the whole the socks were a hit insomuch as any kids’ socks will be a bit. For me it’s more important that the kids don’t fight wearing them, they are comfortable, and they are safe with the grip material.
Bombas Coupons And Discounts
Bombas’ products are expensive, but the company runs frequent discounts. Post-holidays all the holiday-inspired sock packs were 15% off, all new visitors are invited to start off their Bombas’ journey with a 20% coupon, and if you invite a friend they get 20% off and you get $20 once they order.
In early 2022 the discount code was “COMFORT20” in order to save 20% on your first order. It’s worth a shot, but it’ll only work once per email account.
So, yes, Bombas is not the cheapest route, but make sure you factor in the discounts and free shipping before you outright reject the order and move on to something more affordable.
Bombas Free Shipping
In order to get free shipping on Bombas orders you’ll generally have to hit the $50 price point, post-discount and post-coupon codes. This is shockingly easy as Bombas usually sells their socks in multi-packs, so you might be buying a pack of 6 Toddler Disney Princess socks for $38. Throw in men’s merino calf socks ($19) and you are are already above the free shipping amount!
Verdict
Bombas makes great socks, especially for kids, but they are on the expensive side, so they are could be ideal for gifts.