Alpaca vs merino hiking socks: blends, care and how to choose

Both are animal fibers, so neither is wool-free. The 38 socks with alpaca here run from 8 to 66% alpaca, and the socks with merino from 18 to 91% merino. Choose by height, padding and fit first; the fiber is a smaller part of the decision.

Written by HikingSocks.guide from the makers’ published charts and labels. No pairs tested. How this guide works

What the labels say

PAKA’s Trail socks are 32 to 33% baby alpaca, 7% Tencel, 56 to 57% recycled nylon and 3 to 4% spandex. A typical merino hiking sock is half or more merino with nylon and a few percent of stretch fiber.

Choice and sizes

There are 38 hiking socks with alpaca here, from Alpacas of Montana, PAKA, Sockwell, Warrior Alpaca and Wigwam, against 181 merino socks (half or more merino) from most of the other brands. Merino gives you far more heights, paddings and charts to choose from.

Care

PAKA says its socks are machine washable and allows gentle machine drying, except the Trail Ankle, which must not be tumble dried. Merino makers vary: some allow low tumble, others say dry flat.

What this can’t tell you

Makers of both fibers claim warmth and odor resistance; this guide has not measured either. If you want to try alpaca, compare the PAKA sock with a merino sock of the same height and padding.