Copper socks

I have to confess: I have a problem with my feet. If I wear shoes and socks, then my feet feel constrained; by the end of the day, the socks are damp from sweat, thus creating ideal conditions for fungi and bacteria to grow. Not surprisingly, I often suffer from skin problems on my feet due to fungi. So I wear sandals. As the weather in Israel is generally hot (the other day the temperature was about 35 degrees Celsius - in the second half of October!), this seems like a good idea: my feet can dry out and the fungi don't stand a chance. Unfortunately my feet dry out too much; I suffer from dry skin (itches) and cracked heels, which can be very painful. What can one do?

The answer appears to be ... copper socks! These are socks made from threads which include a small amount of copper, which prevents the growth of fungi and bacteria. Large scale tests have been carried out in the Israeli army, comparing the feet of soldiers who wore copper socks as opposed to those who didn't. The results apparently showed that the copper socks were very effective at preventing fungal infections.

The Chilean miners trapped underground for a few months were supplied with copper socks, and doctors who examined the miners after they were extracted were pleasantly surprised at the excellent state of their feet.

After googling "copper sock", I ended up at this site and ordered three pairs of ankle socks. Although nominally each pair of socks costs $14, the postage doubled the price, making each pair fairly expensive. On the other hand, it's a small price to pay for healthy feet, and apparently the socks last much longer than normal socks (and one doesn't have to change them so frequently).

Further investigation led me to discover that the socks are made by an Israeli company, Cupron. Despite this, I was unable to find any Israeli traces for this company on the web; it seems that they have a head office in Israel but their main presence is in America. The socks bore a label "made in China", which I suppose doesn't mean anything more than the fact that they were manufactured in China - the brains could be anywhere in the world. I even sent an email to the 'contact us' address on the Cupron site asking where one could buy such socks in Israel, which led to the following reply -

Our headquarters and our warehouse [are] located in the USA, we don`t have [a] warehouse in Israel. We're receiving a lot of emails and phone calls for buying the socks in Israel and we will consider to make something within the next weeks, I will update you.

[Ironically, the email was signed 'Shiri', which is an Israeli name. The poor English also leads me to believe that Shiri is Israeli, maybe living and working in America]

Coincidentally, there was a three page article about the Cupron company in Friday's newspaper business supplement which gave a wide company background, although there was nothing new for me.

And how are the socks? They are a bit tight (maybe the result of my wife hand washing them before I wore them) but don't cause me to want to scratch my feet. The socks are dry at the end of the working day and the condition of my feet seems to be improving - they're certainly not getting any worse. But paraphrasing Napoleon, an army marches on its feet, and one has to look after these very important but often abused appendages.