T-Free technology: the art of reinventing socks
A revolutionary idea. A brand. An athlete. A partnership. Sidas and Jonathan — the obvious choice. Jonathan Albon is one of the most successful trail runners on the circuit. With his outstanding successes at the OCC, CCC and Festival des Templiers, Jon is also renowned for his keen eye for all the parameters involved in performance optimisation.
It's the little details that make the difference, and he was quick to realise this. "The importance of a good running sock is often overlooked, and this can make or break a race.". Partnering with a leading sock brand that makes athletes the focus of its innovations was a crucial step. A collaboration with Sidas was a no-brainer. The T-Free revolution was underway.
The birth of the project
Jonathan Albon and Sidas' partnership began in 2022, in Chamonix, during the Mont Blanc Marathon. Jonathan's wife Henriette, herself an athlete, purchased a pair of Sidas socks. Jon was intrigued and decided to give them a try. It was love at first sight. Jon headed off to buy a pair for himself. Sidas immediately jumped at the chance to reach out to him. That's when Jon unveiled his innovative idea. Perhaps it was Fate. The Sidas design teams had exactly the same idea, but they were missing one element: finding an athlete to support the project. And here he was.
The athlete's on-the-ground expertise, coupled with the research and development expertise of the No. 1 sock manufacturer, together with a clear scope, overseen by Jonathan: "I wanted a sock where the most important toe, the big one, was in its own compartment, with the rest in another. This would allow the big toe (...) to have the freedom of movement it needs to work properly."
Once the recipe had been drawn up, all that was left to do was assemble all the ingredients to make a must-have product. After months of reflection, discussion and prototype testing, we now have the final, finished version of the sock. .
Try it and you won't look back. Jon himself says so.
Concretely, how does it work?
T-Free technology has been developed to achieve the quintessential two qualities that a sock should have: comfort and stability.
Thanks to the space reserved for the big toe, it can move freely and independently, allowing it to perform optimally and, above all, demonstrate its crucial importance as concerns balance, alignment of the foot and propulsive force.
As Sidas has already done with its various reference models, such as the "Trail Ultra", T-Free is available in trail and running versions, to enable all enthusiasts to discover and fall under the spell of this valuable new aid. Trailers and runners alike will find the same technology for their feet, offering the same comfort, along with the specific features linked to each practice.
Proof of this is the triumphant launch of the T-Free Run and the T-Free Trail, which has already won over many athletes like Anthony Felber, of the Sidas-Matryx team: "This sock is the best Sidas product I've had the opportunity to test. And symbolically, this sock has a great story behind it, because Sidas allowed the athlete free rein to express his needs. This sock is the reflection of a sincere, human and professional collaboration."
Technical characteristics
The T-Free Trail:
1 - Big toe separation: comfort and stability
2 - Support for the ankle and protection for the malleolus
3 - Wide grip band: stability and synergy with the sole
4 - Wide open mesh: breathability
5 - Reflective strip: visibility
6 - Polygiene StayFresh: odour management
The T-Free Run:
1 - Big toe separation: comfort and stability
2 - Support ankle
3 - Wide grip strip:stability and synergy with the sole
4 - Wide open mesh: respirability
5 - Reflective strip: visibility
6 - Polygiene StayFresh: odour management
In short, why choose T-Free?
Developed to optimise performance, T-Free technology is packed with qualities that make it a complete sock: thin, technical and protective, it adjusts perfectly to the shape of your foot.
The benefits are numerous: better propulsion, improved stability, unrivalled thinness which increases the feel of lightness and allows a perfect fit with your foot as well as optimised grip with the well-known Sidas special feature: a wide grip strap to improve the synergy between sock and sole.
Try it and you won't look back. As Jon himself says, "On the whole, I think that, once you start using these socks, it will be quite difficult to go back and use normal socks again."
