SectionHiker.com Backpacking Gear Reviews and FAQs 
Feathered Friend’s Down Booties are goose-down socks that have a removable weather-resistant shell so you can wear them in your sleeping bag or outdoors when winter camping. I like wearing mine in the cabin or on winter backpacking trips after removing my damp winter hiking boots at the end of the day, so I can kick back and cook a hot meal or melt snow in comfort. These down booties are Feathered Friend’s most popular and highest rated hiking and backpacking product, which is saying something when you consider all the fantastic down sleeping bags, quilts, and insulated clothing they make.
Specs at a Glance
- Gender: Unisex
- Insulation: 800+ fill power goose down & removable 3/8” foam insoles
- Weight: 9.3 oz (medium)
- Fill Weight: 4 oz (medium)
- Shell: Upper is Pertex Endurance UL (water-resistant)
- Sizing: XXS to XXL
Feathered Friend’s Down Booties are a two-part footwear system with an inner bootie and a removable outer weather-resistant shell. They’re insulated with premium 800+ fill power goose down which is very warm and also highly compressible making them good for backpacking trips as well as cabin use.
The outer booties have an added foam insole to keep your feet warm when walking outside and a rubberized bottom material to help with traction. While the bottoms are waterproof, they’re not intended to be used trekking around a snowy landscape but to keep you from slipping around camp and on midnight bathroom breaks. The seams are also not sealed, so you should consider them water-resistant but not waterproof.
The outer boots have a 3/8” closed cell foam insole to insulate you from cold ground and floors. They also have a comfortable stretchy drawcord around the ankle to help keep them on your feet and one at the top opening to keep snow or other debris out.
The inner bootie is very puffy with 800+ fill power goose down. It has down insulation on the bottom as well, so that you can wear them as super warm bed socks. The inner bootie has overlapping ankle-height flaps with snaps to help keep them on your feet.
I’ve used these Feathered Friends Down Booties for winter camping in New Hampshire’s White Mountain National Forest and have found the inner bootie to be a valuable addition to my cold weather sleep system. The outer shell is great for nighttime potty breaks when winter camping in the snow and it’s really nice to have a warm and dry down bootie to put on after a day of winter hiking instead of sitting around in my damp boots over dinner or when melting snow for drinking water.
While the outer shells provide enough traction for walking across packed down snow in camp, you want to cinch the ankle cord pretty tight to keep your feet from sliding around inside them. Otherwise, your heels can slip off the edge of the foam insole, although, this is mostly due to your own socks slipping in the inside of the inner bootie.
Recommendation
Feathered Friends Down Booties are a really valuable addition to my cold-weather sleep system and I love using them for winter camping or cabin trips. The outer bootie is great for walking on snow for nighttime bathroom breaks and the ability to wear the clean inner bootie to wear to bed without getting dirt in your sleeping bag is a really great feature. I feel that the functionality of the two-piece system is really convenient and they’re warmer than any other socks I own for cold weather sleeping. If you spend nights outside in winter, they are definitely worth a place in your backpack.
Updated November 2022.
Disclosure: The author purchased this product.
About the author
SectionHiker is reader-supported. We only make money if you purchase a product through our affiliate links. Help us continue to test and write unsponsored and independent gear reviews, beginner FAQs, and free hiking guides.
the two part system is a giant improvement over the old all-in-one bootie of days gone by. you’re right, winter in a lean-to can’t be beat! which shelter is pictured? i don’t recognize it as a WMNF lean-to.
Mt Langdon shelter nr Mt Parker.
I absolutely love that place!!!!! So happy they didn’t tear it down like they were going to…
I suspect it’s really hard to tear down because you’d have to carry the dismantled shelter bits out by hand. That shelter is in a wilderness area where wheeled vehicles are prohibited. Hehe.
This is definitely and improvement over my current solution, as they look robust enough to walk around in.
I have an old pair of down booties that get used for sleeping and when I have to get out for a “nature call”, I pull on my biking overshoes. It works, but not something I would walk around camp in.
Thanks for the review.
How do these compare to goose feet booties
Thought I don’t have the Goose Feet product for direct comparison, it looks like if you bought the socks + the over boots, you’d have a pretty similar product. Though they call theirs waterproof, they also say that to get that, you have to seal the seams. The only thing I have from them is the down balaclava, so I can’t really comment much on their quality.
Was coming here to ask the same. I ended up pulling the trigger on Goosefeet’s pair with the over boots, and they should be arriving today.
Great info. It’s one of those designs where I say “Now why didn’t I think of that!” Traction outside the tent has been a problem with every pair of booties I’ve ever owned.
Has anyone had any success improving the traction with Seam Grip or other methods?
Haven’t tried it. I guess I’d hate to mess them up since they are kind of pricey. I found them to be fine walking on level ground on snow that I packed down in advance with snowshoes.
I have not had success with dabbing seam grip on the bottom of my WM booties, unfortunately.
Two additional things to consider with the FF booties. They will sell just the over-shell if you already have down booties. It’s not listed on their website, but just call and order. The over-shells by themselves are somewhere between $40 – 45. I did this two winters ago as I already had a pair of Montbell booties.
Secondly, the closed-cell insole is removable from inside of the over-shell in the event you want to replace it with a thicker or stiffer material. Cold feet is a chronic thing with me when winter camping. I’ve now added aerogel inserts on top of the existing closed-cell insoles – much more better!
How do these compare to Western Mountaineering booties?
Great review. I get cold in the extremities, but these booties take care of that problem. My wife and I both have a pair, and highly recommend them.
Down booties with a removable shell? BRILLIANT!
Thanks for reviewing these booties Philip. Great product.
I use the Forty Below synthetic camp booties with the sheepskin insole. They have some additional strapping on the outside to secure them. Similar rugged outer sole with nonslip rubber bits. The owner suggested going barefoot with them and I concur! Worth checking out if you’re in the market for some warm camp booties.