Darn Tough Then, Darn Tough Now: Vermont’s Cabot Hosiery Mills Thrives

By Matthew McMullan
Photo by Darn Tough Vermont Socks on Facebook

And all those socks come with a lifetime guarantee!

Back in December, we took a look at Darn Tough Vermont, a line of socks made in – you guessed it – Vermont by Cabot Hosiery Mills. Once nearly a victim to the 90’s wave of outsourcing that swept a lot of America’s remaining apparel makers overseas, the company has rebounded thanks to a few things:

  1. It won a government contract, because federal law requires the American military to buy domestically produced textile products when equipping U.S. troops.
  2. It makes a really good sock, and customers who aren’t the government really like them.

That customer praise is for real. Noted the Boston Globe, in a recent article:

The company has since accumulated an unusually devoted base of customers with one thing in common: They spend a lot of time on their feet. A bulletin board outside the doors to the factory floor is covered with printouts of effusive and comically overwrought e-mails from farmers, soldiers, long-distance hikers, and electric linemen describing the socks’ resilience in the face of extreme abuse.

If you’re looking for a solid, American-made sock that comes with a lifetime guarantee, look to Darn Tough Vermont. It was  good idea in December, and it’s a good idea now.