Darn Tough’s Unusual Lifetime Guarantee on Socks Is Darn Popular 

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• Anne Wallace Allen ©️ Seven Days
• Emily Brown at the Darn Tough returns desk

John Pogue, a dairy farmer in Wisconsin, feels a little guilty when he sends in a pair of worn-out Darn Tough Vermont socks and receives a voucher for a free brand-new pair. The company's lifetime guarantee is such a good deal that he can't believe there isn't a catch — if not for him, then for the company.

"I feel like I'm abusing this warranty," said Pogue, who keeps four pairs of Darn Tough socks on rotation and has mailed in socks for replacement several times. He's concerned about Darn Tough's survival and wonders, "Is this hurting you guys?"

Pogue has nothing to worry about. With a robust market presence, a devoted customer base and accolades in major publications, Northfield-based Darn Tough is doing just fine. In fact, it's growing, despite a promise that if the socks develop holes, stop fitting right or fail in some other way, a customer can return them anytime, without a receipt, for replacement.

The guarantee covers normal wear and tear, not consumption by a campfire or disappearance due to a dog or a dryer. CEO Ric Cabot receives detailed letters from customers explaining why their socks were burned or, in fact, eaten by dogs and should be replaced.

"That's the kind of engagement any company or any brand wants with the customer," he said.

"All claims made in good faith will be considered," the company pledges on its website, and it stands by that.

"There's almost no reason why we won't accept a sock back," Cabot said.

Cabot started Darn Tough in 2004 as a way of reviving Cabot Hosiery Mills, the struggling Northfield sock company that his father, Marc Cabot, launched in 1978. Darn Tough is a premium line, and its guarantee drew attention right away.

Cabot won't say how many socks Darn Tough sells each year. But with 400 knitting machines, 450 employees, website sales and a presence in 3,500 stores, it's a lot. The company recently added to its fleet of machines and expanded its Waterbury headquarters.

Darn Tough was similarly tight-lipped about how much the lifetime guarantee costs the company. But most of its customers seemingly don't know, or don't care, about the opportunity. Far fewer than 1 percent of the socks sold in a year — which equates to a couple thousand pairs per month — are mailed back, Cabot said.

There are sound business reasons for the guarantee. For one, staff examine socks that are worn out or didn't meet expectations for comfort to learn about what went wrong so they can ensure it doesn't happen again, Cabot said.

And it's good for sales. Many of the people who return a pair and obtain a voucher for a replacement end up ordering more than just one pair from the company's website, according to Courtney Laggner, Darn Tough's brand and community manager.

And then there's the goodwill created by Darn Tough's promise that the socks are built to last. Pogue, who has 12 kids and also works as a handyman, said he splurges on the socks, which can cost more than $30 a pair, because the policy shows Darn Tough is committed to making high-quality products.

"We've become so accustomed to going to Walmart or wherever and spending $6, $7, $8 for a six-pack of socks, but in two months you just throw them away and start over again," Pogue said. "Our nation would be far better off if we'd think about building more things that last."

Darn Tough socks can also be dropped off at retailers such as REI or Outdoor Gear Exchange for immediate replacement.

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• File: Jeb Wallace Brodeur
• Ric Cabot (left) with head technician Adnan Palic at the Northfield mill in 2015

Cold weather heralds the busy season for Darn Tough, which adds extra workers from October through February. The company's popular sock sale each fall in Northfield is a destination for hundreds of bargain-hunting diehards, some from out of state; it was held last month. Laggner said returns pick up in the fall, too, as winter socks come out of storage.

Lifetime guarantees on clothing are uncommon. Outdoor gear and clothing retailers such as KÜHL, REI and Lands' End don't cover ordinary wear and tear. L.L.Bean dropped its lifetime return policy several years ago, and customers now have just a year to return purchases and need to show a receipt. The premium outdoor gear and clothing maker Patagonia guarantees its products and promises to replace items that don't perform to the buyer's satisfaction. But Patagonia charges customers to fix problems related to wear and tear.

Not so Darn Tough, which cheerfully replaces socks that carried through-hikers along the Appalachian Trail or developed holes because they cradled their owners' feet through years of graduate school, marriage and foreign travels. Some of these stories are detailed in elegies that accompany socks to the returns department, a section of the Waterbury warehouse staffed by two women — Andrea Davis and Emily Brown — and Brown's dog, Kiera.

"I feel silly, but I got really emotional saying goodbye to our old socks today," one such letter reads, describing how the socks were worn for important events such as moving, cuddling babies and hiking in South America. "They have been with us through so much!"

"I have since gotten all of my family and friends on the right sock journey now," a customer named Ethan wrote of his delight at discovering Darn Tough. He sent the company a 3D printed plaque he designed using Darn Tough's logo. "God bless and take care."

Other customers mail in suggestions, such as socks for people with larger feet or calves — a request the company met this summer with the rollout of a new line of socks, known as Wide Open. There are often calls for more products, such as gloves or base layers, a direction Laggner said the company has no intention of pursuing. And Cabot said he's been invited many times to the weddings of sock-loving strangers.

"They're not shy about sending their feedback," customer service manager Michelle Zimmer said. "We get a lot of people asking us to make toe socks." There are no plans to make toe socks — garments that resemble mittens for feet — either.

Darn Tough's Waterbury factory is not the end of the line for the worn-out or ill-fitting footwear. The used socks, bundled in large mail bags, are rolled to the returns department. Two workers enter data about each sock into a computer, logging the vintage, the type and the reason the sock was returned.

Socks are often accompanied by gifts, and sometimes the packaging itself is creative. Brown, the returns department employee, remembers one pair that arrived in a coke bottle. Another pair was packaged in a Bota Box wine container.

Socks must arrive in pairs. On its website, Darn Tough instructs customers to wash the socks before sending them in. Most people comply, said Brown, who wears gloves when she's opening packages.

Some people send in socks made by other companies; others send in counterfeit Darn Tough socks. The knockoffs are treated as honest mistakes.

"They get one mulligan with counterfeit socks," Zimmer said. "It's very generous. You can't buy a Kate Spade bag on Canal Street and send it back to Kate Spade for a real one." But that's what Darn Tough does.

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• Anne Wallace Allen ©️ Seven Days
• Kristen Graf with a bin of returned socks

After the socks are logged in the system, they're turned over to Kristen Graf, Darn Tough's global director of environmental and social responsibility. Graf, who has been on the job for a year, looks for ways to turn the mostly merino wool socks into blankets and stuffing for dog beds and seat cushions.

Changing the return policy would be a difficult pivot for Darn Tough. Many customers, including Pogue, justify the high price they pay for their socks with the knowledge that they can replace their investment over and over again. L.L.Bean has been sued by customers who said they bought their items based on that lifetime guarantee.

Cabot doesn't expect the Darn Tough guarantee to change. He's intensely focused on making the best-quality sock available anywhere and making it in Vermont.

"We stand behind what we do," he said.