I recently read an article in the Wall Street Journal about socks, and it may have changed my life.  The article was about the market for “high performance” socks made by companies such as Darn Tough and SmartWool–socks that range from fifteen to twenty-five dollars a pair.  Yes.  Fifteen to twenty-five bucks a pair.  For socks.  Some of you may want to stop reading at this point, and if you do, trust me, I understand.

The part of the article that really caught my attention was when sock entrepreneur Thomas Lee said that, “too many Americans have an overstuffed sock drawer, filled with cheaply made products that fall apart and must be replaced several times a year.”  I felt as if he had looked into my own messy sock drawer, and into my very soul.  I always buy the cheapest athletic socks that I can find and they end up getting holes in them within a year.  Every time.

Most of the companies featured in the article make their socks right here in American.   For instance, Darn Tough makes their socks in Vermont and offers a lifetime guarantee.  Now I am a big fan of the lifetime guarantee–which is why I buy all of my clothes at L.L. Bean–and I am also a big fan of Vermont.  Because we are also headed there this week for some family friendly hiking I decided to buy two pairs of socks from Darn Tough–and to simultaneously throw away twelve pairs of dirty, holey, stinky athletic socks from my sock drawer. I also bought Stephanie and Ami each a pair for our trip.

The new socks are very comfy, cool, and stylish and my sock drawer is quite a bit tidier.  If they impress me out on the trail during our trip my sock buying habits may change forever.  I like the idea of owning a small number of high quality, American-made socks, that are guaranteed for life–and will probably end up costing me less over the long haul than buying junky bags of socks at Target.

After completing some hikes in the Green Mountain State I’ll let you know if my feet agree…