The Alternate Stitch

For this round of Staff Picks, we talked to Darn Tough fathers and their children about which socks are best for Father’s Day. So, without further do, in the words of Dads everywhere… let’s rock ‘n roll.

The Long Trail (LT) of Vermont is a 272-mile hiking route that follows the main ridge of the Green Mountains from the Vermont-Massachusetts border all the way to Canada. Steeped in rich history, the Long Trail is America’s oldest long-distance hiking trail, conceived in 1910 by the Green Mountain Club.

You can use only one utensil. What do you pick? Simple: Spoon. The unpretentious, effective, and appealing Spoon. While I occasionally use Forks, if I must choose, I will pick a Spoon over a Fork for most meals, assuming both have similar heft and quality (nobody needs to be using a flimsy utensil).

The skin is our biggest organ. No wonder there’s lots of differing opinions and perceptions about what we wear on it. And in some times, and places, wool has carried a reputation for being scratchy, itchy, and even the cause of allergies. What if we told you that the case against wool wasn’t quite so black and white?

We compare compression with Darn Tough's performance fit, and look at how supportive, end-use-specific socks may be exactly what you’re looking for. And, if you still really need a good compression sock in your quiver… we’ll point you toward some brands who we think are doing compression right.

Whatever your reasons to get started running, the most important thing is that you enjoy the journey. And we mean that literally — if you’re going to keep running, you should like the actual experience between points A and B as much as you like getting to the finish line.

We love reading reviews and have noticed the large amount asking for more bright socks. Even though our best-selling socks are consistently gray or black socks, we take customer feedback to heart. So, we made a ton of bright colored socks, and we decided to highlight a few of our favorite reviews and respond directly.

Do your black socks reflect your personality? Should they? Are you brooding, mysterious, and a bit of a rebel? Or do you just think socks should remain the plain and simple workhorses you need them to be? Either way, black sock-lovers, we’re here for you.

For this round of Staff Picks, we talked to Darn Tough moms and their children (who also work at Darn Tough). We asked the kids which sock they’d be most likely to give their mom for Mother’s Day...

Merino Wool does a lot of amazing things naturally. I’m one of Darn Tough’s fiber nerds, and today I’m walk you through the top reasons why we love Merino Wool and all that it does to our feet, focusing on what’s behind its amazing natural abilities.

Last summer, I became the second fastest person in the world to complete the Appalachian Trail (AT), completing a supported Northbound faster than the famous Scott Jurek. The odyssey isn't over yet. I pursue my dream of setting a new fastest known time (FKT) on the AT.

If you have long, big feet (like me), don’t worry – Darn Tough makes socks for you, with sock sizes all the way up to XXL, which fits Men’s shoe sizes 15-17. My name is Mark Hassett, and I am thru hiker and avid adventurer who is always seeking a trail to be explored.

I’m a World Record Holder. Three days in a row is all it took. It wasn’t intentional; I just couldn’t find a clean pair of socks for a few consecutive days, so I kept putting on the same pair of grey Darn Tough 1466 Hiker Micro Crews. 

We had the privilege of collaborating with Emma and Claire, the Salmon Sisters, to take our Work socks to the next level. What we found during that collaboration though was not just excellent sock feedback, but also two incredibly humble women with values we shared and characters we admired.

As of right now (February 10, 2023), I’m at mile 866 out of 1,287 miles of the Florida Trail. The trail starts in Big Cypress or “the swamp” (as most hikers refer to it), a 30 mile stretch through thigh deep mud and water, often labeled the “toughest stretch of hiking in the United States."

Not only are bunched up socks the cause bad moods, but they can cause blisters and affect your performance, no matter what you’re doing. After putting our socks through all sorts of tests, we’re confident in our results: Our socks are as stationary as those forgotten Pelotons people bought two years ago.

Have you ever gone out to say, a bar, or a hip restaurant, or even camping and thought: GEE I COULD SEE THIS BEER, WINE, COCKTAIL, MOCKTAIL pairing up nicely with... WAIT FOR IT… A PAIR OF Darn Tough socks!...

It’s rare to get mail these days. Well, rare to get real mail that isn’t coupons for things you don’t want or offers to buy your home. Unless you work in the Darn Tough warranty department―then you’ll get a lot of mail. Mail like this. 

If you know, you know. And if you don’t, that’s okay. Because for this round of Staff Picks, we talked to a few people who know best. We reached out to Darn Tough employees who have at least 10 years of service with the company and asked them to talk about their favorite socks. This is what we learned.

“I bought these as a Valentine’s gift for my wife and she loves them. Flowers last a week. These last a lifetime of kisses every week.” — Christopher O.

Gold star, Christopher. 1000/10. We could not have put it better ourselves.

Opinions are like armpits — everybody’s got one and it probably doesn’t need to be seen, smelled, or heard. But there is something to a knee-jerk reaction that is both visceral and taps into our subconscious that really gets to the truth of the matter.