The Alternate Stitch

Laundry day. We’ve all been there. Everything is going great until you reach the end of the pile and see one lone sock sitting there. What to do with the lone survivor... what do you do with single socks?

I can trace my crush on the Salmon Sisters all the way back to 2018. Needless to say, I was beyond excited when I heard they reached out, and even more excited to work with them on developing a new Darn Tough sock.

We take you on a closer look into how we design socks, from the research and development to knit-downs and fit testing. No worries, we’ll walk you those terms in a moment, but first let us show you.

Summer in Vermont is often considered a sock-less season. But at our Mill, we know better than to assume people are strictly shoes-off. And, like you, we’re curious which Darn Tough socks offer the best fit for summer, so we turned to our experts.

A group of us at Darn Tough had the opportunity to participate in Trail Magic this July, and this is our story. But first, let’s pull back the curtain a bit to uncover what secrets aid in the pull of Trail Magic’s supernatural attraction.

Employees guide goat leather through industrial-grade needles. The dance of hand-making leather gloves rewinds the clock to an era when nearly all textile products purchased in the US were produced in the US. The front sign says it all: “Vermont Glove Since 1920: Actually Made in Randolph, VT."

My name is Brandon Sauer, and I am the Digital Project Producer at Darn Tough. In my free time, I enjoy mountain biking, gravel biking, and hiking in the beautiful state of Vermont. From Cotton to Merino At first, I always associated wool as a material you would wear when you wanted to stay warm. Typically, I thought o

The premise for this test was ridiculous. It was formulated accidentally a few years ago when Darn Tough first started knitting casual no shows. Sitting on a deck admiring a mowed lawn, shoes were kicked off, and we realized the no shows hadn’t budged. There’s more to it, and we’ll get to that in a minute.

To me, the coolest aspect of this project is that it sets aside the “compromise” nature of some upcycled products. This isn’t a conversion of some old jeans into a bag or a yogurt container into a flowerpot: This is a primary-use manufacture that puts wool waste from Darn Tough Socks at near-zero. 

Meet the No Show sock. Our go-to in the spring and summer, on a run, hiding beneath a stylish sneaker or loafer, or sauntering around a golf course (golfers saunter, and you know it). Hopefully it goes without saying that although the No Show is minimal, it still has our trademark Merino Wool for the comfort, quality, and protection you know and love.

Introducing ‘Knit to Give’ – a series of socks giving all profits directly to the Vermont Foodbank. You’ve seen us commit to a few days a year where we would donate profits from the website, which was wonderful don’t get us wrong – you helped us donate one million meals that way – but we wanted more.

For a race that only started in 2016, Broken Arrow has grown to become one of the best trail races in America. Specifically, it boasts a deep field of elite runners vying for spots on team USA and a large prize purse. The marquee events include a vertical kilometer (VK), 52k and 26k. I’ll be running the VK and the 26k.

Ultra-runner, public speaker, mother, force of nature – Mirna Valerio inspires us. If you haven’t heard her story, check it out. We were pumped when she moved to Vermont a few years back and decided to get her thoughts on...

Dads can be the hardest to buy gifts for. We never want anything, or at least can never think of anything we want. But socks. I love socks. I think most dads would. Depending on what your dad is into, or what he’s like, here are some Merino Wool recommendations for this Father’s Day.

Our friends at Vermont Glove make socks to protect your hands. They just call them gloves. And they've been making them right here in Vermont since 1920. 

In 2022, the CDTC is celebrating 10 years of supporting their mission to complete, promote, and protect the Continental Divide Trail. Last summer, we launched a sock collaboration with them to give back to that mission.

We’re about to break down the most common reasons behind what causes blisters. And the key ways to make sure that tending to one of these suckers doesn’t become the most memorable part of your next outing.

We like to say we make the most comfortable socks out there. A lot goes into earning that claim, and we’re always pushing to outdo that benchmark. If you’re not familiar with Darn Tough’s Twisted Yarn socks, they’re blazing the trail as our softest socks yet.

This spring, we started knitting socks using yarn we had excess stock of, yarn that had no future to become a sock if we didn’t seek out a solution. Knitting socks with overstock yarns helps us out in two ways.

Why not wear a pair of socks for 40 days straight? Our owner, Ric Cabot, is known to test new sock styles for 30-straight days, so the bar exists. It’s a statement of the greatness of Merino Wool, and our superior knit – a statement we have truly tested. 40 days, no washing.

Once upon a time, long ago, all the animals of the world were visited by a nomadic hedgehog who had a knack for good storytelling. It was his mission to go around telling all the creatures of the world about a magical place he had visited on his travels.