[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 22 (Tuesday, February 10, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S877-S878]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      RECOGNIZING DARN TOUGH SOCKS

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, in Vermont, small businesses are the 
foundation of our State's economy.

[[Page S878]]

They spur economic growth and create jobs. One such place is Darn Tough 
Socks--which sounds like a very small place, but it is not. They 
decided we should have upscale brand quality socks with a lifetime 
guarantee, produced in America, and not--like so many other things--
have to be exported from other companies. They have done a huge amount 
of charity work in our State. But they are also one who shows that jobs 
can be created in America and can thrive in America.
  As I said, in Vermont, small businesses are the foundation of our 
State's economy, and are incubators of innovation that spur economic 
growth, create jobs, and promote the quality that is known as the 
Vermont Brand. I am proud of the many Vermont success stories that 
often start out as a family business--sometimes located in an old farm 
house or tool shed--and mature into world-class operations that support 
and benefit the communities in which they operate. Our Nation's economy 
is growing, but in today's fast-changing business environments, the 
status quo is no longer enough. Darn Tough Vermont in Northfield, VT, 
is one such business that is not just surviving, but is thriving, in 
part because of its evolution in today's global marketplace, but most 
importantly, because of the dedicated workers that help the business 
grow. Darn Tough, a brand launched from its parent company, Cabot 
Hosiery Mills, exemplifies Vermonters' spirit of entrepreneurship, 
creativity, perseverance, and old fashioned hard work.
  Darn Tough's President and CEO Ric Cabot grew up thinking about 
socks. After all, Ric's grandfather and father succeeded in partnering 
their Vermont private-label sock company with national outlet stores. 
For a while, Cabot Hosiery Mills enjoyed growing sales, but 10 years 
ago, the mill saw their sales take a considerable hit, as their 
customers shifted business overseas. Ric stepped in to help his family 
navigate the uncertainty that lay ahead. The solution to their problem 
was a long process that led to the establishment of Darn Tough, an 
upscale brand of quality socks with a lifetime guarantee. Like so many 
other businesses, the Cabots did not move jobs offshore; they 
maintained the Cabot promise of quality while ensuring future 
employment to over 150 Vermonters. It is because of their belief in 
their product, and a nimble business approach, that a 36-year-old 
company has kept its doors open and continues to create jobs for 
Vermonters. Their most recent announcement that they intend to expand 
their Northfield, VT, mill by 100,000 square feet will result in an 
additional 50 jobs to the Northfield area.
  Darn Tough, its leadership and its employees, are part of the fabric 
of the community. Most recently, the company donated complimentary 
socks for participants in the 20th anniversary of the Penguin Plunge, a 
fundraiser for the Special Olympics Vermont athletes who will compete 
in this year's winter games, for participants who raise $520 or more. 
This is just another example of how Vermont businesses give back, even 
in the toughest of times.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that an article from the 
Vermont Digger, dated February 8, 2015, be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                [From the Vermont Digger, Feb. 8, 2015]

     Darn Tough Sock Factory Expansion Will Add 250 to 300 Jobs in 
                               Northfield

                             (By C.B. Hall)

       For Northfield, the news couldn't be better. Cabot Hosiery 
     Mills, which has been making its Darn Tough wool socks since 
     2003, announced this month it is embarking on an expansion 
     that will add 100,000 square feet--more than two acres--to 
     its plant by the end of 2016.
       CEO and president Ric Cabot expects the new facility will 
     add 250 to 300 new jobs to the mill's payroll over the next 
     five years. One new manufacturing position typically creates 
     1.6 additional local jobs in the service sector, according to 
     the federal Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office, 
     meaning that those new positions will translate into as many 
     as 780 new jobs for the community as a whole. The expansion 
     will make Cabot the town's second-largest employer, after 
     Norwich University.
       Cabot Hosiery sales have increased by 60 percent in each of 
     the past five years.
       The addition to the plant, which will nearly triple the 
     current square footage of the factory, will ``meet and get 
     out ahead of customer demand,'' Cabot says.
       The new space will be attached to the present facility, and 
     will be designed so that more space can be added in the 
     future. ``Right now we're looking out five to six years,'' he 
     says.
       While other companies have outsourced manufacturing 
     overseas, Cabot Hosiery kept its operations in Vermont and 
     went after the high end sock market.
       ``There isn't one thing that makes us successful,'' Cabot 
     says. ``I'm the third generation in my family in the sock 
     business. There's socks in the blood.''
       Ric Cabot's father, Marc Cabot, launched the firm in 1978, 
     vowing that ``knitting is going to come back to New 
     England,'' according to a trade press article still hanging 
     on the plant lobby's wall.
       ``Up until 2003 we were making socks for other people, like 
     Gap and Banana Republic,'' Ric Cabot continues the story.
       When the big retailers began to buy socks from offshore 
     companies demand plummeted. Cabot says in the early 2000s the 
     hosiery mill almost went out of business. The company reduced 
     the workforce and cut health insurance and 401(k) plans for 
     workers. The plant operated four days a week.
       ``I took it upon myself to come up with something unique, 
     something different, something that we could sell [and] I 
     came up with Darn Tough. I gave away 3,500 pairs at the 
     Vermont City Marathon and people liked them.''
       A dozen years later, Cabot hails Northfield as ``the sock 
     capital of the world.'' The brand name for a new line of 
     socks he developed--Darn Tough Vermont--not only refers to 
     the quality of the Merino wool used in the socks, but also 
     ``to coming through the hardships [of the early 2000s]--to 
     having to climb out of the hole we were in. The deck was 
     beginning to be stacked against the domestic manufacturer.''
       In his view, the company has thrived on adversity. ``The 
     harder it is, the tougher it is, the better it is. If it's 
     easy, what's the point?'' Today he estimates Chinese socks 
     are worn by 60 to 75 percent of the nation's population, 
     while the rest of the hosiery sold in the U.S. comes from 
     Mexico, Honduras, Vietnam, or Canada. Domestic production 
     accounts for less than 10 percent of the trade, and U.S. sock 
     manufacturers number fewer than 50, he says. Cabot operates 
     the only sock mill in New England.
       ``The ones that are left have focused on quality, a premium 
     product, with price not the driving factor in the sale.'' 
     That puts Cabot Hosiery in a narrow market niche of the sort 
     that has also sustained Vermont enterprises like Wall 
     Goldfinger, or Morrisville stove manufacturer Hearthstone, or 
     even the state's craft brewers.
       ``Nobody ever outsourced anything for the quality,'' he 
     says.
       Sheep in Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. Southwest 
     supply 100 percent of Cabot's wool, while the socks are sold 
     in national and international markets. In this global 
     business environment, the Darn Tough brand projects a clear 
     pride of place in its advertising slogan ``still Made In 
     Vermont, USA.''
       Cabot's expansion is especially welcome news in the town of 
     Northfield, which is reeling from job losses.
       Jeff Schulz, Northfield's town manager, says ``the town's 
     had some challenges.''
       Wall Goldfinger, the high-end furniture company that 
     employed 45 workers in Northfield, moved to Randolph in 2012 
     rather than cope with the possibility of flooding out again. 
     Wall Goldfinger's plant floor was damaged by floodwaters from 
     the Dog River during Tropical Storm Irene in August 2011.
       The local economy will lose another 55 to 60 jobs when 
     Northfield Savings Bank, a local fixture since the 19th 
     century, moves its corporate headquarters to Berlin in four 
     months.
       Jane Kolodinsky, who chairs the Department of Community 
     Development and Applied Economics at the University of 
     Vermont, is optimistic about Northfield's prospects.
       ``The fact that they do have a university there, that is 
     definitely going to be a help,'' she says. ``Then, with Cabot 
     Hosiery, you're going to have two stable employers. You've 
     got enough to support some sort of economic base for the 
     community.''

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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