Darn Tough Vermont: Q1 2012 Results Best in Company’s History
OutdoorHub 04.16.12
Darn Tough Vermont, American manufacturer of the only premium, performance socks with an unconditional lifetime guarantee, reports that Q1 2012 sales and profitability were the best ever in its, and parent Cabot Hosiery’s, 34-year history. Q1 topline growth was up 42% versus the corresponding quarter in 2011, a year that saw revenue up 82% over 2010.
“We’ve been aggressively expanding our distribution both nationally and internationally, redesigned our packaging, diversified our markets, invested in our infrastructure here at the Vermont mill and made strategic changes to our sales team in 2011,” said Ric Cabot, founder and president of Darn Tough Vermont. “We reinvested heavily in our company in 2011, and the results bear out our strategy. We are on track to close out 2012 with exceptional performance on both the top and bottom lines, facilitating the implementation of a number of important strategies that we have in the works for 2013.”
A lackluster winter season across most of the country, especially in the Northeast, made it a tough quarter for winter apparel sales. The most recent RetailTRAK numbers for February 2012, released April 10, 2012 by Snowsports Industries America (SIA) and The Leisure Trends Group, showed that overall snow sports retail sales were down 12 percent in units sold. Accessories sales suffered the most, but apparel sales, which includes socks, were only down two percent and were flat in dollars sold. Despite this trend, Darn Tough Vermont managed to grow sales significantly.
“Making every pair of socks in-house not only affords us with the utmost quality control, but it makes us nimble. We can adjust our inline manufacturing processes in real time. That’s a tactic you don’t have when someone is making your socks for you, inside or outside of the U.S.” said Cabot.
For more information about Darn Tough Vermont socks, please visit http://www.darntough.com.
