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Darn Tough Announces “ReFluff” Sock Revitalization Service

Reduce Reuse Refluff

Darn Tough, makers of the #1 most durable wool socks used by hikers, announced a new consumer service called ReFluff, that lets sock owners put the original cushion back into their old merino socks for a nominal fee. Darn Tough socks are known for their durability”, said Ric Cabot, Darn Tough’s President and CEO. “It’s almost impossible to wear a hole in our socks which is why we guarantee all of the socks we sell and will replace them free of charge, a guarantee that very few people have ever needed to exercise.”

While Darn Tough Socks has built its reputation on durability, its merino wool socks lose some of their cushion or fluffiness over time. “While merino wool fibers are like coiled springs, they lose some of their ability to spring back after heavy use,” said Cabot. “So we asked our sock scientists to come up with a way to put the spring back into the merino wool in old Darn Tough socks, so they don’t end up in the bottom of the sock drawer.”

Code-named the “Fluff Capacitor”, our sock scientists came up with an ingenious machine that “ReFluffs” the tired merino wool in heavily-used Darn Tough socks and restores them to their original cushion. “The process can be repeated over and over”, says Cabot, “so you can use the same set of Darn Tough socks you already own forever. You really can’t tell socks that have been ReFluffed, from new ones that you buy at the store.”

“We’ll be rolling out the new Darn Tough ReFluff service this spring and it will cost our customers $10 for each pair of Darn Tough socks they want to ReFluff. We’ve already beta-tested the service with hard-core Vermont, New York State, and New Hampshire hikers, and the feedback has been extremely positive”, said Cabot. “For us, making a durable and sustainable product is a hallmark of buying less and keeping textiles out of landfills, and it’s one of the best ways to minimize the usage of raw materials we rely on.”

Darn Tough Vermont is a family-owned, American manufacturer of end-use-specific socks. We design, manufacture, sell and promote the most comfortable, durable, and best fitting socks available in the market today. This promise is backed up by our unconditional lifetime guarantee. If you can wear out our socks we will replace them free of charge.

April Fools!

For more silliness:

  1. Darn Tough Announces “ReFluff” Sock Revitalization Service
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37 comments

  1. Got me. :>)

    • You got me too ! My DT’s have been going strong for 4 years now. But they have lost a bit of the fluff factor, so I was intrigued when I clicked on the article. My first thought was $10 was a little steep along with having to ship when I can buy a new pair for $20. The only holes in my socks came from my puppy’s razor teeth a year ago and I still wear them today. I have 4 pairs and when or if they wear out I will just buy another pair as I have got more than my money’s worth. Way to use the DT logo! Click Bait!! ?

  2. I love this even more than I usually would because I actually had a question about their replacement policy and emailed them earlier this week. Had a lovely email exchange with another Liz and she answered my question. (FYI if you have a DT sock that doesn’t have a hole yet but has a threadbare area where a hole will soon form, then yes, that is also covered under their warranty policy. Score!)

  3. Been waiting all week to see what you were going to come with for this April Fool post.

  4. You’re trying to pull the wool over our eyes, aren’t you?
    Good one!

  5. Whenever a part of my body grows thin, I manage to “re-fluff” it. It’s a process that involves chips and snacks and is quite effective. My body’s personal fluff capacitor finds the thin areas and restores them. In certain areas, I even have extra fluff on hand for those times chips and snacks aren’t available. I’ve been doing this for decades and I’m almost totally re-fluffed. Highly recommended process!

  6. I heard they’re going to partner with Amazon to use drones to provide this service to long trail hikers in real time!

  7. This finally pushed me to return my pairs for warranty. Lasted 3 years of daily use, very little of it hiking. Love their socks!

  8. Well done.

    If you had not compassionately given the game away in your last line, it would have taken an hour or more for me to escape your well placed nudge toward thinking about the engineering (and the distraction of weekend activities) to recognize that this would be 100% at odds with what I understand their business model to be.

    • If it’s not plausible, it’s not a good joke. Now as for business models. Keeping your customers tethered to your brand even after they’ve purchased all the socks they’re going to buy from you seems like a good business strategy and it keeps them away from competitors. Plus the good will generated would be tremendous. Word of mouth is the best marketing.

  9. What is the volume of ReFluff that will be added to each sock, expressed in cans of PBR?

  10. I spent a career working in the large wilderness areas in MT and WY. I wore through wool socks like a knife goes through butter, so to speak. I was truly a skeptic and even wrote to DT to see if the “warranty” was hyperbole or plumb BS. I gave them a try and honestly after a number of years of daily wearing DTs with only 1.5 socks with holes in the big toe area I have become a converted believer. I won’t send the pair in until the other .5 hole has blossomed to fruition, but even if they didn’t replace them, and I believe they will, I still got a nonparallel use out of DTs compared to the ‘also ran’ name brand ‘ that I used and constantly replaced for years.

  11. The Darn Tough warrantee seems too good to be true……because it is. I had a pair of Darn Tough socks that developed two holes. I took a picture of the sock on my hand with two fingers poking out of the holes and mailed it off to them. What they sent back were instructions to (1) wash them, and (2) mail them back to them. When I called and asked “are you serious”, they told me that they needed the socks back so they could analyze them to determine why they had failed, after which they would issue me a credit of some sort to use when ordering new socks.
    Well……bullshit. The holes occurred because they couldn’t stand up to the wear and tear. Having them in their’ hands was not going to yield one iota of information about why they hadn’t lasted forever. I feel the requirements where only meant to discourage me from pursuing the warrantee.
    All I wanted was a replacement with an identical pair to those that had failed.
    I suppose that if I jump through their’ hoops I might someday get another pair of Darn Tough socks for the cost of washing and mailing……..maybe……..I haven’t seen what their’ credit consists of or what restrictions are placed on their’ use.
    I expected, based on their’ promises, to have an experience similar to that experienced under L.L. Bean – no questions asked, no hoops to jump through, true to their’ promise. But no…. don’t think that is what you are going to get from Darn Tough.
    I encourage you to NOT buy their’ socks……until they actually stand behind them as promised.

    • So you didn’t send them in? Lame dude.

    • I put a hole in a DT sock. Mailed them back to DT – yes I had to pay that postage. DT sent me a brand new pair. Easy. My current DT socks have lasted so long and I’ve been so happy with them that I might not even send them back if I get another hole.

    • Jim, you’re a fool! I own many pair of DT socks and a few of them have developed holes. I sent them back and was emailed a credit towards the purchase of new socks with free shipping. it’s a simple process really. How can you criticize a company when you haven’t actually tried their return policy? By the way you do know the LLB guarantee is now only for one year, right?

    • “The cost of washing socks” LOL. Congrats, you win! So what’s your plan with the unwashed socks with holes and no replacement?

    • Wow, Jim, really?

      The warrantee isn’t that the socks you originally purchase will last a lifetime but that when you purchase one pair of Darn Tough socks you will continue to have, for the rest of your lifetime, one pair of Darn Tough socks. Sure, you have to go through the process of mailing them in so that they know you are not just trying to get a free pair after never having purchased a pair, but given the price of the socks that still seems like a bargain!

      And of course they request that you wash the socks first. Can you imagine being the people unpacking the returned socks and how *disgusting* that job would be if people didn’t wash the socks first??? (And of course they undoubtedly get a lot of unwashed socks anyway, so…gross.)

      I suggest you wash and return your holey DT socks and get a new pair! I don’t know about you but a new pair of socks cheers me right up; seems like you could use some cheering up too.

    • Jim, you had a pair of socks that lasted for quite a while and for about a buck or two of postage, you can have another pair. The ‘cost of washing’ is throwing it in the machine with your other wash. If you don’t want to throw them in with the wash and spend a buck or two, spend $25-$30 on another brand of socks. They just recently sent me another pair because I went through the trouble of dropping them in the washing machine and then in the mail.

      Another reason they might want them back is that it prevents someone from claiming the same set another time. It would be easy to take a picture from another angle and make it look like a different pair. Can you imagine someone in the warranty department at DT spending all day scrutinizing and comparing photos? Just cooperate and you’ll get another pair for half of what a cup of coffee costs at you-know-where.

  12. Whoever came up with the idea for what is obviously a blatant money grab in these darn tough times should be held accountable so we can really sock it to them.

    Fine, I will go purchase a fourth pair.

  13. I’m surprised no one has remarked on the “Fluff Capacitor” allusion. I thought that was really funny.

  14. GEE WHILLIKERS! I sure hope this works for my socks because my DIY fluff capacator has burned out after only 10 pair.

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