We’re seeing tremendous growth within the sock industry
Founded in 1921, Renfro Brands is a leading designer, manufacturer, and marketer of quality socks and legwear products. The company has pioneered some of the most important innovations in sock manufacturing, from standardising sock sizes to eliminating toe seams. In an Interview with Fibre2Fashion, Renfro Brands’ CEO & President Stan Jewell discusses the sock industry, the company’s growth and sustainability.
What is the size of the global socks market? What is your market share in it?
Overall, we are seeing tremendous growth within the sock industry. Socks finished 2021 up 22 per cent compared to 2020, growing to $7.6 billion in the US. It’s interesting to note that this has primarily been driven by athletic socks which have been the top item across all wearers, especially women. At Renfro Brands, we have a diverse portfolio of category offerings, which contributes to us being the largest manufacturer of socks in the US, producing more than three million pairs of socks per week.
What are the latest innovations and technologies that you are working on?
Our team is excited about the potential of leaning into the metaverse and its potential. We see this technology providing consumers with the opportunity to change how they pick their outfits – from their shirts to their personalised socks. At Renfro Brands, we believe that technology challenges us to rethink what’s possible and how we can deliver value to our consumers. We consider these innovations alongside the decades of knowledge and data we have on our consumers so we can understand how to best implement new technology.
What is your take on sustainability? How is Renfro incorporating it?
At Renfro Brands, we are extremely proud of where we are today as a company, and that is thanks to our employees, partners, and communities who have supported and trusted us over the past 100 years. The launch of Project Footprint in December 2021 was not only our way of growing what our founders started but continuing our commitment to living our vision of helping people get back on their feet to achieve a life well-lived.
We’ve identified three pillars of our focus with one focusing specifically on sustainability and the planet. Through this pillar, we are committed to using our ingenuity to find better ways to protect our planet for future generations to enjoy. We are working together with our industry partners to tread more lightly. Currently, 100 per cent of our suppliers have achieved at least one sustainability certification, including OEKO-TEX, GRS, and ISO. We also working to set new goals and objectives to push our company and industry forward. For instance, by 2030, we are aiming to have 100 per cent of our packaging components be recyclable or reusable and 100 per cent of the products we produce use sustainable yarns and materials.
As the needs of our planet and industry progress, we remain committed to doing what we can to ensure sustainability is at the forefront of our business.
Renfro celebrated its 100-year anniversary recently. What is the vision going forward?
Last year was a big milestone for us as we celebrated our 100th anniversary and ushered in a new focus and commitment to making a positive impact on the world through the launch of our CSR programme, Project Footprint. Our ethos around ‘a life well-lived, is lived in socks’ is represented as Project Footprint, which keeps us accountable for fostering better employment opportunities for more people, continuing giving back to the communities where we work, and making every effort to preserve a healthy planet for a healthy future.
How will Renco’s acquisition of the company affect the operations? Any strategic changes expected?
Renco’s acquisition of Renfro Brands was a strategic decision to help us deepen our business within manufacturing with an organisation that shares the same values and practices as us. It allows us to further invest in talent, performance marketing, and technology advancements, and elevate supply chain resilience. Under the new ownership, we’ve had the opportunity to focus on consumer connectivity, operational agility, and brand management, while innovating within our direct-to-consumer platform Loops & Wales, while also building a truly responsible community both within and around the company.
Our revived visual identity includes new branding, a redesigned logo, and the launch of a Direct-to-Consumer marketplace called Loops & Wales, which embraces Renfro’s future while paying homage to our history and represents the unique combination of strengths we’ve honed over the years. With Renco’s support, we aim to honour our heritage throughout our business operations, while focusing on what our next 100 years can look like and drive brand equity and brand health across the board.
Do you plan to expand into new products?
As part of our growth, we are open to and anticipate expanding into new and relevant product categories in the future.
What kind of new fibres and materials are you working with?
We are always innovating on both the material and knitting technology fronts. This is important as sustainability, cooling and comfort, moisture management, fatigue and recovery continue to be top of mind for today’s consumer. Currently we are very proud to say that we are capable of achieving 75-90 per cent sustainable fibres in key programmes. We believe we will be able to offer 100 per cent sustainable options in Spring of 2023. These are socks that are comfortable, affordable and will perform with the best socks on the market.
Which are your best performing brands in North America, Europe, Asia and globally?
Our best performing brands are Polo, Dr Scholl’s and Merrell in North America. In Europe it’s New Balance, and in Asia it’s New Balance and Dr Scholl’s.
Do you plan to expand into any new geographies?
We have been expanding very intentionally in the past 12 months and have aggressive plans for growth internationally. Our Renfro Europe division has recently expanded outside of the UK into France and Benelux. Renfro Japan has expanded sales and distribution in Japan as well as formed a Taiwan entity to capitalise on business opportunities there. We are also currently in the initial stages of our strategy for expansion in China. Alongside this international expansion, we will continue to expand our industry leading ‘Made in America’ capacities.
What has been your growth pre- and post-COVID? What are your expectations for the next 2-3 years?
Overall, we’re seeing tremendous growth within the sock industry – this was the case during the pandemic and as we continue to rebound. Unsurprisingly during the pandemic, we saw a significant increase in socks purchases online. We anticipate this to continue as store footprints shrink because of closures or re-merchandising and consumers find themselves searching for socks online more. This is contributing to overall growth within the industry and here at Renfro as well, especially for our HOTSOX and K. Bell brands. For example, our 2021 holiday season sales were up double digits in November, a positive sign heading into the remainder of the year and 2022.
Looking ahead, retail is grappling with supply chain disruptions and inflationary prices on materials and transportation. Because of these disruptions, we’ve had to be flexible and ready to pivot at any time – which is something that has become ingrained for us at Renfro, following the pandemic, and I believe will only become more important in the years ahead. With agility comes new ideas and opportunities and I am looking forward to seeing how this shapes our company in the future.
Published on: 02/06/2022
DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.
