If anyone were going to write a history of outdoor socks, Jim Markley would be a good candidate.

Markley was one of the founders of SmartWool, the company that helped popularize Merino as a performance fiber in socks and sweaters. SmartWool was sold to Timberland in 2006, and Markley took a year off.

In 2008, he started a sock company called Goodhew with Thomas Lee based on the idea of making premium lifestyle performance socks in the US, which they did. Several years into the venture, Markley re-connected with Mercedes Marchand who he had worked with at Smartwool. She had the idea to make lifestyle graduated compression socks. “That category was dominated by medical companies at that point,” according to Markley, “which, Marchand said, made two kinds of socks: ‘ugly and uglier’.”

“Our goal was to make socks that were “beautiful and beautiful-ier’,” he said.

The partners changed their name to Sockwell to reflect the new focus and have built a business that covers four categories:

• Lifestyle Compression
• Sport Compression
• Relief Solutions
• Essential Comfort-Lifestyle

This past fall at The Running Event, Sockwell previewed a performance running line which it will refine and expand later this year.

All the socks are made in the USA, using Merino wool. The manufacturing process starts in South Carolina, where the merino wool fibers are Super Washed, a process that cleans the wool and removes all tiny scales from the fibers.

The actual knitting takes place at a factory in Chattanooga where the partners have a 30-year relationship. “When we began manufacturing there, we wanted a plant that had the capability to make socks that were seamless around the toe area,” Markley recalls. “On the tour, they showed us four Lonati knitting machines that have an attachment that allows us to produce a seamless toe product which is necessary to make the highest quality graduated compression socks. We were sold right then.”  

Today, the plant has 40 of those machines and Sockwell makes up the lion’s share of the plant’s output.

Sockwell has three main consumer groups, according to Markley: nurses, doctors and first responders who are on their feet all day, outdoor enthusiasts and travelers.

The company’s expansion in the running category will round out Sockwell’s appeal to consumers and retailers. Says Markley: “I like how we are positioned in the market.”

Trailheads: Tell us about your favorite way to experience the outdoors.

Markley: “For the past 18 years, I have gone fly-fishing in Argentina. We fish the Malleo River, Chimehuin River and the Collon Cura River and catch Rainbows and Browns.

It’s a 14-day trip and we’ve stayed at different lodges, ranging from very rustic to like the Four Seasons. We’ve been using the same guides for 18 years so we’ve seen them start families and seen those families grow up.

The trip started out as eight guys’ and we’d go to Jackson Hole every year. One year our guide couldn’t make it, so he sent a woman guide who was fantastic. She suggested we go to Argentina and we’ve been going every year since. About 8 years ago, we changed it from a guys’ trip to one where we would bring our wives. Now it’s three or four couples and we have a great time.”