Recently, a Ft Payne-based sock mill signed a deal with the Walmart Corporation to provide athletic socks for the company’s locations across the country with the deal reportedly being a kick starter for several hundred jobs in the hosiery industry in DeKalb County.

Ft Payne was once known as the “Official Sock Capital of the World,” but a sharp downturn from 2000 – 2010 called that nickname into question.  

In 2007, Ft Payne suffered a major blow when DeSoto Mills shutdown, leading to the loss of 220 sock manufacturing jobs.

It was part of the trend for companies to move their sock production overseas to utilize the cheap labor in an effort to increase profits.  Trade agreements signed in the 90’s such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) helped to make shipment of jobs overseas possible.

Now it appears that the landscape is beginning to change.

The Renfro Corporation has signed a deal with Walmart which will create 442 new jobs in Ft Payne. That deal is part of an initiative by Walmart to invest in American manufacturing jobs and provide athletic socks to Walmart’s nationwide locations, and while their initiative has been on-going for several years other sock manufacturers, including Shankles Hosiery – are reporting heightened interest in American made goods. 

(Southern Torch/southerntorch.com)