Darn Tough Worldwide, Lifetime Guarantee: Put to the Test

A Company that Stands by their Word

After years of faithful service, quality hiking socks—or any socks, for that matter—tend to wear out. At this point, you would normally discard them or repurpose them as shoe polishers. That is, unless you made the wise decision to purchase a pair from Darn Tough Vermont.

  Yes, our life-time guarantee is for Darn Tough Vermont socks no matter where in the world they may be. Our warranty is simple and you can send them the least expensive way to us.

— Darn Tough Vermont: customer service

Like many in the outdoor community, I have long extolled the virtues of Darn Tough Vermont. Not only is it a proud family-run business that focuses on manufacturing excellence, but its products come with a lifetime guarantee, a rare commodity for something that is ostensibly nondurable. The company’s philosophy is simple: wear out a pair of Darn Tough socks, and they will replace them, no ifs ands or buts about it. Typically, worn-out pairs can be returned and replaced at your local outdoor shop where you purchased them, at Darn Tough booths at outdoor events, or mailed in. This is all very well if you live in the continental U.S., but what if you live overseas—in this case, in Tokyo, Japan—and purchased your socks through an online retailer? Would the warranty still hold?

Preparing the socks for return shipping.

In a nutshell, yes, it would. After contacting Darn Tough Vermont customer service, I received a quick reply stating the following; “Yes, our life-time guarantee is for Darn Tough Vermont socks no matter where in the world they may be. Our warranty is simple and you can send them the least expensive way to us.” After confirming this brilliant news, it was time to give the socks one final wash and send them on their merry way. It’s worth mentioning the returned items were the lightest of the 6 weights of socks they carry, namely the 1/4 Sock Ultra-Light. Over the years, I have gradually replaced my full sock ensemble with Darn Tough and these pairs are the only ones I’ve ever managed to wear holes in.

The cost of mailing the two pairs via regular airmail along with the Warranty Form, from Tokyo to Vermont was only ¥330 ($2.70 USD). Darn Tough then pays for the return postage with your replacements arriving priority mailed in a padded envelope. For domestic returns, Darn Tough suggests a turnaround time of 15 business days for processing and shipping. Internationally, in this case from Tokyo, the total time from the first email contact to receiving the replacement socks was around 30 business days. So there you have it: socks that are replaceable, free of charge, for life—what more could you ask for?

Identical replacement pairs arrive from Darn Tough Vermont.