By Mindy Tate
mtate@williamsonherald.com

Mark Cleveland was so satisfied as a customer with his Swiftwick socks, that when the Brentwood businessman was looking for a new opportunity, he bought the small Tennessee-based company and has become almost Johnny Appleseed about what he calls “the world’s best running sock, maybe the best sock ever.

Cleveland hails from Tracktown U.S.A. and for those unfamiliar with the sport of running, that means Eugene, Ore., the birthplace of Nike running shoes, but also home to the University of Oregon and Coach Bill Bowerman, credited with introducing jogging to the U.S.

Himself a runner for many years, he first became aware of Swiftwick when it was a manufacturer of custom socks for events, such as 5K or bike contests.

“I originally discovered Swiftwick as a customer after I bought the product and had it customized for my race, Dirt, Sweat and Gears, which is a 12-hour endurance mountain bike race in Fayetteville, Tenn.,” Cleveland said.

“The company’s roots are in manufacturing custom team socks … the most demanding environment some would say for a sock, in the cycling world,” Cleveland said. “Here we had a sock that had exposure in the Tour de France last year and I discovered it.”

Cleveland gave the 300 participants in the endurance race a pair of socks as a race goody and by the time the event ended, he knew he had something special.

“At the bonfire I got slaughtered by racers and organizers from 32 states who wanted the sock,” Cleveland said, “and we were not available to anyone but race teams. I thought if this is the reaction of professional cyclists, imagine the reaction of everyone else when they get exposed to it.”

Smithwick socks are pretty basic — the colors or those being sold online and in stores to the general public are currently limited to black, gray and white — and come in two knits — merino wool and olefin.

“Either it is a custom sock or it is black, white or gray,” Cleveland said, adding that another variation is in the length of the socks, which go from zero (think golf sock) to four and finally six inches.

“Both (merino wool and olefin) are efficient wicking or moisture management fabrics,” Cleveland said. “Olefin is a man-made product that is hollow as is merino wool hair.

“The thing that makes our sock such a rock star is it is made at 200-needle construction, which is the equivalent of a compression sock,” he said. “Most socks are made at 80- or 108-needle (construction) so like fine Egyptian sheets … the same is true with our sock,” Cleveland said.

Each sock features a full-cushion foot bed which envelops the foot and a no-seam design around the toes, which provides no friction on the toes. There’s little slippage of the sock since there is a compression cuff at the top of the sock.
For Christi Beth Adams of Fleet Feet Sports in Brentwood, a sock and a shoe are just like a hand and glove when it comes to importance and so she is thrilled to have Swiftwick socks in the Brentwood Place shopping center store.
“The sock is the most intimate with the foot,” she said, adding that people often mistakenly think by doubling up on a pair of socks they are doing better, but Cleveland said that only exacerbates the problem caused by cotton socks.
“Cotton is rotten,” Adams said.

“The biggest reason people have blisters is because they have a sock that allows foreign matter,” Cleveland said, adding that the tight needle-construction of the Swiftwick sock reduces that issue.

“You have walkers who come in and say I don’t need a sock like that, but they do,” Adams said. “Our feet sweat a quarter of a cup of moisture at rest, so think about it when you exercise.”

Olefin is a Nobel Prize winning fiber and retains less than .01 percent of its weight in moisture and resists deterioration from detergents and perspiration, according to company literature.

Also making Cleveland even prouder of the Swiftwick sock is that it is manufactured in Tennessee, rightfully so in Cleveland, Tenn.

“I think a lot of people are excited about a sock made in the U.S., let alone Tennessee,” he said.
Cleveland is passionate about Swiftwick, which will add additional lengths over the next few months, including a 12-inch sock.
“We say from baseline to boardroom, Swiftwick is the best sock on the planet, guaranteed,” Cleveland said, adding the company offers a replacement guarantee on any sock with which a customer is not satisfied.

For more information on the guarantee or Swiftwick in general, go to www.swiftwick.com. On Sept. 11 from 3-7 p.m., Fleet Feet will have an event open to the public sponsored by footwear company Mizuno. People can come by Fleet Feet Sports and get a free analysis in the Mizuno Precision Fit Lab plus wear test some Mizuno shoes.


 

Posted on: 9/11/2008