Bombas

Bombas launched in 2013 after cofounder David Heath saw a 2012 social media post noting socks were the most requested item at US homeless shelters. That small detail sparked a full rethinking of casual apparel. The pair started with only socks, using a one-for-one model that sent a pair to a person in need for every pair a customer bought. Early operations ran out of a small New York City apartment, with the founders hand-packing orders for the first 18 months.

Initial growth was slow. Retail buyers dismissed socks as a low-margin, unremarkable category, so the founders struggled to secure store partnerships. Heath and Goldberg spent two years refining their design, adding extra heel and toe padding, using seamless construction to cut blisters, and picking soft, durable cotton blends that held up to repeated washing. They built a direct-to-consumer website first, skipping the need to convince retail buyers before they had customer demand proof.

The brand’s big break came in 2014 on the ABC reality show Shark Tank. Investor Daymond John offered $200,000 for 17.5% of the company. The exposure drove a 30% website traffic spike overnight. The founders used the funding to scale production and expand donations to include t-shirts and underwear, two other highly requested but rarely donated clothing items. By 2017, Bombas had donated more than 10 million pairs of socks to US homeless shelters and outreach programs.