In 2024 Jason and I had our second commercial sock run completed using our alpaca fiber. It was a major investment for us and a commitment to making as much USA made alpaca products as possible.
When the shipment arrived, I was so excited. Our first run of socks went well, and I was eager to grow this product line. The semi-truck pulled up and dropped off the pallets of inventory. I couldn’t wait for Jason to move the boxes into the building so I could rip them open to see the socks.
As I began opening boxes I could see we had a problem. Tears welled up in my eyes as I looked at the knee high alpaca socks. They were the wrong colors, the wrong quantities, they were not run to specification, and the quality was poor. I don’t know how the knitter went from delivering great socks the year before to delivering pallets of bad inventory in the very next run.
We inventoried everything and I documented all the issues. I demanded we (meaning my husband) immediately pull the rest of our raw materials from the knitter. Because the USA lacks production facilities for clothing, we were at a loss and without a lot of recourse. I not only have paid thousands of dollars for inventory I couldn’t sell, but we also had all this sock yarn and nowhere to use it.
We began investigating purchasing our own sock machine so we could knit socks ourselves. We were in shock at the cost and lack of resources available. We finally found a consulting company that was USA based and had a demo unit that would meet our needs. After we got over the sticker shock, we purchased the machine and began retrofitting our store to accommodate the manufacturing. This adventure sucked up all our profits from 2025 and much of our operating money for 2026. We did it anyway because we believed the USA alpaca industry needs local production options.
Move forward into fall of 2026 and we are now selling socks made on our farm and to the quality levels I feel buyers should receive. My husband has done a great job managing all the machinery and software associated with this process. God bless him, because I don’t know how he does it. The machine is finicky and there is so much to know about working with a natural product like alpaca. We learn something new each day.
But let’s swing back to the original socks that were a hot mess. What was I to do with all this inventory that was poorly made? I still had about 1,000 pairs of these socks and I didn’t want to (and couldn’t) sell them at their regular retail price. This was going to be a large financial hit and there was no way I could get away from it.
I decided I would mark the socks down and sell that at a price below our cost. I wanted to see if people would feel good about this purchase given the super low price point and as a final sale item. The socks started selling (and we sold a lot), but that didn’t make me feel any better. I just didn’t feel good about selling an item that wasn’t the level of quality we are producing onsite. I also had fears of people buying these for Christmas presents and I could just see the person receiving them being highly disappointed with their gift. I felt uneasy and stressed about the entire situation.
I spoke with my husband, expressed my concerns, and told him I wanted to turn this financial loss into something good for the community. I reached out the Father Fred Foundation to see if they could use 800+ pair of alpaca socks.
We live in Northern Michigan and winter will be arriving soon. The number of homeless and poverty level population is growing, so I knew there would be lots of people in need of warm socks in less than a month. The Father Fred team was eager for the donation and confirmed they could really use these socks. The decision was made and I packaged up all 800+ pair and drove them into town. I finally felt good about a really crappy situation.
Whether you know it or not, most clothing manufacturers would just toss these socks and not bother with finding a home for them. So much clothing goes into landfills it is sickening. I could not and would not be part of that problem.
I grew up in Northern Michigan, and I relied heavily on government assistance as a child and through college. I know how it feels to not have “enough” and I always wanted to prevent that for others if possible. Being able to donate all these socks hits home for me a little more than it would for most people. I know firsthand what that help did for me as a kid and I always want to do the same for others.
While this was a big financial hit for us, at least we could use it to do good for others.
When you’re treated poorly, you can be angry and upset, or you can take action and turn a bad situation into something good. We decided to go the positive route and do some good for our community.
Winter is coming and people are in need this year more than ever. Find a local charity and offer help. Donate your time, your unused items, food, or money. Anything will help and there are a whole lot of people who need that help this year.
