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Premium sock brand Darn Tough Vermont built a loyalty program that grows repeat purchases and word-of-mouth, working with their Unconditional Lifetime Guarantee, not against it.
13%
of total revenue is contributed by the loyalty program
8k
new customers acquired through loyalty referrals
2.8x
higher CLV for redeeming members vs non-members
We spoke to their Ecomm Experience Manager, Kevin Dean, to discover his strategy
Darn Tough Vermont holds the number one rank in Hike socks (Circana), with a community of hikers, runners, tradespeople and skiers. Over 90% of people finishing the Appalachian Trail do it in Darn Tough Vermont socks.
The brand spent two decades building that reputation through retail. They only launched darntough.com in 2016, and saw DTC as a major growth opportunity to support sales across all channels and build direct relationships with the customers who already loved the brand.
There was also a unique constraint: every Darn Tough Vermont sock comes with an Unconditional Lifetime Guarantee. Wear a hole in them, send them back, get a new pair free.
That promise built the brand, but it meant a loyalty program couldn’t be built around chasing the next replacement purchase. It had to reward the behaviors that actually grow DTC: trying new product lines, leaving feedback, and bringing friends in.
Darn Tough Vermont needed a program that could:
Darn Tough Vermont had wanted a loyalty program for years. The thing holding them back was an assumption that running it properly would need a dedicated hire, and that hire wasn’t on the cards.
So, adopting a program kept getting pushed. Eventually, Kevin Dean, Ecommerce Experience Manager at Darn Tough Vermont, took it on alongside the rest of his role.
They launched with LoyaltyLion in June 2024, and the workload turned out to be a fraction of what the team had feared.
LoyaltyLion’s ease of use and automation mean we can drive real momentum without it taking over my full-time job.
Kevin DeanEcommerce Experience Manager, Darn Tough Vermont
The program runs across three tiers named after sock heights: Quarter Club, Boot Troop, and Over The Calf (OTC). Spend more to climb the tiers and you unlock:
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LoyaltyLion’s integration with Klaviyo pulls tier and points data straight into Darn Tough Vermont’s email flows, powering personalized comms that convert better.
The LoyaltyLion program channels this genuine passion into reliable revenue growth, advocacy, and even stickier customers.
This passionate customer community readily shares ‘Darn It’ stories – the outstanding moments that Darn Tough Vermont socks have helped customers through tough treks and trying times!
Darn Tough Vermont are number one in Hike, and want the same in Run, Work and Lifestyle.
Visiting key collection pages like Merino Wool and Run earns points, helping nudge existing fans toward categories they might not realize Darn Tough Vermont make socks for.
Our dedicated Customer Success Manager has been so genuinely helpful throughout the launch and execution of the program. We’re so grateful for her thoughtful approach and bright ideas that help bring our customers ever closer.
Quality is central to Darn Tough Vermont’s reputation, and that reputation drives both retention and acquisition. The loyalty program is built to keep that flywheel turning, by rewarding the customer feedback that fuels product iteration:
That feedback loop helps Darn Tough Vermont keep refining best-sellers like the Micro Crew Midweight Hiker, which has gone through close to 30 iterations over the years. Better socks bring customers back, and bring new ones in.
Darn Tough Vermont customers were already telling friends about the brand on trail.
The referral program puts structure around that behavior and rewards it: $5 off for the new customer, 600 loyalty points for the referrer.
This approach has brought 8,000 new customers to the brand, at a fraction of the cost of paid acquisition.
The people who love our socks want to share Darn Tough Vermont. The loyalty program gives us a way to enhance that and get people excited about doing it.
Two years in, the program is having a huge impact on their growth:
For brands with durable products, strong retail presence, or loyal communities, a loyalty program can do more than chase a second purchase.
It can fuel category expansion, formalize word-of-mouth, and capture the feedback that improves the product.
Design your program around the behaviors that actually grow your business, and pick a platform flexible enough to support them. LoyaltyLion can help – let’s chat.
We’ve got experience helping Shopify’s largest brands make loyalty programs work for them. Let’s talk.
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