I’ve had something similar. I got them as a gift and emailed them to get an exchange for a different color. They sent me a new set and told me to keep/gift/donate the other ones.

Another company w a similar experience is SimpleModern water bottles

Got a pair as a gift last Christmas, now almost all my athletic socks are bombas. Replaced 5 or 6 pair of darn tough socks that were anything but tough. Will avoid their athletic socks in the future and stick to their mid weight calf height.

Only had them for a year but I can’t detect any wear. Compared to new pairs, I can’t tell which is which.

They don’t seem to last, but they stand behind them. Not sure how they make money

Yeah darn tough makes great socks…. Until you buy their athletic socks. They blow. They are also way too narrow for someone who has normal size feet. Why would you make socks in the same size be much more narrow? I told them explicitly that’s why I was going else where for athletic socks. They seem to wear faster too. I went with the Grip6 socks

They make money because they severely overcharge for what the product is. And if 3%-5% of the customer base asks for a a replacement or another pair they’re still making money because of the huge markup.

I’ve got multiple pairs - they’re ok. They do have good customer service from all accounts.

Found the Bombas Reddit account.

Something always rubs me wrong when companies advertise they are giving away one pair for each they sell. Why not charge half price?

Bombas sucks. All their socks fall apart and start pilling instantly.

I did the same thing and they sent me new socks, which promptly died as well.

I hated my Bombas at first but now I wear the hex tech golf every day. Great sock. I never wear my darn toughs.

What is the nature of the antibacterial sock? Is it silver or.some chemical or something else? ^I^have^weird^allergies

Great company but I don’t think the socks are great.

Had a few pairs and loved their buy one donate one policy but they feel cheap after couple of wears. Gone back to smart wools.
Don’t think they are BIFL.

Concur. None of the ones we’ve bought the last couple of years have lasted. They don’t even make it a year. I’m done buying from Bombas.

Since seeing them on Shark Tank they ate the only socks I buy for our household. Well made, they donate a pair to the homeless for every pair you buy. Win-win.

Had a similar problem, went with cloudline socks. Also have a hassle free lifetime warranty like the OP

Agreed. They are junk. Smartwool is my fav.

100% what a corpo-goon would say.

>SimpleModern water bottles

I love those, but sadly they seem to be having supply issues for many of their products for some time now. Mostly the kid lineups.

The merino socks are so damn nice. The toddler size cotton socks lasted about a year before developing a hole in the sole. Decent wear IMO. Have returned Bombas that were wrong size and they indeed told us to keep the wrong size.

It sounds like an unsustainable warranty. How long do they think they can keep replacing socks without any real constraints. At the end of the day they'll tighten up on their warranty terms once enough people purchase the socks. Otherwise, no way can they manage the cost.

I’m not sure any athletic sock is bifl. My go to has become Balega. They take a lot of wear. Most pairs I have are 3-4 years old and still in good condition. Never tried Bombas.

The donated sock is probably the cheapest possible style and material. Chances are you can't even buy the donated sock style.

And it’s a tax write off for them while making the customer think they’re the one doing a good deed.

I mean that’s exactly how all companies should be run imho

Lmfao that is not a tax write off, they already sold the product, you’re joking right? It’s just good business.

That's nice that they replaced without mailing. Unfortunately this is really easy to take advantage of so I don't see this policy being kept long term.

Which athletic socks were you using? The DT athletic socks are the only ones I wear (Element No Show Tab Light Cushion). I sized up one size (XL when L was recommended) and they work great.

The donated socks are more durable, and made for folks living on the street. I do actually see them on a lot of feet here in NYC.

My personal experience with their socks has been meh. I think I also should send them photos of the damaged ones and get replacements. They have not held up as well as random cheap socks from TJ Maxx.

Not the purchased socks, the pair they donate when you purchase a set from them. This can be written off and is very common business practice.

This is very similar to when your local grocery store asks if you’d like to donate a dollar or two to charity at the end of your purchase, whatever you donate the store can claim as their own donation for tax purposes.

Yea I misread and thought we were referring to something else

Yeah! Overcharge for inferior products so there’s enough margin to send a second subpar product without hesitation when first product fails!

I bought wool Bombas 2 years ago. I think around 8 pairs.

Every single sock except for 1 individual one has had a hole in the heel.

No other sock I’ve ever owned has had this problem.

They were comfy but total waste of money.

Never again.

Actually they’re not! Got my hands on a donated pair because my hometown school (high poverty area) is one of the places they give away socks. They’re regular bomba socks.

Their “Run” socks wore out faster than almost any other running socks I’ve ever owned, including crappy generic Target ones. I love DT, own like 8 other pairs of crew/boot length, but won’t touch their running socks again

I actually like them. They’re cotton so they don’t last as long as wool, but I find cotton more comfortable. My kid has some really corrosive foot sweat and she used to destroy regular cotton socks in like 2 months and bombas last much longer for her than any other cotton sock. bombas is also very good about replacing them if you ask.

Jumping on for smartwool. Love those puppies!

This is really good to know. I got rid of all my other socks and just have a few pairs of the darn tough mid calf hiking socks. I was going to get some of their athletic socks for the summer, but it looks like I'll need to go elsewhere

You say it’s a high mark-up but what are your comparisons? I feel like Bombas tend to run slightly cheaper than Smartwool or DarnTough (not counting sale prices). Are there other socks you deal with that have the lifetime guarantee at a lower price point?

Those are completely differ types of socks - Smartwool are merino wool socks. Bombas are mostly ankle cotton compression socks

Bombas sells both cotton and merino wool…