Nester Hosiery designs and manufactures the most innovative socks in the world – for mountaineers, firefighters, military personnel, athletes, and anyone who loves a perfect pair of socks.

Our manufacturing center is situated in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Mount Airy, North Carolina. We are a family owned, environmentally responsible company that goes the extra mile to provide a healthy, safe working environment.

People join the Nester team to build a lifelong career on the leading edge of textile development. People wear Nester to experience the exceptional performance and comfort of our socks.

Vision

  • To produce the world’s finest sock for every application: functional, durable, and all day, every day comfortable
  • To use innovative designs and the highest quality yarns, knit on the most cutting-edge equipment
  • To ensure extraordinary service: real time inventory tracking, on time delivery, and overtime attention to customer specifications
  • To provide an environment that fosters a strong local community: providing full-time careers to our hardworking Mount Airy neighbors
  • To cultivate a global following: fostering loyal, long-term relationships with customers and suppliers
Committed to Our Vision

Our Commitment to Sustainability

Committed to Our Environment

Nester Hosiery is dedicated to corporate social responsibility and recognizes that environmental stewardship is fundamental to being a good corporate citizen.

As a locally owned and operated company with a global presence, Nester is committed to protecting our planet through sustainable manufacturing and distribution processes. As a key supplier to the outdoor industry, we believe minimizing our environmental impact is vital to our customers and community as well as essential to the success of our business.

Our goal is to both manufacture and source quality socks that meet our customers’ technical and environmental requirements, take advantage of sustainable materials when possible, and require the least amount of energy, water and waste to produce.

Our Story

Nester Hosiery is Born

1993 | Nester Hosiery is Born

After 20 years of working in the sock manufacturing industry, Marty Nester decides he can add something to the process and founds Nester Hosiery. The family owned and operated business gets its start producing unfinished cotton crew socks on first-generation, belt-driven machinery.

Technical Knitting Machines

1995 | Investment in the company's first technical knitting machines

Nester Hosiery expands their capabilities of sock manufacturing with 54 needle Moreni and 84 needle Crawford knitting machines.

Merino Wool

1995 | Working with Merino wool

Housed in an old grocery building in Dobson, NC, Nester Hosiery discovers the advantages of working with and wearing wool. The factory makes its first of many investments in modern knitting equipment, outfits the facility to become a top-to-bottom sock processor and starts manufacturing high performance socks for outdoor enthusiasts. Retailers notice, and Nester Hosiery begins to develop partnerships with premier outdoor brands.

US Map - Expanding Capabilities

1998 | Expanding Capabilities

By this time, Nester Hosiery is well on its way to becoming a world leader in wool sock innovation and production, incorporating performance synthetics into its products. The factory continually adds new machinery, allowing it to craft any type of sock – heavyweight / thermal, midweight / everyday, lightweight / multi-sport, ultra-lightweight, and beyond.

Seamless Kniting

2001 | Seamless Knitting Arrives

Nester purchased its first machinery with seamless toe closure capabilities. This was the first of many and this type of knitting would become the majority of production within a few years.

IT Computer

2001 | Partners in information technology

Nester Hosiery begins its long-term partnership with software development company Mobile Foundry. This partnership enables Nester to build a custom Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, SockInfo® that provides total visibility into supply, demand, and production operations. Order processing, shipping, inventory management, and sales forecasting tools and reports enable Nester to focus on making great socks.

Mount Airy, NC

2002 | Relocation to Mount Airy, NC

Nester expands and streamlines its operations, setting up shop in a larger facility formerly owned and occupied by Brown Wooten Mills in Mount Airy.

Woolrich Socks

2002 | Licenses Woolrich

The company finds a brand partner in, Woolrich, the original outdoor clothing company, established in 1830. Nester Hosiery begins developing its own full line of branded socks that are made seasonally and sold globally.

Nester Building

2004 | Purchase and refurbishment of the former Ballston Knitting facility in Mt. Airy, NC

Nester Hosiery purchases the Ballston Knitting plant, which is 250 percent larger than its former location and is conveniently located right up the street. The company begins converting the building into a high efficiency, 21st century manufacturing center and plans for a gradual move. The relocation is completed in 2005, allowing Nester to significantly increase volume to meet global demand and become more efficient than ever. This is Nester Hosiery's current home today.

ACC Sales

2005 | Purchase of ACC Sales

Nester Hosiery acquires ACC Sales – a small company of sock specialists in Burlington, NC, with a wealth of experience in sock manufacturing – and in the process gains four skilled executives. With the acquisition of ACC Sales, Nester Hosiery continues to become a world leader in sock production.

Inventory Management - Scanners

2007 | Launch of inventory management system

Nester Hosiery builds and implements a customized warehouse inventory management system, which provides real-time inventory tracking throughout the plant. Every package, cone of yarn, and sock is located and tracked with hand-held scanners.

Expanding Horizons

2008 | Expansion of leadership

A new framework of leadership is established for the long haul with talent and experience in every position.

Cones of Yarn

2009 | Supply cycle visibility

Nester Hosiery houses one of the most experienced teams of designers, technicians and hosiery workers in the industry. Its employees are as high performance as its products. And its technology is always evolving; Nester’s in-depth tracking systems now connect every cone of yarn to every pair of socks, even tracing back to individual wool farms, for visibility of exactly which raw materials go into every batch of socks.

Social Responsibility - Outdoor Recreation and Land Conservation

2009 | Conservation Alliance

Supporting outdoor recreation and land conservation, Nester Hosiery joins with the Conservation Alliance, a group of outdoor industry brands who partner with organizations to protect wild places for their habitat and recreational value.

Sock Development

2010 | Nester Hosiery begins to develop the Farm to Feet™ brand of socks

Kelly Nester is inspired to create Nester's own brand of socks, Farm to Feet™, championing the story of the American worker and the American supply chain. Farm to Feet™ takes the idea of supply cycle visibility to a whole new level, featuring a 100% American-made product: from the merino wool, to the processing, to the knitting, and even the packaging and displays, all materials and manufacturing is to originate from the United States.

Industry Partners - OIA and the Higg Index

2010 | Outdoor Industry Association

Nester Hosiery joins the OIA, an industry-wide collaborate group, to further our commitment to sustainability. Nester Hosiery begins working with the Sustainability Working Group, which is a collection of brands, retailers and manufacturers who focus on industry issues that affect the environment.

Nester Hosiery begins working with other OIA members to create the Eco Index, which evolved into what is now the Higg Index. The Higg Index is an industry tool used to self-assess sustainability efforts and allow brands, retailers and manufacturers to benchmark themselves against other businesses using the tool. Nester Hosiery was an early adopter of the Higg Index and has been using the tool to help set environmental goals for the past several years.

100% American - Farm To Feet

2013 | Nester Hosiery launches Farm to Feet™ at the F13 ORWM

Made with 100% US ingredients, by US workers in US facilities, Farm to Feet™ is officially launched at the Fall 2013 Outdoor Retailer Winter Market. The supply chain is wholly based within the US: merino wool is sourced from American Sheep Industry ranches in the western US, shipped to and processed on the East Coast, and knitted in Mount Airy at Nester Hosiery.

Steam Tumbling

2013 | Factory process overhaul with significant upgrades to finishing equipment

Steam tumbling, laser guided steam boarding, and automated packaging equipment are installed to the facility, improving efficiency and enhancing the manufacturing process.

Nester Tablets

2014 | Introduction of tablets

The Nester Hosiery technology team integrates tablet-based applications to implement a real-time process for communicating knitting quality issues back to the factory floor.

Environmental Management - Bluesign System Partners

2016 | bluesign® system partner

We joined the bluesign® system in 2016. The bluesign® system focuses on environmental health and safety in the workplace with a strong emphasis on removing harmful chemicals from the supply chain. We are currently working to source bluesign® approved textiles to manufacture some of our products with. This will ensure that we are doing the least harm to workers, the environment, and consumers.

Ready for the Future

| Current

Nester Hosiery is well positioned for the future, as the company has deep roots in its supply chain, from wool growers to yarn processing companies to software developers. It enjoys solid, mutually beneficial relationships with its customers, brands, and licensing partners.

As a U.S. Manufacturer, Nester Hosiery produces the most innovative socks on the market with both domestic and imported materials. It also works with a global network of other manufacturers to import finished goods. Nester Hosiery does everything with an eye on the community, both locally and globally.

Farm To Feet™

Farm to Feet - Discover 100% American

100% American

Farm to Feet is committed to the single, simple goal of creating the world’s best wool socks by exclusively using an all-American recipe: US Materials, US Manufacturing, and US Workers. Farm to Feet’s current line includes Hike, Sport, Hunt/Fish, Snowsports, Everyday, Tactical, and Equestrian socks. These collections include men’s and women’s styles in multiple colorways and heights.

Learn more at www.farmtofeet.com.

Get In Touch

  • Address

    1546 Carter Street
    Mount Airy, NC 27030
    United States
  • Phone

    336.789.0026
  • Fax

    Fax: 336.789.0626
  • Jobs

    Employment Opportunities: indeed.com
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