Kelly Nester, CEO of Nester Hosiery, spoke with SGB Executive about last year’s acquisition of Fox River Socks; opportunities in private label, licensed properties, and Farm to Feet; and Nester Hosiery’s 33 years in socks innovation.
Nester joined the family-owned business in 1996, three years after his uncle founded the company, and following the Mount Airy, NC-based company’s purchase of its first finishing equipment, it began selling finished goods. He was appointed CEO in 2008.
SGB: How did Nester Hosiery get its start?
Kelly Nester: In 1993, with almost two decades of sock-making, my uncle, Marty Nester, founded our business as a greige mill, knitting and seaming socks for other mills. When I joined him in 1996, he had just started working with merino wool, which became our go-to fiber. We are best known for our wool socks, but we have a range well beyond wool.
SGB: Nester Hosiery has been around for 33 years. What’s been the key to its longevity?
Kelly Nester: Our longevity is linked to our commitment to strong partnerships with customers and the supply chain. We learned a long time ago from a customer that a “narrow and deep” philosophy makes a lot of sense, especially when dealing with long lead time planning cycles. It leads to very high service levels among all supply-chain partners and generally, continued success together. I credit that along with one other key factor. We embrace technology. One simple example is back in the early 2000s, when seamless sock-making was first an option, we dove in headfirst. There are many other examples like that that tend to put us out in front.
SGB: How much of the business is private label, and is that a growing area?
Kelly Nester: We began as a private label maker, later licensed brands, and ultimately created our own brand. We are very proud of our private label partnerships, both the quality of the brand with which we partner and the quality of the products that we develop together. As a manufacturing company, it’s about half of what we do, and yes, it is certainly growing.
SGB: Woolrich was your first brand introduced in 2002. Is the licensing side still growing?
Kelly Nester: We began as a private label maker, later licensed brands, and ultimately Yes, we are still a licensee with Woolrich. We are also the sock and slipper licensee with Ariat, and, following the Fox River acquisition, we are now the sock and slipper licensee for Pendleton. Sales of licensed products have been our fastest-growing segment in the past three years.
SGB: Nester Hosiery launched the Farm to Feet brand in 2013. What was your inspiration?
Kelly Nester: Since the beginning, we were always knocking around the idea of our own brand. Separately, in 2010, I hired a photographer to spend a couple of days at our facility. Supply-chain transparency was just beginning to trend, and I realized we had a story to tell. We did this just to provide content to our customers. The images were so great. They inspired discussion about creating our own brand story with a focus on the U.S. supply chain.
SGB: Why did you acquire Fox River Socks?
Kelly Nester: An acquisition was not part of our 2025 operating plan; however, when we learned the company was for sale, we had to consider it. Fox River Mills is the original outdoor sock manufacturer in the U.S.; the first and best in many areas. They also had a strong customer base, some of which we shared. And they had a lot of equipment similar to ours, some of it pretty darn new. It was a good fit for us to make an offer for their assets.
SGB: What is your plan for the Fox River Socks’ operations and its team in Osage, ID?
Kelly Nester: In our offer, we made it clear that we would not be able to manufacture in two places. It’s just not practical. We are very proud, though, that a meaningful number of staff have come to work with the new company. We have also invested in a satellite facility for product development in Iowa, allowing some Fox product development (PD) and customer service (CS) team members to stay in Iowa and be part of the new business.
SGB: What are your plans for the Fox River Socks brand?
Kelly Nester: We are excited about the many categories where the brand thrives, especially Work, Tactical, Snow Sports, and Outdoor, and plan to center our approach around those.
SGB: What are the latest innovations from Nester Hosiery you are most excited about?
Kelly Nester: Our company never stops innovating, and now we have almost doubled our capacity. Expect a lot from us. Something is always on the burner. We take great pride in the wide range of equipment we have for sockmaking. We’re not making everything in one type. As for the latest, the 200-needle seamless machine is as good as it gets for design detail, luxurious stitch coverage and the appropriate weight for a thru-hiker, with incredible durability.
SGB: Overall, how is Nester Hosiery performing?
Kelly Nester: Our company is performing well. Kelly Nester, CEO of Nester Hosiery, spoke with SGB Executive about the company’s acquisition of Fox River Socks last year; the opportunities in private label, licensed properties, Farm to Feet, as well as Nester Hosiery’s 33 years in the manufacturing of socks and sock innovation.
Images courtesy Nester Hosiery
