In the summer of 1984, Maine artist, Roxanne Quimby, was trying to thumb a ride home. Eventually, a bright yellow Datsun pickup truck pulled over, and Roxanne instantly recognized Burt Shavitz, a local fellow whose beard was almost as well-known as his roadside honey stand. Burt and Roxanne hit it off. Before long, Roxanne was making candles with unused wax from Burt's beehives. They made $200 at their first craft fair; within a year, they'd make $20,000. It was a pretty fantastic beginning - but it was just the beginning, all the same.

At the Darn Tough mill, there's a sign that says, “Nobody ever outsourced anything for quality.” The Darn Tough folks share, "When you’re really serious about something you make it yourself. Our socks aren’t produced off shore or out-sourced within the US." And that's not all we love about these socks!

How did Colonel Littleton get started? Here’s the story from the Colonel himself:

I don’t want to say by accident, but it was a little that way.

Ann Clark started out with little more than a pig-shaped Christmas ornament and a dream. After years of painting and creating small gifts for her children to give away, she set up shop in her garage and turned a hobby into a business. Armed with a small amount of start-up cash and unbridled enthusiasm, Ann tackled her first trade show. She set up a booth at the Philadelphia Gift Show featuring six cookie cutter designs and several other hand-made crafts and came home with $3,500 in orders. Ann Clark, the person, became Ann Clark, Ltd., the company.

Let’s take a little trip back in time. It’s 1946. Detroit. Engineers Frank Cotter and G. Howlett Davis hit on something big: they harness the natural insulating powers of air to create a permanently sealed, double-walled tumbler. Finally, a way to keep hot drinks hot and cold drinks cold. This outstanding innovation changed the drinkware industry forever.

Upon his return from the American Civil War, Colonel Ichabod Conk concocted fine grooming products for the discerning gentleman. He used and sold these items in the New Mexico barbershops he ran with his wife.

Back in 1949, a Rochester, New York chemist named Emanuel Goldberg developed the first plastic pipette holder. He, along with three workers, began the Nalge Company in a small building at 625 South Goodman Street. For years, Goldberg and his growing team developed the Nalgene line of state-of-the-art polyethylene laboratory equipment: centrifuge bottles, filter units, storage tanks. Obviously, it wasn’t the kind of stuff you toss into your backpack for a weekend in the woods. But there were rumors floating around … stories about scientists taking the smaller, more convenient bottles out of the lab and using them on hikes and excursions.

“What walks down stairs, alone or in pairs
and makes a slinkity sound?
A spring, a spring, a marvelous thing!
Everyone knows it’s Slinky!”

An inspirational American success story, Nordic Ware was founded in 1946 by a determined wife, Dotty, and her resourceful husband Dave, newly back from the second world war. With only $500 in their pockets, a few good ideas and a desire to create a business of their own, a humble kitchenware company was launched from the basement of their home in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In the beginning, Nordic Ware’s product line started out with only a handful of items, all of which were specialty Scandinavian ethnic cookware products—the Rosette iron, Krumkake iron, Platte Panne pan, and the Ebelskiver pan. But times have changed!

Did you know that ten minutes of jumping rope is roughly the equivalent of running an eight-minute mile? Also, jumping rope for approximately 10 to 15 minutes is enough to burn off the calories from a candy bar? That’s great exercise!