This 39-year-old quit 80-hour consulting weeks to make underwear for his struggling family business. He credits 'sweaty feet' for record profits | Fortune

Lawson Glidden, 39, says he traded about 80-hour consulting weeks for building socks and base layers for his family company, Minus33, in Ashland, New Hampshire. The privately held merino-wool brand has been run by the Glidden family since 1916, and Glidden became president in 2018. He bought sock-making machines, learned to program and operate them, and started U.S. manufacturing in 2019. Since he joined, Glidden says profits roughly quadrupled and revenue rose 2.5 to 3 times, though Fortune couldn’t independently verify the figures. He credits fit and friction reduction, claims some pairs can last the entire Appalachian Trail.