Past Winner Stories
For Bare Feet
www.forbarefeet.com
It didn't take long for Sharon Rivenbark's business to get off and running -- appropriate for a company focused on feet. Her custom sock shop, For Bare Feet, makes and markets a wide range of specialty socks, selling the designs at her shop in Nashville and through a variety of sales reps and licensing agreements.
But Rivenbark's switch from teaching to manufacturing and sales in 1984 was prompted by personal reasons.
"When I learned that my son, Tim Magnuson, was suffering from a debilitating neurological condition, I decided to open a shop in Nashville, Ind., so he would always have a place to work,” Rivenbark said, "and when asked by anyone what he did for a living, he could proudly say, 'I own a gift shop in Nashville.'"
After locating an antique knitting machine, she leased space in Nashville's antique alley and, with a loan from her parents, launched For Bare Feet in the spring of 1984 from the small Brown County town of Helmsburg. On leave from her teaching position, she embraced the sales and manufacturing biz. Business owners from other cities prowling through Nashville's specialty stores asked her to wholesale to them. Sales reps offered to sell her wares and even Indiana University asked if she could come up with a nice pair in cream and crimson. By the end of that first summer, she was supplying socks not only to her own store, but also to a number of Indiana and out-of-state gift shops as well as the IU bookstore.
"Business was good,” she said. "People liked the quality of our socks and our appealing designs.”
Her challenge came when her year's leave of absence was up. Realizing she needed more time to stabilize the business, she asked fur another year off. This time the local school board turned her down. Should she go back to teaching, she wondered, a job she loved that provided financial stability? Or resign and throw herself into building the business that would have to support her family?
"From that day forward, my single occupational goal was to grow the business," she said.
And that's what she did. That first year, she was approached by Simon mall management about renting a kiosk during the Christmas season. She took them up on the offer and brought her socks to a wider market. She talked up her socks at trade shows and lined up sales reps to market them.
Sales grew, and so did her line of licensing agreements. Today Rivenbark's company has licensing agreements with colleges throughout the United States and Canada, the NBA, the NFL, the NHL, Major League Baseball, Minor League Baseball and Coca-Cola. For Bare Feet also customizes designs fur such tourist attractions as Busch Gardens, the San Diego Zoo, Kennedy Space Center and Yosemite National Park. The company wholesales to such sports retailers as Foot Locker, The Finish Line, Champs and The NBA Store, as well as to catalogs, internet sites and school fundraisers. Last year, For Bare Feet won the Merchandise Supplier Grand Award from J.C. Penney.
Clearly, the company launched nearly 20 years ago has seen plenty of success. It has not come without sadness, however. Rivenbark's son lost his battle with his illness. But she and her daughters and sons-in-law continue to run the business that has expanded to 150 employees.
"My family strongly feels that we have an obligation to Tim, to ourselves, and to our employees and their families, many of whom have been students of mine, to provide a place we can work together to accomplish our goal of providing a quality product at a fair price," Rivenbark said "A product that is made in the USA, right here in Helmsburg, Indiana.”
But Rivenbark's switch from teaching to manufacturing and sales in 1984 was prompted by personal reasons.
"When I learned that my son, Tim Magnuson, was suffering from a debilitating neurological condition, I decided to open a shop in Nashville, Ind., so he would always have a place to work,” Rivenbark said, "and when asked by anyone what he did for a living, he could proudly say, 'I own a gift shop in Nashville.'"
After locating an antique knitting machine, she leased space in Nashville's antique alley and, with a loan from her parents, launched For Bare Feet in the spring of 1984 from the small Brown County town of Helmsburg. On leave from her teaching position, she embraced the sales and manufacturing biz. Business owners from other cities prowling through Nashville's specialty stores asked her to wholesale to them. Sales reps offered to sell her wares and even Indiana University asked if she could come up with a nice pair in cream and crimson. By the end of that first summer, she was supplying socks not only to her own store, but also to a number of Indiana and out-of-state gift shops as well as the IU bookstore.
"Business was good,” she said. "People liked the quality of our socks and our appealing designs.”
Her challenge came when her year's leave of absence was up. Realizing she needed more time to stabilize the business, she asked fur another year off. This time the local school board turned her down. Should she go back to teaching, she wondered, a job she loved that provided financial stability? Or resign and throw herself into building the business that would have to support her family?
"From that day forward, my single occupational goal was to grow the business," she said.
And that's what she did. That first year, she was approached by Simon mall management about renting a kiosk during the Christmas season. She took them up on the offer and brought her socks to a wider market. She talked up her socks at trade shows and lined up sales reps to market them.
Sales grew, and so did her line of licensing agreements. Today Rivenbark's company has licensing agreements with colleges throughout the United States and Canada, the NBA, the NFL, the NHL, Major League Baseball, Minor League Baseball and Coca-Cola. For Bare Feet also customizes designs fur such tourist attractions as Busch Gardens, the San Diego Zoo, Kennedy Space Center and Yosemite National Park. The company wholesales to such sports retailers as Foot Locker, The Finish Line, Champs and The NBA Store, as well as to catalogs, internet sites and school fundraisers. Last year, For Bare Feet won the Merchandise Supplier Grand Award from J.C. Penney.
Clearly, the company launched nearly 20 years ago has seen plenty of success. It has not come without sadness, however. Rivenbark's son lost his battle with his illness. But she and her daughters and sons-in-law continue to run the business that has expanded to 150 employees.
"My family strongly feels that we have an obligation to Tim, to ourselves, and to our employees and their families, many of whom have been students of mine, to provide a place we can work together to accomplish our goal of providing a quality product at a fair price," Rivenbark said "A product that is made in the USA, right here in Helmsburg, Indiana.”