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As a fifth-grade teacher in Helmsburg, !nd., Sharon
Rivenbark was determined to create ways to help Iter students learn, feel good about them
selves and become successful.
So when her only son, Tim, was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor in 1982 at
3 3
Sharon Rivenbark poses with a
portrait of her late son,Tim, who
inspired the family business.
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KNITTING
NOVELTY
SOCKS
rhe age of 16, she used chat same determination to help
him and her entire family tope with che life-changing
illness. “The doctors told us that Tim would become
mentally handicapped, and I wanted him to feel that
he was contributing to his world," says Rivenbark, 70.
Some friends suggested Tim learn a craft such as
basket weaving, but nothing appealed to Rivenbark
until she came across a 19505-era sock-knitting
machine. Living near the craft-art community of
Nashville, Ind. (pop. 825), Sharon knew that success
ful businesses were ones where shoppers could watch
products being made, and nobody in Nashville was
making socks.
With a $1,300 loan from her parents, Rivenbark
purchased the sock-knitting machine and started a
business, which she named For Bare Feet, in a little
For Bare Feet’s sports-themed
socks are popular with fans. ■■
f Jf y
shop in downtown Nashville for her son. Instead of making plain, white socks, how
ever, the crafty schoolteacher created designs, such as apples, pumpkins, cats and
butterflies, for Tim to knit into the socks.
The business soon became a family affair, and after each school day ended, she,
Tim and his four sisters—Kelly, Tina, Sheree and Mandy—would converge on
the shop to make socks. By 1984, the novelty socks were a hit, and the company
landed its first wholesale account, kiosks at local shopping malls, and booths at
apparel and gift markets around the nation. Sharon made the difficult decision
to leave teaching and work fill 1-time with Tim.
That same year For Bare Feet began adding official sports logos to its socks. "A
friend worked at die bookstore at Indiana University' and encouraged us to get
licensed by the NCAA, and that was a major breakthrough," Rivenbark says. Today,
For Bare Feet socks, adorned with official college sports logos, are sold in university
bookstores across the United States.
Tim was probably most proud of the IU socks,” says his sister, Kelly Baugh, 36,
die company’s vice president of sales, who worked tirelessly for 18 months to negotiate
a licensing agreement with the NFL. ‘Tim was in the front of my mind and heart,
encouraging me every step of the way.”
The company subsequently landed exclusive licensing agreements with other major
sporting organizations, including the NBA, NHL and MLB.
“My mother expects your personal best at whatever your day offers," Baugh says.
“She’s a very- kind person, but she has a spine of steel and is very determined in a posi
tive way. That's what she taught all of lver kids."
am w
Sharon (center) with daughters 9
L Tina and Kelly at company
in Helmsburg, Ind.
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