TUCKED BETWEEN the Old Town Bar and ABC Kitchen in New York’s Flatiron District is a nondescript white door marked with the number 37. When you ring the bell, the door buzzes open, and a waiting elevator takes you up to the fourth floor. You’re now inside the Hive — a stunning loft space with soaring ceilings, soothing pastel colours, dozens of plants, and roughly a hundred humans buzzing around, ranging in age from 22 to 62.
Some employees clack away at their computers. Others laugh and chat loudly — the Hive can get pretty noisy. Just outside the kitchen, a few people attend to a huge jigsaw puzzle. And beside the floor-to-ceiling windows, still other members of the Hive perch at one of the drafting tables surrounded by stacks of clothing samples — socks, underwear, T-shirts. Plush fabrics. Happy people. Cold brew and kombucha on tap. You probably have a life outside the Hive, but you could just as easily set up shop here forever.
In New York, it’s often the most unassuming doors that lead to the most spectacular interiors, and the guy we’re here to meet falls into that category, as well. Judging by his loose-fitting sweatshirt, khaki pants and comfy sneakers, you might mistake Dave Heath for a coder or a designer. Anything but the CEO of a multimillion-dollar apparel brand.
Dave’s company, , started selling socks online seven years ago. Today, along with socks, it has a booming business in T-shirts and underwear. You might be thinking, millions of dollars? That’s a lot of socks. Yes, it is. But Dave puts it another way: “We are cornering the market on comfort.” And if that weren’t enough, Bombas gives away one item to a homeless shelter for
