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What a Sock Company Can Teach Us About Purpose-Driven Business Purpose and profit aren't mutually exclusive. Here's what happens when purpose meets entrepreneurship.

By Aytekin Tank

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Socks.

Are they useful? Absolutely. Inspiring? Not to most people.

But David Heath, co-founder and CEO of Bombas, saw things differently. Heath started distributing socks to unhoused people in 2011, handing them out on his way to and from work in New York City. "I saw one guy take his shoes off and on one foot he had wrapped a bandana around his foot and on the other, he'd literally wrapped his foot into a plastic bag to stop the boot from rubbing against it," Heath recalls.