
Philadelphia's Arm Sock Industry Decimated By Iverson Trade.
Philadelphia, PA-
It wasn't long ago that Mitch Wright considered his life to be an old-fashioned American success story. He started with nothing but a Singer sewing machine and a dream. Yet, through hard work and determination, he established himself as the premier arm sock manufacturer in the country. Looking at a photograph of Mr. Wright taken a scant six months ago, it is hard to imagine the depths to which his life has fallen. Mary Joan, his wife of thirteen years has recently filed for a divorce, and his daughter Joanna has been forced to put her college education on hold for economic reasons. "Everything was going great. I had the whole package; wife, kid in college, big house, fancy cars and then [76ers GM]Billy King ships Iverson to Colorado for a bag of magical beans."
Unfortunately, the trade of former MVP Allen Iverson from the 76ers to the Denver Nuggets has reduced this once proud man to a shadow of his former self. His company, ARMWARMERCO filed for Bankruptcy protection on Tuesday effectively laying off its 300 employees. "Iverson personally kept me in business, I realize that now. A lot of people didn't realize how many arm socks that guy went through. He burned through four arm socks per quarter. Plus he made arm socks cool, all the local kids bought them just to be like their hero. But not anymore, after he left and Donovan McNabb refused to be our next spokesman I guess it was hopeless."
Mr. Wright is currently squatting in one of his old warehouses, long since seized by creditors. He spends his days peddling his glut of arm socks on the street, burning them for fuel at night in order to make it through the cold Philadelphia winter. "When the trade was announced, I thought about heading to Denver, but ultimately vowed to stay and fight until the very end. People told me to switch production to socks for feet, but I really thought we could make it, that regular people would recognize the vast usefulness of arm socks. But without Iverson's star power behind them they just didn't sell anymore." He waves his hands around at hundreds of boxes filled with unsold arm socks. "In order to make ends meet I just took a job making sweater vests. How sick is that?"
-K-Funk 2/3/7