The TOMS Shoes business model may be one of the most unusual business models in the history of American commerce.
When TOM Shoes founder Blake Mycoskie first envisioned his successful footwear enterprise, he saw the for-profit arm of the company as a way of sustaining the charitable work he wanted to do with his One For One Movement. Think of it as a contemporary conceptualization of the old adage, “Teach a man to fish and he’ll never go hungry”: Couple a philanthropic movement with a dynamic business enterprise, and it will never have to go begging for contributions.
TOMS Shoes One for One
Blake Mycoskie first visited Argentina in 2002 as a contestant on the hit television series, The Amazing Race. In 2006, he decided to return. Argentina was a beautiful place but he saw so many children in need that he couldn’t stop thinking about them when he got home. What could one man do?
It could start with something very simple, Blake decided. As simple as putting shoes on the feet of children who had none to wear. This was the inspiration behind the creation of TOMS Shoes, a style of footwear based on the simple canvas-topped, rope-soled shoes the Argentinean farmers wore called alpargatas. For every pair of shoes TOMS Shoes sells, a pair of shoes is donated to a child in need.
After one year of operations, Blake and his TOMS Shoes staff were able to return to Argentina with 10,000 pairs of shoes to give away, a donation made possible by the purchases of TOMS Shoes customers just like you. Blake called the philanthropic arm of his company TOMS One For One Mission.
How TOMS Gives Back
Since 2006, TOMS Shoes has given shoes to children in over 20 countries throughout the world, including Argentina, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Guatemala, Haiti, South Africa and the United States in the states of Louisiana, Kentucky, Mississippi and Florida. TOMS Shoes makes it possible for volunteers outside the company to experience the joy of giving through “shoe drops.” In September 2010, TOMS One For One Mission gave away its one-millionth pair of shoes – in Argentina, where the TOMS story began.
Currently, TOMS is working with the Clinton Global Initiative to provide shoes for children in Haiti following the devastating 2010 earthquake. On April 8, 2011, 250,000 people around the world voluntarily went barefoot for a day in support of TOMS One Day Without Shoes initiative.
TOMS Eyewear One For One
Recently TOMS and the One For One Movement began expanding in an exciting new direction with the announcement that TOMS has begun manufacturing eyewear. The TOMS promise still holds true: For every pair of sunglasses a customer purchases, TOMS will give the gift of sight to a person in need, whether than gift is a pair of prescription eyeglasses or a surgical operation.
Where To Buy TOMS Shoes
TOMS Shoes are widely available in a variety of shops including Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, and Whole Foods as well as 500 other stores nationwide. Additionally, TOMS Shoes can be purchased through online outlets like CauseUp.org or TOMS own website. For extra savings and TOMS Coupons, subscribe to the TOMS newsletter!
TOMS a One For One company will match every pair of shoes purchased with a pair of new shoes given to a child in need. One for One!