Shoes are a luxury to many children in South Africa. In a country with a life expectancy of 48 years and an HIV rate of 5.7 million people*, something as seemingly small as a pair of shoes is often not a priority. These shoes, however, are crucial in a child’s life without shoes, many children cannot go to school. They cannot earn money to support their families. They can contract diseases and parasites, such as hookworm. The ground they walk on can reach extreme temperatures in the boiling African sun, leading to burns and blisters. Something so crucial is taken for granted in the United States. Halfway around the world, many students in Muncie don’t even realize how fortunate they are to have shoes. But a speech from one man is about to change all of that.
It was a March day, seemingly like any other on Ball State’s campus. It was the week after Spring Break, and students were getting back into the swing of classes and homework after a week of freedom and fun.
Blake Mycoskie sat under a tree behind Woodworth Complex. To the untrained eye, he looked like any other college student — casually dressed in jeans and a sweater, reading a book and writing in a journal. People strolled by him without a second glance.
Most of them didn’t realize who he was. Most of them didn’t know he was a successful entrepreneur. Most of them didn’t know how he took a passion and made it into a powerhouse business. Most of them didn’t recognize him as the founder of TOMS shoes, a company that changed the world with a simple concept: one for one. For each pair of shoes purchased, a pair would be given to a child in need.
It was 2006. Mycoskie was visiting Argentina after a nearly successful run on the game show “The Amazing Race.” He befriended locals and visited their villages, where he met many children who he noticed did not own a single pair of shoes. This was how the children were used to living, but Mycoskie knew how dangerous it was. He passionately and fiercely believed that he needed to do something to help. And thus, TOMS Shoes was born — a sustainable, for-profit company that would give a pair of shoes to a child in need for each pair purchased.
Business was not a new venture for Mycoskie. He had already started more than a dozen small businesses, some of them quite successful. TOMS, however, found modest beginnings. It had little publicity, no human resources department and no factories. The shoes were made and sold from Mycoskie’s California apartment, with the help of family, friends and acquaintances. Mycoskie and his friends originally had planned on making no more than 250 pairs of shoes, just enough to supply one small village in Argentina. But then the word spread.
Mycoskie managed to convince a shoe store in California to display his shoes in its window. A journalist saw this display and contacted Mycoskie, curious to write an article about his company. Two weeks later, an article about TOMS appeared on the front page of the Los Angeles Times. By 2 p.m. on the day the article was published, 2,220 pairs had been ordered — nearly 10 times more pairs than Mycoskie had sitting in his apartment.
A month later, Vogue magazine ran a high-profile article that led to TOMS getting calls from publications and customers all around the world, including cities like London, Paris and Tokyo. The idea was catching on quickly, and the demand was rising. Mycoskie was quickly finding that he couldn’t produce shoes as quickly as they were being bought. The shoes were growing in popularity and in revenue; but it didn’t stop there. In fact, it was just getting started. The idea would continue to grow and expand as people embraced the concept of “one for one.”
That was four years ago. As of March 2010, TOMS had sold more than 400,000 pairs of shoes. The company now gives shoes to children in 23 countries, including Argentina, Cambodia, Ethiopia and the United States.
This is all made possible by the support of customers. While celebrities, including former President Bill Clinton, have advocated for TOMS, it has largely been the college demographic where Mycoskie has found most of his support. Mycoskie is a popular speaker on college campuses. He has visited more than 70 colleges nationwide, including Ball State, where he spoke to a full audience in John J. Pruis Hall in March 2010.
Months after his speech, TOMS are everywhere at Ball State. Walking down McKinley on a busy afternoon, dozens of pairs can be seen pounding the pavement. Clearly, a plethora of students have latched on to the cause. People are buying the shoes, telling their friends and spreading the word.
But why?
According to Melinda Messineo, associate professor in the Department of Sociology, people like the message that wearing TOMS sends to others. The shoes show that the person wearing them is informed, conscientious and relatively affluent. This, Messineo says, is not unique to TOMS.
“There is a trend toward ‘cause consumerism’ that is a sign of conscious informed affluence,” she says. “You see it with fair trade coffee and chocolate, as well.”
Messineo says that this trend in TOMS is unique in one aspect, however: it is encouraging people to spend more money during a time of economic hardship.
“This trend is in a different direction,” she says. “People are actually spending a bit more, and the spending is a symbol of relative affluence. Perhaps TOMS Shoes are a bit more expensive, but it is for a good cause. And to have the shoes shows that you care about causes and are willing to spend your money that way.”
Heather Watts, sophomore magazine journalism major, says she wears her TOMS frequently and thinks that the price of the shoes has something to do with the trend. Although, she sees it in a different light.
“They’re not too expensive,” she says. “It only came to like $50. People spend like one hundred or more dollars on tennis shoes that are made in sweatshops. These are made ethically.”
Watts says that economic hardship or not, TOMS meets a basic need, and meeting that need through sustainable business efforts is where some of the company’s success lies.
“We’re in a recession right now, but [TOMS] is not going to suffer because people can’t give money,” she says. “They still need shoes. People here need shoes and people across the world need shoes, so it’s something that will always continue.”
Sustainability is a point of pride for TOMS. Mycoskie intentionally chose to make the business a for-profit operation, as opposed to a non-profit, in order to keep the company going.
“I started TOMS with about a half a million dollars of my own capital,” he told Success magazine in September 2010. “If I would’ve taken half a million dollars and just bought shoes to give to the kids, I would’ve been able to give the shoes once. It never would’ve been as far-reaching and sustainable as TOMS Shoes is now.”
Becca Hare, TOMS public relations representative, says that making TOMS into a sustainable business means that the cause is longer lasting. “The reason Blake started TOMS as a ‘one for one’ business was because it is a more sustainable model for long-term growth, and in turn, creating a more sustainable way to put shoes on children’s feet,” Hare says. “TOMS wants to do its part to help the environment as well, so creating shoes that are made from earth-friendly, recyclable materials is important.”
This sustainable focus does translate into direct green efforts for TOMS. Many of the shoe designs are made from organic and vegan-friendly materials. The TOMS website also gives suggestions for ways to reuse the shoes once they’ve become too tattered for wear, such as turning them into foot-shaped flowerpots or making bracelets.
Allison Beer McKenzie, architect and director of sustainability at architecture firm SHP Leading Design, says TOMS follows what is called the “triple bottom line” of sustainability — sustainable efforts that consider people, the planet and profit.
“What this means is the concepts and processes that are truly sustainable aren’t just about hugging trees or resource conservation, but consider ecological impacts, economic impacts, and social equity impacts,” McKenzie says. “TOMS does a lot of great things from a sustainability standpoint, including lines of shoes made completely of vegan and organic materials and a fun little page that shows you how to reuse your worn out TOMS shoes. By far, though, TOMS is best known for their ‘one for one’ program.”
Katrena Thompson, Ball State sophomore family studies and child development major, says that while sustainability is a point of interest for many supporters of TOMS, the green focus is just a consequence of a larger social consciousness as a whole.
“I think what makes the idea so successful is that our generation is a generation of change,” Thompson says. “People have been saying that for a while now, but I think you’re really starting to see it now. Our generation, we have the power to change the world. People are really starting to respect one another and realize that we can make a change. We can make a difference in this world; and by buying a pair of TOMS, you’re making a small difference, but you’re impacting someone.”
That seemingly “small difference” is not quite so tiny these days — TOMS gave away its millionth pair in September. One million children (that’s more than the entire population of Indianapolis) who didn’t have shoes before, now have a pair, thanks to Mycoskie’s vision and the millions of TOMS supporters. Thompson feels humbled to have been part of such an important moment in TOMS history.
“I’m gleaming,” she says. “I got an email with the thank you video, and I cried. I was watching that, and the kids saying thank you…It gives me the chills thinking about it, the fact that I helped those kids, or you helped those kids. And so many of our friends bought a pair of shoes, and maybe the pair of shoes that I bought is going to that kid.
It was empowering knowing that I could make that change and that so many of my fellow peers, students, are making that change by something so simple like buying a pair of shoes.”
Mycoskie is overwhelmed by the support TOMS has received. “To reach a milestone like this is really amazing,” Mycoskie told business media website Bloomberg in September 2010. “We have been so busy giving shoes that we don’t even think about the scope of what we’ve created and what we’ve done.”
“It is an amazing milestone for the company,” Hare says. “It has taken an incredible amount of hard work and dedication to get to this point, and we as a company are taking some time to reflect on the past four years and to plan ahead for what’s to come in the future. This is a very exciting time for TOMS and we are so thankful to our customers and supporters who have helped us make this possible.”
Hayley Rabbers, a senior natural resources and environmental management major, finds a renewed energy in the buzz surrounding TOMS.
“I’m really impressed they’ve made it so far so fast,” Rabbers says. “When I first heard about them in 2007, they were so unknown. I really didn’t predict them becoming so popular. It kind of changes my mind about people. I’ve typically thought that, in general, people act solely on self-interest, but the fact that so many people are making an effort to help people they don’t even know is amazing.”
TOMS supporters are not simply making the effort; they are embracing and displaying it proudly. The TOMS website boasts a section called “How We Wear Them.” Under this heading exist thousands of photos of people sporting their TOMS. These photos and accompanying captions range from everyday mundane activities (“I wear my TOMS every day, even in the rain.”) to those once in a lifetime experiences (“I wear my TOMS on the Great Wall of China!”). The shoes are worn in weddings, in senior pictures and at graduations. The more fashionable supporters color coordinate their TOMS to their apparel — white, blue, red, green. There are the classic canvas TOMS, the TOMS boots and the lace-up “cordone” style of TOMS. These people have incorporated their TOMS into their everyday lives.
An explosion in sales, a wide selection of styles and colors —TOMS has all the makings of a fashion fad. But to say TOMS is a trend is an understatement. With one million pairs sold and counting, dedicated activists, volunteers, relentless work and an undeniable passion, TOMS is a full-blown movement.
“TOMS is 100 percent a movement,” Hare says. “It’s not a fad or a trendy way to help people. I believe we’re here to stay.”
Thompson says TOMS has evolved from its original popularity into something bigger. “I think it started out as a trend,” she says. “But now, it’s a movement. People are literally moving, rocking this world by giving shoes to children. It’s so amazing and it’s so much bigger than all of us individually. We’re all moving to give children something they need but never thought they would have.”
No matter how it started out, it’s clear that TOMS Shoes has become more than a trend. It’s more than a passing craze that people will forget in 10 years. It’s a movement, a movement with modest beginnings. It will be remembered as the movement that started with no more than an altruistic vision and a simple concept — “one for one.”
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