TOMS Shoes may be a feel-good story even a cynic can feel good about. I've only recently become aware of TOMS Shoes—saw an ad in Dwell Magazine, looked them up on the web, and realized that they are a business phenomenon being discussed all over the place.
In case anyone else in North America has missed this story, TOMS shoes was founded in 2006 by Blake Mycoskie, a self-described "serial entrepreneur" who, after a trip to Argentina, decided that he wanted to help out poor kids by giving them shoes. The company's operating mission is "one for one"—meaning that, for every pair of shoes they sell, they give one away. So far they have donated over 150,000 pairs in South America and South Africa.
Oh, and there is no "Tom." It's short for "Tomorrow's Shoes."
I confess that this story of entrepreneurial altruism went straight past my heart and right to my inner cynic. There's a great deal of feel-good hype on the company's website and elsewhere on the web. Is this really a good news story? Here's what an hour of research yielded up.
Firstly, the shoes themselves. The design is based on a traditional canvas Argentinian shoe, and they don't look that great in photos. However, every review I read said that they look much better "in person", and that they're crazy comfortable. And although they're on the expensive side, they're certainly in line with other sustainably made shoes.
Yup, they've got the environmental aspect covered. Some of the models are vegan, and all of them are eco-friendly, made with low-impact and recycled materials. They are manufactured in factories in China and Argentina which the founder asserts operate in fair labour conditions and pay fair wages. And while the company doesn't have any environmental certification, they partner with manufacturers who do.
In fact, the only real criticisms I could find about the company were that a) they're making too much money; and b) don't poor people need education and medicine more than shoes? Well, first of all, they certainly don't claim to be a non-profit—in fact the beauty of the business model is that it shows that making money and helping people are not mutually exclusive activities. And secondly, shoes are actually pretty important: they allow kids to go to school (they're not allowed to go barefoot) and protect them from a lot of horrible diseases.
So, amazingly, my inner cynic is silenced. The company may not be perfect, but on the face of it, they seem to be genuine in their commitment to helping the poor and spreading the word about this progressive business model.
So, I'm going to feel good about this... and possibly go shoe shopping.