2008 Woodie Awards
Staff Editorial: Better world one step at a time
Issue date: 10/9/08 Section: Notions
The world has become a skeptical place. Every time someone does something nice, the question that naturally follows is, "What's the angle?"
After all, Coke hasn't been a "worldwide Olympics partner" all these years for the simple joy of supporting a worldwide sporting event. With that being said, however, TOMS Shoes truly is in a class of its own.
Created by Blake Mycoskie (of Amazing Race fame) the company's mission is to "make life more comfortable," and it does it by donating one pair of shoes for every pair purchased to a child in need in a program the firm calls "one for one."
To put into perspective what kind of gift that is, TOMS states on its Web site that it has given 10,000 pairs to kids in Argentina and 50,000 to kids in South Africa. On the Web site, the cheapest shoe found is $34. When you multiply that by 60,000, you get $2,040,000. That means that if each pair sold has to pay for two pairs sent, then TOMS has given away more than $1 million in shoes in a little more than two years. That is a lot of help in a short amount of time.
This whole thing might come across like a gimmick, but further inspection leads to a recent interview with Elle magazine in which Mycoskie explained his vision. "If I took the same amount of money it took to start TOMS Shoes, say $350,000, and gave those shoes away, I would have helped maybe, you know, X thousand number of kids. But by starting a business that sustains itself, it will help 10,000 times more kids.
"As much as we want to put shoes on kids' feet, we also want to rethink charity. I really think that the non-profit sector can really learn from what we're doing, because then they can be more creative in the way that they sustain. You know, we've basically created a benefactor that is never going away."
Another interesting facet of TOMS is that all the shoes are made in the countries they help, namely Ethiopia, Asia and Argentina. That, of course, can lead to worries and visions of sweatshop-like atmospheres with 60-cent-an-hour wages and 16-hour days. Mycoskie settles those fears, however and says TOMS ensures a strict level of fair work and wage compliance by employing a third-party consulting group to audit and inspect facilities. The consultants do announced and unannounced inspections and generally look over recordkeeping, ensuring that those standards are kept, so the company gets to help people on two fronts - with good working conditions and with shoes for kids.
After all, Coke hasn't been a "worldwide Olympics partner" all these years for the simple joy of supporting a worldwide sporting event. With that being said, however, TOMS Shoes truly is in a class of its own.
Created by Blake Mycoskie (of Amazing Race fame) the company's mission is to "make life more comfortable," and it does it by donating one pair of shoes for every pair purchased to a child in need in a program the firm calls "one for one."
To put into perspective what kind of gift that is, TOMS states on its Web site that it has given 10,000 pairs to kids in Argentina and 50,000 to kids in South Africa. On the Web site, the cheapest shoe found is $34. When you multiply that by 60,000, you get $2,040,000. That means that if each pair sold has to pay for two pairs sent, then TOMS has given away more than $1 million in shoes in a little more than two years. That is a lot of help in a short amount of time.
This whole thing might come across like a gimmick, but further inspection leads to a recent interview with Elle magazine in which Mycoskie explained his vision. "If I took the same amount of money it took to start TOMS Shoes, say $350,000, and gave those shoes away, I would have helped maybe, you know, X thousand number of kids. But by starting a business that sustains itself, it will help 10,000 times more kids.
"As much as we want to put shoes on kids' feet, we also want to rethink charity. I really think that the non-profit sector can really learn from what we're doing, because then they can be more creative in the way that they sustain. You know, we've basically created a benefactor that is never going away."
Another interesting facet of TOMS is that all the shoes are made in the countries they help, namely Ethiopia, Asia and Argentina. That, of course, can lead to worries and visions of sweatshop-like atmospheres with 60-cent-an-hour wages and 16-hour days. Mycoskie settles those fears, however and says TOMS ensures a strict level of fair work and wage compliance by employing a third-party consulting group to audit and inspect facilities. The consultants do announced and unannounced inspections and generally look over recordkeeping, ensuring that those standards are kept, so the company gets to help people on two fronts - with good working conditions and with shoes for kids.
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