Walk This Way

In 2006, Blake Mycoskie, an entreprenuer and traveler living the American dream, saw an opportunity to help children in an unconventional way. While traveling around impovershed villages, he realized that children there had no shoes to protect their feet, their main mode of transportation. He returned to America determined to make a change.

Blake with the shoe that keeps on giving. Photocredit: Papermag.com

And so TOMS was born. Operating under the motto One for One, for every pair sold in the states, a pair would be delivered to a child without shoes in Argentina. Modeled after the Argentinian version of the Espadrille, but with rubber sole and fashionable patterns, Blake started selling shoes with expectations that he might sell a couple hundred pairs from his apartment. Soon, industry leaders like Fred Segal and American Ray became interested in the project. As soon as October of 2006 the shoe of tomorrow was the talk of the press making the pages of the likes of Vogue, GQ, and The Los Angeles Times all by the end of 2007.

As of February 1, 2009 TOMS has distributed more than 100,00 pairs to children in Argentina, Ethiopia and South Africa. If everything goes according to plan, they will deliver 300,000 more in 2009 alone. In less than five years, Blake and TOMS will have protected nearly a million little feet from cuts, sores, and infections as well as allowing them to access education in schools that require shoes.

With its astounding success in so little time, Blake has initiated other plans for the company. On April 16th he encouraged people to go barefoot for the day to increase awareness and is looking into building a factory in an impoverished nation to help people help those around them.