Lit Review

Lit Review

Blake Mycoskie is the founder of TOMS shoes. When Blake traveled to Argentina on vacation, he met a woman who worked in a shoe drive. The woman told him that many kids lacked shoes even in well developed countries. Due to lack of shoes, these children could be exposed to diseases. After seeing the children with blisters, sores and infections, Blake wanted to help these children. He knew taking donations would only get him so far. He wanted to raise money to get children the shoes and have those shoes be the right size for the children. (Mycoskie)

Blake decided to make a for profit business to help provide shoes for these children. He believed that this solution would guarantee a constant flow of shoes rather than depending on people’s donations. Blake developed a simple concept, “sell a pair of shoes today; give a pair of shoes tomorrow.” Blake thought of the idea of “Shoes for Tomorrow” which became “Tomorrow’s Shoes” then later shortened to TOMS. Blake had no connection to the shoe business but while in Argentina he met with his polo teacher, whom helped him find someone to locally manufacture the shoes. Blake wanted the shoes to look like alpargata which are the common everyday shoes in Argentina. (Mycoskie)

After working with local artisans, Blake brought back 250 samples of the Argentina inspired shoes back with him to Los Angeles. Blake asked some of his best female friends to dinner and shared the store, the girls gave suggestions of what stores to try and have sell them. The women ended up insisting on buying a pair of the shoes, which gave Blake hope that others would like them too. Tom went to American Rag to see if they would be willing to sell TOMS in their stores. He met with the shoe buyer and she was interested in the product. Toms had become a retail customer. (Mycoskie)

Booth Moore, a fashion writer for the Los Angeles Times heard about the story of toms and loved the shoes. She interviewed Blake and wrote an article about the shoes. Not long after, TOMS were featured on the headlines of the Los Angeles Times. By the end of that day they had received 2,200 orders. (Mycoskie)

Blake and a group of family and friends when to Argentina to distribute the 10,000 shoes. The children's feet were measured so that the children would have the right size shoe.

There seemed to be a trend in American consumers of all ages that were enthusiastic about buying a product that has a connection to charitable causes. In a recent survey, buyers ranked the reason for buying a product to first be social purpose not design, innovation or brand loyalty (when prices were the same). In 2011, it was reported that TOMS has provided more than 1 million shoes to those who are in need since TOMS started in 2006. (Garton)
Blake sold his driver-education business to be able to have more funds for TOMS. With the funds, he was able to hire more people who understood the shoe business enabling the company to scale up operations. Expert footwear industries were against TOMS saying that the combination of a for-profit company with a social mission would complicate and undermine both. TOMS replies by saying that TOMS are more than a product, they are part of a story, a mission and a movement anyone can join.