An Amazing Opportunity
Blake Mycoskie traveled to Argentina for the filming of the reality show The Amazing Race. During his time there he noticed many of the children of Argentina didn't have shoes as they couldn't afford even the less expensive alpargatas" (Ramburg, 2008). That is when Blake thought, "What if we sold the alpargatas in the United States? For every pair we sell, we will give a pair to the children who don't have shoes (Mycoskie, 2008)." Since then Toms Shoes has grown and doing more than just giving a pair of shoes. The community has impacted over 1 Billion lives.
Just two years after they were founded Toms coined April 16th as One Day Without Shoes. Today, Toms urges its shoe wearers to take their shoes off and realize that there are people worldwide who struggle just to have basic needs such as shoes, clean water, food, and just the necessities. They didn't stop there, Toms has since expanded their love and support for people to include actions that support vision loss, and mental health. The company's impact aims to help fund access to mental health resources for anyone who needs it.
I know you're wondering how can one small company help give to so many different causes. Toms Shoes is able to do so by partnering with different impact partners such as Save The Children, Homebody Industries, AT&T. Blake's compassion for helping others has expanded the company's "One for One" idea to help more than just one. Toms Shoes is inspiring others to not only buy a pair of shoes but to just move and lend more than just a hand.
References:
CBS Photo Archive, 2002. The Amazing Race 2 [Photo]. Getty Images. https://media.gettyimages.com/id/455540604/photo/the-amazing-race-2.jpg?s=2048x2048&w=gi&k=20&c=d8UeYH0JDSw1fSCYP1fxxwalo5PezivLrPoWi2Bw7SA=
MSNBC. September 12th, 2008. Toms on MSNBC. [Youtube]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQRTFg5ityc
Schweitzer, T. Retrieved on September 9th, 2023. Toms Shoes Strategy. [Photo]. Inc. https://www.inc.com/magazine/20100601/the-way-i-work-blake-mycoskie-of-toms-shoes.html
Toms Shoes. Retrieved on September 4th, 2023. Toms: Our Story. https://www.toms.com/us/about-toms.html
Unknown. Retrieved on September 10th, 2023. Mental Health Resources. [GIF]. Toms Shoes. https://www.toms.com/us/mental-health-resources.html
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