For the Good of Humanity--I'm going shopping.

In the past week I've made a major purchase in the way of my wardrobe. A pair of shoes. The shoes I bought are made of bright red canvas and they add a pop of color to any outfit. Last class, we discussed highly affordable do-it-yourself eye wear that debuted in India and is now spreading to other high-need areas. We also continued to discuss how movements in the realm of social innovation have a big impact on movements in the for-profit private sector. My shoes, the bright red ones, are TOMS Shoes. TOMS Shoes is a company that has a one for one model. If you buy a pair, they give a pair to a child in need. All for a price tag of $54. It just so happens that TOMS shoes have exploded in trendiness in the past year. You can see Keira Knightly here with some red TOMS not too far off from the ones I bought. TOMS has done so well that they have recently begun a new line of platform heel TOMS. Now, whether or not children in third-world countries are receiving glitter platforms every time you purchase glitter platforms is a question I don't have the answer too. I do know, however, that among my peers, TOMS has made being charitable trendy. When you receive your TOMS in the small, conservatively-sized brown box, you also receive a blue and white flag featuring the TOMS logo. I'd like to think of this flag as symbol of your broadcasted action to the rest of the world. Wearing the simple canvas shoes says, "I care about my fellow man." But do all the wearers of TOMS care about or think about the child on the receiving end of the other pair? Maybe not. I'm sure there are people who find out what the TOMS company is about long after they've dawned their leopard print pair. Does it matter if not all of TOMS customers understand the impact their purchase has? As current and future social innovators, that is up for us to decide. How aware do we want our customers to be?