Walk around any college campus, neighborhood, or city and you’re bound to encounter more than one person wearing TOMS. At this point, I’ve even had friend get married wearing customized white TOMS. They’ve become mainstream and can be found at stores like Nordstrom, Urban Outfitters, and Whole Foods.
For many people, TOMS might be the first thing they think of when asked to name a social venture, their “One for One” model gives one pair of shoes to a child in need for each pair bought. Despite their incredible success, TOMS has been criticized over the past few years for the fact that giving away shoes might be doing more harm than good. Some of these criticisms include disruptions to the local economy by taking away from local cobblers and from failing to address some of the main issues that lead to children not having basic items like shoes[i]. To their credit, TOMS has responded to these criticisms and has worked to expand their philanthropy to include providing eye care, clean water, safe birthing kits and anti-bullying education[ii].
In his Fast Company article, Hugh Whalan highlights that sometimes charity, and giving away products for free, isn’t the best answer.[iii] TOMS is a prime example of this, what if instead of giving away shoes, local vendors were able to buy inventory for a nominal price and sell them or if they could be a part of the manufacturing process, earning wages through production. TOMS has begun to shift more towards Whalan’s way of thinking, with their CEO committing to producing 1/3 of their inventory in countries where they then donate the shoes[iv]. TOMS was founded to help people and as they continue to evolve their philanthropic philosophy I believe they should continue to focus on how to help solve the larger problems people are facing through enabling financial independence, not just continuing the cycle of giving things away.
[i] TOMS Shoes Responds to Critics, but it may not be Enough.(Otto, July 24, 2013) http://www.globalenvision.org/2013/07/23/toms-shoes-responds-critics-it-may-not-be-enough
[iii] How Misinformed Ideas About Profit Are Holding Back The World’s Poor (Whalan,
Fast Company, May 8, 2013); www.fastcoexist.com/1682004/how-misinformed-ideasabout-profit-are-holding-back-the-worlds-poor
[iv] TOMS Shoes Responds to Critics, but it may not be Enough.(Otto, July 24, 2013) http://www.globalenvision.org/2013/07/23/toms-shoes-responds-critics-it-may-not-be-enough
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