2. Mission Statement
What drives TOMS Shoes company is to simply make life more comfortable. TOMS not only
ensures that every pair of its slip-ons are soft, breathable, and lightweight for an optimal fit—the
company has also charged itself with the responsibility of providing for the comfort of children in
impoverished regions worldwide. For every pair of TOMS shoes purchased online or at retail, the
company will provide a pair to a child in need.
Our products are catered to anyone who want to empower the lives of others.
3. While traveling in Argentina in 2006, TOMS Founder Blake Mycoskie witnessed the
hardships faced by children growing up without shoes. Wanting to help, he created
TOMS Shoes, a company that would match every pair of shoes purchased with a new
pair of shoes for a child in need. One for One®.
What began as a simple idea has evolved into a powerful business model that helps
address need and advance health, education and economic opportunity for children and
their communities around the world.
4. Products
Besides shoes, we have a wide array of items ranging from:
Bags
Eyewear
Sustainable Coffee
Apparel
Accessories
5. Saving Lives
• A purchase with TOMS
supports sustainable
community-based eye care
programs, the creation of
professional jobs (often for
young women) and helps
provide basic eye care
training to local health
volunteers and teachers..
• By supporting the creation
of sustainable water
systems, we are able to help
provide entire communities
with access to safe water,
which leads to improved
health, increased economic
productivity, job creation
and access to education.
• With every bag you
purchase, TOMS will
help provide a safe
birth for a mother and
baby in need. One for
One®.
6. We do not limit ourselves from saving lives outside our borders.
7. We Care About the Environment Too!
Here at Toms, we are not only focused on human lives; our environment plays a key role as well. We make
sure that our products are as environmentally friendly and cost effective as possible.
For example, we make shoes with eco-friendly and vegan materials such as the following:
• natural hemp
• organic cotton
• recycled polyester
These materials are used on the upper, liner and/or the insole cover (instead of our standard suede insole).
All of our shoe boxes are made from 80% recycled post-consumer waste and are printed with soy ink.
8. How We Do It
IDENTIFY
A NEED
CAST A WIDE
NET
RESEARCH
THE
POSSIBILITIES
SEEK
PARTNERS
9. • TOMS Marketplace was established in 2013 to help aspiring entre preneurs launch their own
sustainable enterprise.
• Select companies handpicked by TOMS, and they experience an interview process that
includes a review of their business practices and giving philosophies. These companies range
from microenterprises to established organizations who all share the belief that business can
be used to improve the lives of others.
Editor's Notes
IDENTIFY A NEED
The TOMS Giving Team has set up a taskforce to research and identify the greatest needs around the world. We study UN statistics and the Sustainable Development Goals, in addition to work by other international development experts.
CAST A WIDE NET
Through this research, TOMS has identified a number of high-priority needs, including: energy, food security, housing, health, education, water, financial access, environment, gender equality and well-being/empowerment.
RESEARCH THE POSSIBILITIES
Once we’ve decided on a need to address, we research tangible interventions that can serve as the next One for One®. Ideally, these interventions allow us to leave a big impact by playing a small part in a process.
SEEK PARTNERS
Finally, we look to the best nonprofits and social enterprises serving that need, seeking a variety of partners with different, but valuable ways of accomplishing one great goal.
From TOMS Marketplace to Start Something That Matters, we're helping new social enterprises get their start from the ground up.
In 2013, we launched TOMS Marketplace, a platform created to help social entrepreneurs succeed.
The companies featured in Marketplace are handpicked by TOMS, and they experience an interview process that includes a review of their business practices and giving philosophies. These companies range from small start-ups to established organizations, and they give everything from water and medicines to school supplies and soccer balls to people in need.
While each company is different, they all share the belief that business can be used to improve the lives of others.
