Toms Shoes

Inspired by a traditional Argentine shoe and challenged by the continent's poverty and health issues, I created TOMS Shoes with a singular mission: To make life more comfortable. TOMS Shoes accomplishes this through its unique shoe and my commitment to match every pair purchased with a donated pair to a child in need... no complicated formulas, it's simple... you buy a pair of TOMS Shoes and I give a pair to a child on your behalf.

- Blake Mycoskie Designer/Chief Shoe Giver

• If the world were a village... of 100 people, 40 of them would have no shoes
• Walking is the primary mode of transportation in the third world
• In many cases (especially rural villages), a child's daily walk to get clean water or to go to school can be miles.
• The streets in much of the developing world are unpaved, filled with dangerous refuse, and covered with infectious wastewater
• Barefoot exposure to these environments can lead to cuts, pain, infection, hookworm, and other diseases such as Podoconiosis
• So it's really no surprise that the leading plague in the third world is soil-transmitted parasites
• There is 1 simple solution to this global problem...