Sunday, November 01, 2009

TOMS Shoes Gets 15 Minutes of Fame

Okay, that’s an exaggeration, as they are already famous. But I was happy to see them make the “big time” recently when they were featured on American Spirit, a CBS nightly news feature with Katie Couric.

TOMS Shoes is a pretty cool company and I like what they do. For every pair of shoes they sell, they give one pair away to a child in need. Since the company’s inception in 2006, they have given away more than 150,000 pairs of shoes.

The company website explains that their “shoe drops” do a lot more good than just putting shoes on the feet of people who can’t afford them:

“Wearing shoes prevents feet from getting cuts and sores on unsafe roads and from contaminated soil. Not only are these injuries painful, they also are dangerous when wounds become infected. The leading cause of disease in developing countries is soil-transmitted parasites which penetrate the skin through open sores. Wearing shoes can prevent this and the risk of amputation.”

In addition, the site says, “Many times children can't attend school barefoot because shoes are a required part of their uniform. If they don't have shoes, they don't go to school. If they don't receive an education, they don't have the opportunity to realize their potential.”

In Sodo Ethiopia, where the soil is rich in silica – a type of volcanic ash – people suffer from a disease called podoconiosis, which causes deformity, intense pain, ulcers and social stigma and exclusion. It is founder Blake Mycoskie’s trip to Ethiopia which is featured on CBS’ American Spirit.

It sounds like a continuous domino effect of poverty and poor health conditions. And solving this problem can be done with a simple pair of shoes. Wow.

Check out TOMS Shoes at http://www.tomsshoes.com/. You can shop, donate, intern at their Venice, California headquarters, host a ‘design your own shoe’ party, or join or start a TOMS Shoes Campus Club at your college.

Clearly one person, or one simple act, can absolutely change the world.

Please check out my novel, In Fashion's Web on Amazon.

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