Its amazing how a sob story can launch a successful fashion label I first heard of TOMS shoes only earlier this month. On vacation at Berkeley,California,I noticed many young people wear an adorable and seemingly comfortable pair of canvas shoes in varying summer colours. I couldnt see the label on it,this being Berkeley,where anything that is remotely capitalist is so easily shunned (try finding a Gap store here,you wont). TOMS,informed my girlfriend and host in this remarkable fashion-rebellious city. Everyone wears them,I cant believe you dont, she said. Since I dont take fashion criticism kindly,I had to look them up online and find out why I didnt know more. I didnt know of anyone in India who wore them,and Europe doesnt much care for American labels (ask poor Michael Kors). It turns out that TOMS is actually a very successful shoe company started by a reality TV show contestant almost six years ago. Blake Mycoskie,a participant on The Amazing Race,visited Argentina on a holiday in 2006,where he discovered the Alpargata design thats similar to an Espadrille. In Argentina,its still peasant footwear. Mycoskie also discovered that many underprivileged children who couldnt afford shoes werent allowed to enter a school and also suffered health ailments. He hit upon the idea of selling trendy canvas shoes to the American public,and for every pair sold,his company would donate a pair to a needy child in Argentina. Mycoskie had a few locals make a few 100 pairs of shoes and went door-to-door selling them. One store picked them up,one article in the LA Times followed,and the new and conscientious America (outside Berkeley that is) lapped up the shoes instantly. The shoe company has won a few prestigious design awards,and Mycoskie was also awarded by Hillary Clinton for corporate excellence. Mycoskie has also spoken at TED talks. TOMS shoes are now a movement,a supposedly socially conscious one where people like labels with a green conscience. But they are also a great business model. TOMS shows us how to sell a product with a half-decent heart. It is wonderful to give shoes to someone who doesnt own a pair. But what happens when that child grows out of his pair,or the shoes wear out? Is charity,as TOMS sister company Friends of TOMS promotes,just about giving an item to the deprived or giving opportunity,employment and changing the economics of a village? TOMS is now manufactured in China,the land of 100 hours-a-week labour force and much exploitation. They continue to give shoes to the poor in several countries,and theyve also just launched eyewear that provides spectacles or corrective surgery to those who cant afford these. In India,they have tied up with the SEVA Foundation and contribute to the local-level eye-care centres. TOMS are actually incredibly chic summer shoes,far more elegant than a silly pair of flip-flops,and come in an assortment of styles (I love their ikat ballet flats). They also have a leather foot-bed that makes them very comfortable to walk long hours in. Theyre adored by students across the States and also celebrities such as Julia Roberts,Anne Hathaway, Liv Tyler and Keira Knightly who think they are doing their bit of philanthropy. And TOMS unarguably has good intentions. But if successful labels could take their soft hearts to a far more real level a practical and poverty-removing space their appeal would no doubt last longer than a pair of shoes. namratanow@gmail.com
