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Interview: TOMS Shoes' Blake Mycoskie on the One Millionth Pair Donated
In just four years, Santa Monica-based TOMS Shoes has done as much to revolutionize the way business intersects with philanthropy as any brand in the world.
Blake Mycoskie launched TOMS in 2006 with the simple goal of selling 250 pairs of canvas shoes out of his Venice apartment and at American Rag on La Brea. Mycoskie then gave away 250 matching pairs to children at a school in Los Peotones, Argentina. Today, TOMS has sold over one million pairs and is the top-selling shoe at Nordstrom. Through its one-for-one movement more than one million pairs of shoes have been given to children in need from Ethiopia, Argentina, Haiti, the U.S. and elsewhere -- one pair given for every pair sold.
We caught up* with Mycoskie earlier this week on a return trip to Argentina for TOMS One Millionth Pair Shoe Drop.
* Sternberg was sent to Argentina to document TOMS Shoes One Millionth Pair Shoe Drop as a Brand Ambassador for AT&T. See more footage and posts from the trip at toms1m.wordpress.com.
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