Who owns toms shoes

Toms and its nonprofit partners continued their good work in dusty schoolyards and rural community centers. But by , the business had hired new executives, and "all they wanted to do was talk about price and create funny videos that sell products," says Mycoskie. True to his pattern, Mycoskie recharged and, in , came back with a more ambitious vision. Since then, Toms has undergone big changes.

A private equity firm now owns 50 percent of the company; a new CEO is chief strategist. The culture is different too. Just as Silicon Valley companies are laboratories for new technologies and business models, so Toms is becoming a kind of Darpa for the social-venture set. And Toms is experimenting with its own giving model: expanding the definition of one-for-one, venturing into local manufacturing, and tweaking its use of donations to achieve more targeted goals.

With a mountain of village dust and a sprinkling of stardust, Toms is embarking on its second act. Playa Vista is a bland community on L. Nestled at the end of a cul-de-sac, Toms' headquarters is a whimsical outlier. A pirate flag flaps alongside those of the United States and Argentina.

Three yellow camping tents provide outdoor meeting space for conference-room claustrophobes. The building's interior, designed by the firm that did J. Abrams's office, is a warm, wooden confabulation of playfulness and inspiration. Near the entrance, a barista serves beverages by Toms Roasting Co. The Toms story is everywhere, from a small museum that resembles a barn and holds company memorabilia to the immense photos from giving trips.

Toms' initial success, and much of its growth, derives from storytelling , of which Mycoskie is a master. And Toms has a damn fine story to tell. In , Mycoskie, a serial entrepreneur who was running an online driver's-ed business, travels to Argentina for a little polo, a little tango, and a little vino. Shaken by what he sees, Mycoskie wants to supply shoes himself, and to fund those donations through commerce rather than charity.

His solution is elegance incarnate: Sell a shoe, give a shoe. Cue the montage. Mycoskie fabricates his first shoes--an Americanized version of Argentina's soft, slip-on alpargatas--in tiny artisanal shops. Back in the States, Mycoskie wakes up an overnight sensation, thanks to a prominent article in the Los Angeles Times.

Interns hide from Mycoskie's landlady in the bedroom of the Venice, California, apartment from which Toms will sell 10, pairs of shoes in one summer. On his first shoe "drop" in Argentina, Mycoskie cries while slipping shoes onto children's feet.

Today, Toms has employees and five product lines, each with an associated give. The logistics of the gives differ in each country, as do the target consumers for some of the products, like handbags and backpacks. The inviolable core of Toms is a promise to the consumer that each purchase translates into a better life for someone halfway around the globe. Because the company sold so much, "we had to give so much," says Mycoskie.

Of course, Mycoskie didn't start an NGO. But accomplishing Toms' charitable goals requires collaborating with over NGOs and other nonprofit "giving partners" in more than 70 countries. Much of its experimentation involves how it works with those partners. Shira Shafir, a UCLA epidemiologist brought in to run part of Toms' giving department, has a plaque on her desk with a quote often attributed to Einstein: "If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be called research.

Toms is always seeking better ways to give. In particular, it seems to be addressing one criticism that has dogged it for years: that it offers humanitarian aid rather than economic development. In , Widmer, who was then running a social venture fund, gave Toms an innovation award. But he later grew skeptical. Being a giver of fish rather than a teacher of fishing "is not the way to deal with poverty," says Widmer. A concern related to sustainability is dependency. In , Bruce Wydick, an economics professor at the University of San Francisco, and two colleagues conducted randomized trials at Toms' behest on the effect of the shoe giveaways in El Salvador.

Their research showed, among other things, that children receiving shoes were 10 percent more likely than nonrecipients to say that others should provide for their families.

That increased reliance was "probably the most negative effect we found," says Wydick. The paper ignited a backlash, led by a particularly scathing Vox article. But that article "rather dramatically misses the larger story about Toms--and that is that poverty work is very difficult," says Wydick.

We have to test those things to find out. Among those adjustments is Toms' pivot toward gives that promote things, like health, that enable self-sufficiency. For example, Toms sells sunglasses and glasses frames, but in poor regions, instead of distributing those products, the company provides eye exams and medical care. Mycoskie "saw the importance of a program's being able to offer a much more full spectrum of the eye care people need.

Such gives make up less than 10 percent of Toms' business. The rest is still shoes. Toms says both independent and its own research demonstrate that shoe distribution prevents diseases, like hookworm. But the company also works with its partners to apply the shoes to broader goals. To cite one example, giving partners are testing the shoes as an incentive for women to bring children to clinics for vaccinations, and to participate in microfinance programs aimed at encouraging entrepreneurship.

Job creation is another way to tackle the cause, rather than the symptoms, of poverty, and in Toms began manufacturing shoes in markets where it donates, starting with Haiti. It has since added facilities in Kenya, India, and Ethiopia, which together employ more than locals.

Toms now produces 40 percent of its giving shoes in these countries; it has made child care, meals, and transportation to and from its facilities available so that more women can work. He is passionate about inspiring young people to help make tomorrow better, encouraging them to include giving in everything they do.

His hope is to see a future driven by socially-minded businesses and consumers. Visit the TOMS Privacy Policy for details regarding the categories of personal information collected through this website and the business and commercial purpose s for which the information will be used.

California Consumer Privacy Act Notice Visit the TOMS Privacy Policy for details regarding the categories of personal information collected through this website and the business and commercial purpose s for which the information will be used. NEW festive flamingo print. Shop Cozy styles. Brighten up the holidays! Shop here. How have you changed? I could die in the next 10 months I mean, a meteor could hit our planet any minute.

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