It's Gotta Be The Shoes

NPH is probably behind the curve here, but we've only now just learned about TOMS shoes (thanks to a tip from Cool People Care). Started by 30 year old Blake MyCoskie--a former Amazing Race contestant--the shoe company donates one pair of its Alpargata shoes to a needy child for each pair that it sells. MyCoskie got the idea when he was in Argentina. This is what his website says:

Inspired by a traditional Argentine shoe and challenged by the continent's poverty and health issues, I created TOMS with a singular mission: To make life more comfortable. TOMS 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. You buy a pair of shoes and I give a pair to a child on your behalf.

NPH thinks this is brilliant. We looked it up, and there's a local shoe store where we can get these. We're all over it.

Here's the trend we're noticing: charitable donations on behalf of consumers. Like the Product Red campaign, TOMS doesn't ask affluent western consumers to do anything other than what they're already doing, namely shopping and consuming. But it's the ultimate if-you-can't-beat-'em-join-'em strategy, where you make their consumption into a vehicle for good work. This is the entrepreneurial innovation the world needs more of.

Read more about TOMS shoes here and here.