Sometimes doing well means doing good.
Blake Mycoskie is the founder and CEO of TOMS Shoes, the top-selling casual shoe brand whose profits are more than $10 million since the first pair of madras slip-ons (called Alpargatas) was sold in 2006. Always an entrepreneur (he sold cookies on a local golf course as a teen), by age thirty Mycoskie had launched five successful businesses. TOMS is the one closest to his heart because it combines his passion for innovation and philanthropy, a business trend that he believes is the next big thing.
While on vacation in 2006, Mycoskie befriended the children of an Argentine village. He watched as they walked miles to retrieve fresh water for their families in their bare feet. His company was founded on a simple but mighty premise: for every pair of shoes purchased, he would donate a pair to a child in need. Since May of that year, TOMS has hand-delivered more than 300,000 pairs of shoes to children without. A documentary detailed one of his recent “shoe drops” in South Africa and premiered to acclaim at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival. He’s been featured in Vogue, The New York Times, Time, and O, was honored by the Smithsonian Institute, and was tapped by fashion icon Ralph Lauren to design shoes for Lauren’s trendy Rugby line. More brands are following suit and asking to partner with TOMS to clothe the needy. Fashion and philanthropy are contagious, it would seem.
When he’s home in Los Angeles (in a matter of speaking—he lives on a $340,000 45-foot boat), Mycoskie tours the country speaking publically about the key to his success: people are inspired to buy a product that promotes—and enacts—charity and good will.
Is this the frontier of new business?
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