Toms Shoes

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  Toms Shoes The Wrap Boot in Rust

Blake Mycoskie, founder of Toms Shoes

Fresh out of The Amazing Race, founder of Toms Shoes Blake Mycoskie had an idea to start his own reality show. To do this, he revisited the places went during the race, one of which was Argentina. He came across the alpargata (espadrille in Spanish), which is a kind of shoe worn by Argentine workers. He came up with the idea to update the shoe by placing rubber soles at the bottom, leather in the inside of the shoe and brightening the shoe with assorted designs. After volunteering at an Argentine village and seeing children walking barefoot, he had an “epiphany”. Blake Mycoskie began selling 200 pairs from his Venice, California loft wherein stores like Fred Segal and American Rag decided to help out.

From then on, Toms Shoes wasn’t just about this newly recreated stylish and comfortable shoe, it was more than that. With every pair of shoes sold, Toms Shoes gave a pair to one of the people needing shoes. It was a heart-warming idea that got everyone’s attention immediately. Not only do you actually get creative and alluring shoes fit right onto your feet, but you get to help out people as well!

Toms Shoes offers his redesigned versions of the alpargata for men and women and a recent branch of their line for kids as well. Aside from that, Toms Shoes offers t-shirts, stickers, gift packs, jackets, caps and hoodies that when sold, equals to one shoe given to a child.

Mycoskie's updated "alpargata"

The incredibly charitable brand has captured a lot of attention – not just because of Mycoskie’s background, but because of their good-hearted objectives. Toms Shoes has been featured in New York Times Online, Vogue, Time, People, Men’s Health, Los Angeles Times Newspaper, Wall Street Journal, Delta Sky Magazine, Self Magazine, Rolling Stone Magazine, Spin Magazine, Antenna, United Hemispheres Magazine, Cookie, In Style, Domino, Reader’s Digest, Vibe, Lucky, Fort Worth, US Weekly, Nylon, Travel & Leisure, Boho, The Huffington Post, Seventeen, Elle, Bust, Foam, OK, Grazia, Teen Vogue, Red Book, C, Oprah and many more.

This brand has become so popular that there are stores everywhere willing to help out their cause. Almost all states in the USA have Toms Shoes sold at various stores, plus in international countries, Toms Shoes is available in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Scotland, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom. Online, Toms Shoes is sold in Karmaloop and at their own official website, www.tomsshoes.com.

This multi-purpose, helpful brand is sure to spread out all over the world as more and more people enjoy the shoe and get to help out those in need of footwear.