Generosity: Imagine GIVING AWAY shoes as fast as you sell them!

I teach in the University of Michigan’s business school, where many future CEOs are just beginning their journeys into corporate America and, today, I want to hear what you think about this strange business model:
   
TOMS shoes GIVES AWAY shoes as fast as it sells them! No, it’s not a one-shot promotion for Black Friday, this week. This is the full-time business plan at TOMS. Please, take a moment to add a comment, telling us what you think about this idea—and whether you’re aware of others like it.
   
Here’s how TOMS works: For every purchase of a pair of TOMS shoes, the company gives a pair of new shoes to a child in need. “One for one” is what the company calls it.
   

Here’s TOMS’ Web site, which includes ideas like hosting a party to decorate white TOMS shoes with friends to have fun, express yourself artistically—and donate a bunch of shoes in a single day. (The photo at right today is from the TOMS gallery from past shoe-decorating parties.)

TOMS—short for Shoes for Tomorrow—was founded only three years ago, but has already given away 150,000 pairs of shoes to children in Argentina, Ethiopia, South Africa, and the U.S. The goal for 2012 is one million pairs of shoes to children in need around the globe.

Blake Mycoskie conceived the idea when he was traveling in Argentina and noticed that so many children went without shoes. Walking is the main mode of transportation in poor countries, posing hazards and limitations for children.

With shoes, children can walk farther for food, water, and medical assistance.

With shoes, their feet are protected from cuts that expose children to dangerous soil-transmitted parasites—and can lead to amputation.

With shoes, children can attend school. Shoes are often required as part of a child’s school uniform but poor families can’t afford them.

What do you think of Shoes for Tomorrow? Have your purchased their shoes? Would you? Do you know about other similar ideas?

This Thanksgiving week, we’ll look at a series of stories about generosity—sometimes in the most unusual places.

Join in and tell us your stories of generosity!

PLEASE, Add a Comment