There is a trend consuming the feet of young people! No, it’s not any piercing or tattoo because these are not a phenomenon- they’re tradition. As you can tell, I do like tattoos, but no, this phenomenon is a shoe; a shoe that births itself out of humanitarianism and philanthropy. TOMS, fabric shoes based off of the traditional Argentinean farming shoe, the Alpargata, made their way into pop culture by way of Blake Mycoskie, a former Amazing Race Season 2 contestant, who found that while traveling through Argentina, many children were without shoes, among other essential tools for comfort and survival. While returning to the country on Vacation, Mycoskie decided to establish a shoe company that for every pair sold, they would give a pair to a child in need. Philanthropic, no? Well, not only did he decide to create this shoe company, but he funded the project himself, using his own money generated from his education website.

TOMS shoes have since given out over one million shoes to needy children, garnering huge media and celebrity attention. Many of today’s celebrities can be seen wearing his shoes, and they truly believe in his vision, investing in his company and even going on “shoe drops”; traveling to impoverished nations to deliver the promised shoes. The Band “Hanson” traveled with Blake in 2006 to drop over 10,000 shoes to Argentina, making sure that TOMS has enough support from the pop community.

On Twitter, TOMS shoes have over 5,000 followers and on Facebook has 726,000 “Likes”. Regionally, colleges and universities have started their own TOMS initiatives, for example, on our own campus we have a TOMS initiative where students can become more involved in the TOMS organization. Even Cingular/AT&T have jumped on the TOMS initiative by featuring Blake Mycoskie in their ads, signifying the power of the organization.

"I was a technology nerd. I had no experience in fashion or shoes, I met some kids who didn't have shoes, I wanted to give them shoes and now I'm head of the fastest-growing shoe company in the world. I've given away 300,000 pairs of shoes, so I'm an example that you really can make a huge difference with just an idea."
- Blake Mycoskie

I can remember buying my first pair of TOMS, in fact it was a few days before this assignment, and I couldn’t imagine doing something more worthwhile with my money. After looking at the statistics of children who develop podoconiosis because of walking barefoot for miles upon miles, I knew that this was the least I could do as someone who didn’t have to worry about not having shoes to wear. In pop-culture there’s a widespread concern with those who have not, and TOMS shoes is representative of that philanthropic effort.