"Be The Change You Want To See In The World"

Fortune:

"Be the change you want to see in the world."

Blake Mycoskie, founder and Chief Shoe Giver of TOMS Shoes, says that this Mahatma Ghandi quote is his favorite-and he even sells shoes that display those words. I met Mycoskie last evening at Arianna Huffington's house in Los Angeles, and he so impressed me that I visited him this afternoon at TOMS headquarters in Santa Monica. Fascinating business: For every pair of shoes TOMS sells, it gives a pair to a needy child. TOMS are simple $48 canvas shoes that you can find in 400 U.S. outlets, including Nordstrom (JWN), Urban Outfitters (URBN), and Whole Foods (WFMI)-TOMS' biggest customer. So we're talking lots of shoes for the needy.

Mycoskie, 32, launched TOMS in May 2006 after visiting Argentina and seeing kids without shoes-and wanting to do something to help them. In just two and a half years, TOMS has given away more than 70,000 shoes in Argentina, South Africa and Ethiopia. Measured by revenues, the company is small-$8 million projected this year. But Mycoskie says it will be profitable this year. He seems to have found a sustainable model. Rather than spend on marketing-which he says eats up 20% of a typical shoe company's gross margin-he spends on "shoe drops." These shoe drops earn him good will and positive word of mouth.

Read the whole story: Fortune

Comments

[hypnotoad72]

05:15 PM on 10/12/2008

Have been for years. Kind, chivalrous, donate anonymously, call authorities when I see something amiss, freely offer help (even to people who talk to each other in front of me saying how they are starting a business, admire my work, but want help on how to use applications I use - talk about insulting)

I do my bit. And more, rest assured.

It's time for the rest of the world to do the same.

Especially if you see a burning building. Don't gawk and gossip. You lot have cell phones too...

Do I seem angry? No. Just sexually unfulfilled. Everyone knows the stereotype; women prefer the arrogant and self-aggrandizing types and men prefer getting divorces and having serialized relations...