Blake Mycoskie is a serial entrepreneur, having started 5 companies in the last 12 years (upto 2008) usually in media and technology. He is the heart and soul of the whole TOMS cause, as well as the founder after creating the company in 2006 after a trip to Argentina looking for time to relax and experience the culture.
He explains in an interview back in 2008 (link) of his experience of seeing children over there with no shoes:
"It just shocked me to some degree. Shoes aren't that expensive, so why don't they have shoes? And even more so, after I stopped a few of the kids and looked at their feet, they had cuts. They had hookworm. They had infections."
In the same interview he explains about his initial plans for TOMS, and his ideas he had to tackle the problem he was seeing before deciding on doing what is now a worldwide cause.
"I thought that this is something that seems so easy to solve. There's this inexpensive shoe in Argentina, the alpargata. Why don't we just give them those? I remember having this discussion with the girl I was with at the time, and she was like 'Well, Blake, I think it's beautiful that you want to help them and give them shoes, but giving them shoes once isn't really going to do anything for them'.
I said, 'Ok, well what if we started a charity and we started giving them shoes every year, or every six months?' We started talking through this and what I realised at that point was, for me, the charity model wouldn't work. Because I could maybe go to my friends and family and ask them for money to donate to my shoe charity once and they might do it. Maybe they'd do it the second time.
But when it comes to the third, fourth and fifth year, I just know my attention span. It would be hard for me to get excited about going out and continuing to ask my friends and family for money for my shoe charity.
So I really wanted to create a model where I would never have to do that. It would be sustained by a product that people would buy everyday anyway. That's when I came up with the idea of TOMS.
The idea that day on the farm was, 'I'm going to make this shoe. I'm going to make this traditional Argentine shoe that people haven't seen here in the US yet. I'm going to sell it and for every pair I sell, I'm going to give one back to these kids in Argentine until they all have shoes. I'm going to continue to do it do they always have shoes'. That was the idea two and a half years ago and it hasn't changed one bit since.
I think it's amazing how Blake has created this amazing cause with all intentions to help as many children as he can, and has literally made it his life meaning he is only at home in L.A. five or six days a month and the rest of the time he is on the road. Explained in an interview (link):
"The more TOMS grows, the less time Mycoskie seems to spend in the office. He delegates the day-to-day operation of the company to his management team. That frees him up to spend much of his time traveling - spreading the TOMS gospel, delivering shoes to children in Africa and South America, and taking fairly lengthy vacations. When he is not on the road, Mycoskie, 33, reconnects with employees in quick, focused meetings and in relaxed afternoons on his sailboat".
He keeps a journal which he writes in every morning to keep track of everything and to reflect back over and uses to help prepare for the next big steps ahead.
"Almost every morning I write in my journal. I've been keeping it for a long time - I've filled more than 50 books. I write about what's going on in my personal and spiritual life or what's going on at work. It helps me keep things in perspective, especially when things get crazy or I get stressed or we have obstacles. When I go back a month later and read what I was feeling, I realize that it wasn't that big of a deal - we got through it. And that helps me prepare for the next time that I deal with difficult stuff".
I found an interview that was conducted on 4th August 2011 with Blake Mycoskie that I found to be an interested read as he talks about various developments within the TOMS cause. (Interview link)
Since the launch of TOMS, how has the brand and cause grown?
Seeing TOMS grow into a true movement from the day I had the idea in Argentine, is truly humbling. I never imagined it would be where it is today. We have multiple silhouettes for men, women, and children and have thousands of people following us on Facebook and Twitter. It's amazing to see how many people have joined the One for One movement and have helped so many children along the way.
Why do you think people want to invest in not only style, but a cause as well?
We are living in a generation where people are taking a stand to make a difference in the world. With a single purchase of a pair of TOMS, the customer is making a direct impact on a child's life somewhere in the world.
Why did TOMS expand to wedding shoes? Was there a demand?
We started to see couples use creative ways to incorporate TOMS into their wedding, whether the shoes were used as party favours or something for the bride to slip into for the reception. We thought it would be fun to create something special for people on their special day.
TOMS has also expanded into different styles as well, how important was it to do this?
We heard that people loved our shoes but couldn't see themselves wearing our classic style. We thought it was important to create different silhouettes that would cater to a wider range of people so they too, could support the One for One movement on their feet.
How do you hope to see TOMS continue to grow?
This June, TOMS launched its second One for One product: eyewear. With each pair purchased, TOMS will help give sight to someone in need. One for One. I hope to make it available in Canada very soon.
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