first thing that comes to mind when people think about the American shoe company TOMS is its corporate social responsibility

(CSR) and the One for One® philosophy that is the guiding force of the company’s philanthropic mission.109 TOMS’

origins go back to 2006, during founder Blake Mycoskie’s travels in Argentina. There he witnessed the poor health and living conditions of the people as well as the difficulties that children faced growing up without shoes. It was then that he came up with the idea of matching every pair of shoes sold with a pair of new shoes for a child in need. Mycoskie set up TOMS shoes as a means of integrating responsible business practice and gave a new meaning to corporate social responsibility.

His simple idea redefined 21st century social entrepreneurship and has evolved into a meaningful business model that helps promote health, education, and economic opportunity for children and communities globally.

The main idea behind TOMS’s One for One® mission is to give its customers an opportunity to contribute positively to a child’s life by giving them not only a pair of shoes, but also a safe means to walk to school and avoid diseases that a child is exposed to when walking barefoot. For customers, this knowledge makes the act of buying shoes more than just a purchase. Customers are able to associate themselves with the company’s social mission. So far, TOMS has given 86 million pairs of shoes to children in more than 60 countries like Argentina, Ethiopia, Haiti, India, and Kenya, It does so by donating shoes to charitable organizations that include the provision of shoes in their community development programs in these countries. The shoes are provided according to the type of terrain and season for each community and region.

In addition, TOMS also creates local jobs by manufacturing shoes in countries where they are given.

At TOMS, the CSR also focuses on the environmental impact of its products and operations. The shoes are made of sustainable vegan materials and their manufacturing design includes natural hemp, organic cotton, or recycled polyester.

Their shoe boxes are made from 80 percent recycled material and are printed with soy ink. Expanding its social mission beyond providing shoes to children in need, TOMS has expanded its mission to include providing eye care, clean water, and training and materials for safer birth. TOMS says that giving is in its DNA, and this is apparent from the fact that it even has a position called Chief Giving Officer. This person is responsible for ensuring that the various charitable missions that TOMS undertakes are carried out properly.

In 2011, TOMS Eyewear was launched, and it has helped restore sight to more than 600,000 people in need. Its sight giving mission operates in 13 countries and provides diagnostic services, medical treatment, vision correction procedures, and prescription glasses with each sale of eyewear.

The mission supports sustainable community-based eye care programs and helps in the creation of local professional job opportunities by providing basic eye care training to local health volunteers and teachers.110 The company works on its water giving mission through its coffee roasting division. In 2014, TOMS Roasting Co. was launched, and it has helped provide over 67,000 weeks of safe drinking water in six countries. With each sale of each bag of its coffee, the company works with its Giving Partners to provide 140 liters of safe water, a week’s supply, to a person in need. As of beginning of 2019, over 600,000 weeks of safe water has been provided for by the company. It also provides sustainable safe-water systems for entire communities.111 In 2014, working on the same One for One philosophy, TOMS Bag Collection was launched in four countries. It works with its Giving Partners to provide training for skilled birth attendants, and provide birth kits with every bag sold.

TOMS draws style and textile inspirations from the locations where it provides shoes, eye care, and water.112 The manufacturing units for TOMS shoes are located in Argentina, Ethiopia, and China. The company is conscious of the challenges that come with a global supply network.

Their global staff works closely with suppliers and vendors to ensure that TOMS ethical standards are maintained uniformly.

Every year, the company ensures that its direct suppliers provide certification that the materials are sourced in conformity with the applicable local labor laws, including laws related to slavery and human trafficking. The company invests in its employees by providing training on various business and leadership issues, and training workshops by thirdparty experts on labor laws to its supply chain employees.

Although widely recognized and appreciated, the TOMS One for One® model has been questioned by some critics on broader and long-term social benefits due to inefficiency, disenfranchisement, and aid dependency. Critics argue that there are unintended negative consequences of the model that come at the expense of local businesses in the communities where TOMS carries out its charities. For example, critics suggest that the local business of small-scale cobblers who makes and sells shoes in a small town is greatly undermined when a truckload of free shoes arrive and creates an economic dependency. The availability of free shoes reduces the demand for local goods, and impacts the income of local businesses. In addition, if the free shoes are distributed at irregular time periods, the local shoe vendors are not able to plan the demand levels for their shoes. However, TOMS has considered this criticism and while it does still donate shoes, it tries sourcing them from local producers to aid struggling economies.113, 114 Another argument from critics is that giving free goods fosters a poor self-image among the recipients. This group of critics recognizes that such a social mission has good intentions, but contend that it only provides a small and temporary fix and does not actually alleviate poverty from the roots. As the proverb goes, it’s better to teach a hungry person to fish than to just give them a fish to eat. Further, they point out that such a model makes the affluent buyers of One for One® products complacent about devising other ways to improve poverty and other social issues. Similarly, organizations that support social enterprises and entrepreneurial ventures suggest that free-giving models approach issues like poverty with the notion that people are poor because they lack things, and ignore the reasons behind poverty, like the lack of infrastructure to earn more and make a better living. Social causes should not focus only on giving but also on finding solutions for economic independence.

Although the One for One® model still predominately revolves around the free-good charity approach, it is worth noting that TOMS has responded to such criticisms by expanding the scope of its social missions. It diversified its giving missions by providing ways to engage in socially responsible causes that go beyond charity.

Overall, looking at the popularity of the TOMS model from the consumer point of view, it can be called a marketing success.

This is in line with the societal marketing concept that contends that successful companies not only fulfill the needs of consumers but also look after the long-term interest of the community and society. TOMS understands that more consumers want to buy from companies that incorporate sustainable and responsible business practices that are key elements of its ethos. To communicate its social message and raise awareness of global issues like poverty and blindness, the company holds events like One Day Without Shoes, Style Your Sole, and World Sight Day.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS CS 2-1 Discuss TOMS’ ethical foundation and its approach to social marketing and corporate social responsibility.

Do you think TOMS One for One® model differentiates it from other shoe brands in the industry?

CS 2-2 Given the increasing trend towards ethical consumerism or conscientious consumption, how would consumers evaluate TOMS’ ethical supply chain and charitable causes as part of its decision making?

CS 2-3 Considering the viewpoints of the critics regarding TOMS’ model, discuss its pros and cons. What type of sustainable charitable causes can TOMS pursue to attract more customers to its social marketing efforts?

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