Commentary

Tom's Shoes DNA: Sell a Pair, Give a Pair

Blake Mycoskie, founder, CEO and "chief shoe giver" of Tom's Shoes, owns a small company that got very big buzz when AT&T tapped them to star in one of their campaigns for wireless service. He might be the perfect exponent of the socially responsible company, or in Mycoskie's words, one whose "DNA is social responsiblity." At the Advertising Week Trust Forum, Mycoskie, in sockless shoes, jeans and a t-shirt was seated between Meredith Verdone, SVP Bank of America, and Steve Pacheco, Fedex's managing director of advertising. He looked as if he'd just come in from Rangoon on a pontoon boat, and hadn't seen a sink basin in a fortnight, and he concedes his three-year-old company may see a profit for the first time this year, but, oh, what Verdone and Pacheco would have given for some of Mycoskie's halo.

"I started it not as business but as a way to give," he said, explaining that whenever Tom's sells a pair of shoes, the company gives a pair away, meaning he spends nearly half the year in different countries giving shoes away. He said the AT&T spot, showing him giving shoes away in developing countries, and using his Blackberry, has been a huge boon for the company. "It's been a blessing. It has grown our sales a ton both at retail and online. And it has been a big morale builder for the company."

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