In just four years, Santa Monica-based TOMS Shoes has done as much to revolutionize the way business intersects with philanthropy as any brand in the world.
Blake Mycoskie launched TOMS in 2006 with the simple goal of selling 250 pairs of canvas shoes out of his Venice apartment and at American Rag on La Brea. Mycoskie then gave away 250 matching pairs to children at a school in Los Peatones, Argentina. Today, TOMS has sold over one million pairs and is the top-selling shoe at Nordstrom. Through its one-for-one movement more than one million pairs of shoes have been given to children in need from Ethiopia, Argentina, Haiti, the U.S. and elsewhere — one pair given for every pair sold.
Last Sunday during a brief downpour at the school in San Pedro, I chatted with Blake about returning to where it all began four years ago and donating the one millionth pair of TOMS.
This post originally appeared in LAist.