What is this “Toms” you speak of, Cheri?
Ah, so glad you asked.
Toms are these cloth/canvas-material type shoes that wrap snugly around the foot and are lined with a foam-rubber-ish-cheapy-kinda-feeling sole. Toms shoes are lightweight, surprisingly comfortable to dance in, and come in several awesome colors like navy blue, red, corduroy olive green, chocolate browns and greys—not to mention, they’re super cheap! So feel free to destroy as many pairs as you’d like.
“Destroy as many pairs as I want?! Who do you think I am, Cheri?!”
Worry not, you paranoid-of-being-wasteful do-gooders! For every pair of Toms you buy, you’re providing a child in some less fortunate country somewhere with a lifetime supply of Toms shoes. Not only that, but their shoes are actually built to last, and are (hilariously enough) much sturdier than the pair of Toms you just purchased at Nordstrom.
Say whaaaat?
Why Would San Franciscans Love Toms?
The Toms brand represents everything that is San Francisco—charitable, “green”, holistic, kind-of-a-ripoff-but-it’s-okay-because-it’s-for-a-good-cause, etc. And naturally, whatever is holistic and good for the global environment usually becomes trendy in San Francisco. We’re kinda cool like that over here.
Unsurprisingly, there are plenty of people in San Francisco who enjoy trend-spotting, but might be too shy to admit it for fear of seeming “mainstream” (calm down, hipsters). The Toms brand represents a charitable way to participate in something trendy while also feeling good about the purchase because of the holistic reasons associated with wearing the shoe. Also, hey, they look pretty good!
“Are you wearing Toms, bro? What a hipster douche-move.”
“Bro, get over yourself—some kid in some third-world country is rocking new shoes for life thanks to me wearing these.”
“That’s what makes you a douche.”
“… Do you hear the words that come out of your mouth?”
Just Kidding
I know that not everyone will like Toms (and probably not for all of the same reasons listed above), but seriously, these things are just fantastic. In fact, for those of you saddened because you born with gnarly dragon claw feet, you’ll be pleased to hear that Toms are vanity-sized! By that I mean: I’m not a women’s 5.5 in Toms – I’m a 5.
Also, this is not an advertisement for Toms. I just really like these suckers, and I would actually encourage all of you to try a pair for the good of the global community (they’re only like, ~$50 USD—perfect shoes for school, for day-to-day casual activities, for hipster-bar-hopping, for brunch, etc). And if someone gives you shit for rocking Toms just because they’re kinda trendy, do yourself a favor and rise above that peer pressure bullshit—these look great and save lives at the same goddamn time.
For every hipster I may have upset by writing this article and encouraging people around the world to rock Toms for holistic reasons, which somehow makes Toms “less cool” (or something along those same idiotic lines), I suggest you neatly write your complaint down on pretty stationary, fold it up, slip it into an envelope, then shove it up your ass.
Your Lovely San Francisco Trend-Spotting Blogger,
Sherilynn “HeyCheri” Macale
PS. Who’s going to EDC 2012 in Vegas? I’m probably rocking Toms for a day or two at the festival (among other “dope swag”). I swear Toms are the most comfortable dancing shoes I have ever worn—holy crap. I know this from experience, of course, as evidenced in part by my dancing video on Tumblr. If you have other dancing-shoe suggestions, please, toss your chips in. I’m down to try your recommendations! It’s music festival season, baby!
PPS. I totally pulled a Hemingway writing this blog post. Bonus points to the quote-and-literature-geek who understands that reference.
4 comments
Are you kidding? The problem isn’t being shoeless; it’s poverty. Granted, TOMS may have better ethics as a business compared to other shoe companies that REALLY isn’t saying much. Sure, many of these children live in impoverished areas of the world but patting yourself on the back and calling yourself charitable for buying from a company that gives shoes to children who more than likely come from families that support themselves by working for slave wages making these shoes in the first place is only a short term solution that makes uneducated people feel better about their privilege. I understand that you were trying to raise awareness by making this post but GOOD INTENTIONS ARE NOT ENOUGH. If you really want a socially conscious shoe company that has good intentions AND good results I suggest SoleRebels: they employ around a 100 worker and pay around 3 times the typical wages of other workers in a similar line of work as well as covering healthcare costs AND education for their children. You may want to argue that giving shoes out for every single pair sold may reach more people than just a 100 workers but I think you will agree that the SoleRebels plan has a much more exponential impact of doing good.
Another thing, this is a link for the video on the TOMS website that according to them shows the “One for One” model in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Evbs3ilpqwU
When you hit the 0:23 minute mark you see two boys carrying boxes of the shoes that TOMS are giving out to children for each pair purchased. These boxes are labelled with the logo of Bata (http://www.batakenya.com/), one of the biggest brands of shoes made for third world countries. If you convert the prices from the website to US currencies then you will see that the price is around $1-$2 USD, which means that the shoes TOMS and buyers of TOMS are giving out of the goodness of their own “charitable” hearts are made by people who work in TERRIBLE conditions for a pittance, thus perpetuating the cycle of poverty throughout the world just so TOMS can maintain their own profit margins while being able to market their own product under the guise of goodwill and charity.
hello hello! long time no see! so do you know what i just stumbled across? Lelo makes stuff for guys?!? have you heard anything good about them??
and if you love Tom’s so much, I think i can still get a 40% discount on them if youd lile =)
This is absolutely correct. Toms displaces local cobblers (shoes aren’t high-tech and can be made in a one-room house) by undercutting their market. Why buy shoes when some guy is giving you comparable pairs for free? So as a result of Toms, a significant number of African cobblers have gone out of business.