Toms Shoes – now been around for five years – is a social enterprise that is well-known and praised for its one-for-one product line, for every pair of Toms bought, a pair is donated to a child in need around the world. Toms was launched with $300,000 and is now earning millions while donating over a million pairs of shoes to children in poverty. Not only are customers attracted to the traditional Argentine slip-on shoes with a variety of colors and prints, they are attracted to the company’s mission to give to those in need which is a worthy point of difference and competitive advantage. With the success of its shoes, the company has launched a second one-for-one product line with Toms Glasses. When a pair of Toms sunglasses is sold, people in the developing world will get free glasses, medical treatment or eye surgery. As a social entrepreneur, Toms’ CEO, Blake Mycoskie, takes the initiative to travel and observe improvements in developing countries that could help with learning, working, and having a livelihood. First, he observed that shoes could help people with these basic human needs, now he has observed the same with improving peoples’ eyesight. The one-for-one company model addresses third world problems through Western consumption.
Sources: http://www.fastcompany.com/1758060/toms-glasses-newest-buy-one-give-one-product-toms-shoes http://www.fastcoexist.com/1678486/toms-shoes-ceo-blake-mycoskie-on-social-entrepreneurship-telling-stories-and-his-new-book