Min Soo Yoo's Blog

This summer while I was in Korea, I was surfing internet to buy new shoes and found out about TOMS. At first, I did not even know it was a shoe brand but many of my friends knew about TOMS already. Moreover, TOMS was popular in Korea. I saw many people wearing it. Then, I wondered how TOMS became so popular suddenly when shoe industry is so competitive and dominated by Reebok and Nike.

TOMS was established in 2006 not long ago but they used the idea of “adding value” to attract the customers. TOMS is known for “One for One” which is giving a pair of new shoes to a child in need with every pair of shoes customer purchase. TOMS added the value to each shoes the customer buy and that was the reason TOMS could not only survive but also became successful in the shoe industry.  Also, they are building a long term relationship with their customer by showing the video of delivering the shoes to the children and they even hand place the shoes to every child. There are a lot of loyal customer and advocators wearing only TOMS.

First, I thought the value they added was not a sustainable competitive advantage so other companies can easily copy. But I realized now “One of One” became the trademark for TOMS and people know “One for One” is originally from TOMS so no one can copy it. For example, Ralph Lauren sold co-branded Polo Rugby TOMS, giving a matched pair with every pair sold and Element Skateboards has issued limited edition TOMS + Element shoes as well as a One for One skateboard.

Here is some history about TOMS and their shoe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrKYUf5mNhA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTQsQUu1Ho8&feature=related

So would you like to be involved in One for One?