MATT LAUER, co-host:
And this morning on
TODAY'S GOOD NEWS
, a successful and stylish shoe
company
on a
mission
to give something back. TODAY contributing correspondent
Jenna Bush Hager
is here with details. I like your
story
,
Jenna
. Good morning.
JENNA BUSH HAGER reporting:
Good morning. I bet you've seen these around town; maybe you haven't. But they are the most popular selling brand at stores like
Nordstrom
's, and when you hear the
story
behind the
company
and its founder,
Blake Mycoskie
, you'll understand why buying a pair is
good for your soul
. The faces of these children tell a
story
of hope and promise, thanks to the simple gift of new
shoes
. For many, the first and only pair they call their own. But four years ago,
Blake Mycoskie
saw a different
story
in these faces while vacationing in
Argentina
.
Mr. BLAKE MYCOSKIE:
They weren't allowed to go to
school
because they didn't have the proper footwear which was part of the uniform. You know, I grew up in
Texas
. Never had to worry about
shoes
or food or clothing or any of the
bare necessities
. I
wanted
to do something to help.
HAGER:
He's had a brain for business since he was a kid.
Ms. PAM MYCOSKIE (Blake's Mother):
He would sit on the
golf course
, and as the golfers came by he would sell
cookies
and
Kool-Aid
.
Mr. MIKE MYCOSKIE (Blake's Father):
He started this
college
laundry and delivery pickup business. There were a
million
ideas
.
HAGER:
Now, all grown up,
Blake
wanted
to make a difference. He sold his other companies and with a small personal investment, starting
TOMS Shoes
.
The idea:
If we sell a pair of
shoes
today, we can give away a pair tomorrow.
And I
was going to call them
Tomorrow Shoes
, but I couldn't fit it there. So I shortened it to
TOMS
.
Mr. B. MYCOSKIE:
Not a charity, but a for-
profit
company
based on what he calls one-for-one.
HAGER:
Where every time we sell a pair, we'd give a pair to a
child
in need. I
wanted
our customers to feel that they made an impact when they bought that $45 pair of
shoes
. I
wanted
them to know that there was a kid in
Ethiopia
or
Argentina
or
New Orleans
that was getting maybe their first pair of
shoes
.
Mr. B. MYCOSKIE:
His one-bedroom
Venice
,
California
, apartment became
home base
.
Let's go
back to that day.
HAGER:
It was just me and three interns in the beginning. And, you know, and we didn't know anything about
shoes
. We didn't know anything about retail. Like for the first year, or two years, I mean, it was a grind. Like I mean I had to beg people to buy
shoes
.
Mr. B. MYCOSKIE:
Blake
refused to give up. Less than a year later, he returned to
Argentina
with the interns, his family and
college
buddies to make good on his promise to help.
HAGER:
We had no idea what we were going to do except we were going to give away
10,000
pairs of
shoes
. And it was awesome because we hand-placed those
shoes
on those kids' feet. It's what the shoe drop is all about. It really was then at that moment, that I knew that
TOMS
wasn't just an idea, that it really could help a lot more than
10,000
kids.
Mr. B. MYCOSKIE:
Since that first shoe drop,
TOMS
has distributed more than 600,000 pairs of
shoes
in 28 countries, proving that
Blake
's initial and only investment made for a viable and charitable
business model
.
HAGER:
I mean, I could have taken that
money
and I could have bought 40,000 pairs of
shoes
. Now that would have helped a lot of kids. But then all my resources would have been depleted. But instead I took that same amount of
money
, not a penny more, that's been invested into
TOMS
, and now we've given almost 15 times what I would have done, you know, had I just given it all away in the beginning. And so to me, that's what sustainability is all about.
Mr. B. MYCOSKIE:
Would you say that you're more of an entrepreneur or a
social activist
?
HAGER:
You know, it
used to be
that you were very -- it was very
mutually exclusive
between like going in the
Peace Corps
and being in
corporate America
. Like it was one or the other. You didn't -- you couldn't really do both. But with
TOMS
, I feel like we've combined the two.
Mr. B. MYCOSKIE:
Yeah. So what is a typical day like here in the office?
HAGER:
Typical day. Man, there's no typical day.
Mr. B. MYCOSKIE:
His tiny
TOMS
team has grown to almost 100 employees.
HAGER:
It's amazing to see the strong
work ethic
that everyone has.
Unidentified Woman #1:
It keeps an old guy young, it keeps you on your toes all the time.
Mr. JEFF WATTS (CFO, TOMS Shoes):
And
young people
are a big part of
TOMS
foundation
with clubs on campuses nationwide.
HAGER:
It's great to see how you can incorporate business into helping others.
Unidentified Woman #2:
It's something like you feel connected to, so it's not just some -- it doesn't feel distant.
Unidentified Man:
These days,
Blake
lives on a sailboat with few personal belongings and dreams of a community inspired by
TOMS Shoes
.
HAGER:
This next generation of
young people
, we're going to change the
world
. We need them to. We need, you know,
young people
who really care about these things to get excited and to come up with the next
business models
and to be conscious consumers, and I feel like we're really on a
mission
here.
Mr. B. MYCOSKIE:
And today is actually
TOMS Annual One Day Without Shoes
where thousands of people across the country have pledged to go barefoot to better understand what it'd feel like to without
shoes
, something we obviously take so for granted.
HAGER:
No, absolutely.
LAUER:
Granted. Absolutely.
MEREDITH VIEIRA, co-host:
What a great...
LAUER:
You're all wearing your
shoes
. Take your shoe -- take them off.
NATALIE MORALES, anchor:
No. We were going...
LAUER:
Oh, yeah, we should go without
shoes
.
HAGER:
...we should put on the
shoes
that you brought us.
LAUER:
Yeah.
AL ROKER reporting:
Oh, wait a second. You didn't bring us any
shoes
?
LAUER:
Wait, does anybody have those back there?
HAGER:
Yeah.
LAUER:
By the way, while we were watching the piece, both
Natalie
and
Jenna
both mentioned how cute
Blake
is.
ROKER:
OK, are you...
HAGER:
Oh, OK. Yes, yes.
MORALES:
Oh great. Thanks. Sorry. Not as cute as our husbands.
HAGER:
...saying he has such a good heart.
MORALES:
Yeah.
HAGER:
Yeah.
ROKER:
Well, he does have a good heart. And as you pointed out, he's also a very
smart guy
, he's a very good entrepreneur.
VIEIRA:
Yes.
ROKER:
So he's
making money
but giving back.
VIEIRA:
And what he wants is other people to use his
business model
to do different things to help others. So it's amazing.
HAGER:
Yeah, but 600,000 pair...
LAUER:
I know.
HAGER:
...he's given away. That's really -- that's an incredible...
LAUER:
Yeah.
Huge
commitment.
MORALES:
And he told this
story
about one
mother
who walked up and said, `You know, my kids haven't been able to go to
school
. They'll have to switch off days to split
shoes
.'
HAGER:
“ ”