TOMS, the crazy successful brainchild of Blake Mycoskie (who refers to himself in interviews as the leader of a “movement”), has gathered support from celebrities suffering from white guilt to middle school kids trying to look trendy. The idea is simple: you buy a pair of shoes, TOMS donates a pair to a child “in need” in Africa.
I understand the trend. I happen to love the classic and simplistic design. Sometimes they’re covered in sparkles. What slap-happy teenage girl can resist sparkles?
People forget that TOMS is not a charity; it is a for-profit corporation. A 2009 special on CNBC called “The Entrepreneurs” revealed that TOMS shoes are produced for about $8 a pair. The companies “one for one” slogan really should be “buy one for the price of two.”
TOMS run for about $50 a pair. Essentially, they are not taking a cut by donating a pair; they’re profiting.
Shoes are probably the least helpful thing you could give these kids. These kids need clean water sources, food and job opportunities, rural health care clinics and AIDS education.
People who wear TOMS are some of the same kind of people who refer to Africa as a country. Africa is not a place that needs your pity. Not everyone lives in a mud hut in an expansive desert. Many Africans live in sprawling metropolitan areas.
It is also rude to assume that all Africans want western luxuries; some are perfectly content living their nomadic lives.
This is the perfect example of westerners in shining armor. TOMS allows for people to pay to travel on distribution trips as shoe fitters, therefore promoting poverty tourism.
Magazines and websites selling the shoes feature pictures of sad, shoeless brown children and then white college students placing shoes on their feet.
Ahhh, heartwarming. These images just further westerners’ paternal vibes towards poorer countries.
The TOMS 2012 Giving Report revealed that TOMS are made in Ethiopia, China and Argentina under “local labor laws.”
According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), it is estimated that 53.7 percent of children between the ages of 10 and 14 were working in Ethiopia. That means there is a pretty good chance that the children you think you’re helping are the ones making the shoes.
Besides an attempt at giving, some people genuinely think TOMS look “cool.”
If you’re wearing a pair of these shoes right now, know that I’m not trying to attack you. Great, buy shoes you like, go ahead.
I hope you realize that when you purchase TOMS, you’re supporting a for-profit company that exploits poor African children in brochures that uses these images to help Americans write off their capitalism as goodwill.
In short, these kids can’t be saved from their poverty caused by western colonialism by receiving a pair of grossly overpriced shoes.
If you really want a new pair of shoes that look like TOMS, buy a $20 pair of alpargatas that look exactly the same, and then donate the $30 that you would have spent on TOMS to a worthwhile charity, such as Doctors Without Borders or The Trevor Project.
By: Paige Crenshaw
