Word: shoeing
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...spent the next two months meeting with shoe- and fabricmakers in Argentina and named his self-financed company Toms: Shoes for Tomorrow. He modeled his product after the alpargata but used brighter colors and different materials. "No one looked twice at alpargatas, but I thought they had a really cool style," says Mycoskie, 30. "I'm a fan of Vans, but they can be clunky and sweaty. These aren't. They fit your foot like a glove but are sturdy enough for a hike, the beach or the city...
...promised, he returned to Argentina in October with a couple of dozen volunteers to give away 10,000 pairs of Toms shoes along 2,200 miles of countryside. "I always thought I'd spend the first half of my life making money and the second half giving it away," says Mycoskie, who calls himself not ceo but chief shoe giver. "I never thought I could do both at the same time...
...that he's turning a profit. "Selling online has allowed us to grow pretty rapidly, but we're not going to make as much as another shoe company, and the margins are definitely lower," he admits. "But what we do helps us get publicity. Lots of companies give a percentage of their revenue to charity, but we can't find anyone who matches...
Mycoskie is planning a second shoe drop in Argentina later this year, with more to follow in Africa and Asia. He says 240 customers have told him they would pay to volunteer on shoe drops, so next year he hopes to launch a company offering $2,000 vacations consisting of two days of sightseeing and four days of volunteering. "All these other businesses and deals have been preparing me for this," he says. "I believe Toms is going to give away millions of shoes...
...heyday. Meanwhile, Pressler missed his chance to remind people in their 20s and 30s how hip the Gap could be. (Remember the thrilling Jump & Jive khaki-campaign holiday spots?) Pressler launched two entirely new brands-- Forth & Towne, a midpriced line aimed at baby boomers, and Piperlime, an online shoe store--instead of working to make the Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic relevant again. Rather than trying to be everything to everyone again, says David Bassuk, retail consultant at Kurt Salmon Associates, Gap ought to focus its brands on a narrower group--shoppers in their...