Toms Shoes Expands Donation Program to Sunglasses
Blake Mycoskie talking to a woman about her eyesight
For several years now, Toms Shoes has been known for its generous program that donates one pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair of shoes sold on the retail level.
Now Toms, based in Santa Monica, Calif., is going one step further. It has launched a small sunglass collection, with a certain percentage of sales going to help people save their sight. The new eyewear collection was revealed today by Toms' founder, Blake Mycoskie. He said he realized that the One for One program could give more than just shoes. So the next phase in his company's retail and philanthropic line-up is eyewear. The three sunglass styles retail for $135 to $145 and will be selling at Nordstrom and other stores.
Toms is partnering with the Seva Foundation in San Francisco, which has set up eyecare programs in Asia Africa and other parts of the world. They have financed cataract surgery, trained eye care specialists and handed out eyeglasses. The Toms eyesight initiative wil first roll out in Nepal, Tibet and Cambodia.
Mycoskie came up with the idea about donating shoes after traveling in 2006 through villages in Argentina and seeing children with no shoes. He founded Toms and since then has donated more than 1 million pairs of shoes to children.
