Fun & Fantastic Idea

Posted: April 1st, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | Comments Off on Fun & Fantastic Idea

or:

How Can You Not be On-Board with This?

(confession:  I’ve always liked giving things 2 titles since watching Rocky & Bullwinkle as a kid.  But that’s neither here nor there)

It’s like no matter who you are or where you are or where you live, getting a new pair of shoes is an awesome experience. So there is this great gratitude that we get everywhere we go.

I admit, I first heard of TOMS shoes from the AT&T commercial (iPhone FTW), but wasn’t fully convinced they were a real product.  Then last winter I noticed them on sale at frances in uptown and remember thinking it was pretty cool that they were offering a product that could let us do what we do best (consumerism) and help children around the world by doing so.

(I also really like frances because I got my “Love Phoenix or Leave Phoenix” sticker there.)

While reading TreeHugger today, I came across this guest post from TOMS Shoes founder Blake Myycoskie.

The ideas he presents below are pretty poignant and the day without shoes sounds like it’s right on the board of “casually reasonable request for participation” and “awkward enough to make people ask questions”.

This guest post was written by Blake Mycoskie, the founder of TOMS shoes.

I started a company called TOMS which gives a pair of new shoes to child in need, for every pair sold. One for One. And shortly after we started I realized it was hard for my friends and people who were our customers to really understand how hard it is to go without shoes.

When was the last time you walked to work barefoot? Or went to the store barefoot?

So I came up with this idea, “One Day Without Shoes.” For the third year, all my friends and I are choosing NOT to wear shoes on April 8th.

One Day Without Shoes” is our movement to get people worldwide to kick off their shoes, go a mile barefoot, an hour barefoot, or the entire day barefoot and really understand the impact a pair of shoes can have on one’s life.

So… your feet will probably get dirty, they might hurt, and you’ll definitely get funny looks…but I’m asking you to join us April 8th. Pledge to go barefoot on April 8 at OneDayWithoutShoes.com—host an event or join an existing one (and when you do so you could win slot a TOMS Shoe Drop)!

Did you watch the video?  Quit screwing around and watch that baby.

I’m pretty sure I’m going to pursue this and try to go shoeless that day myself.   Since I know there are several other local people are are keen on helping others, particularly charities that positively impact children (#twestival phx, crisis nursery #buzzcation, etc), maybe some other folks will be interested in having a go at it.

Rule #1 though, make sure your feet are ready to be on display.  Get some lotion, pumice, whatever.  No snaggle-claws please.

I could go on and on about how great this idea seems, but instead, you can just read a full interview with Blake here.  At the end he tells you how you can apply to go with TOMS and fly to Argentina or Africa and personally deliver shoes to children in need.

(This is Day 9 of the 30 Day Blog Challenge, be sure to check out the other participants at #30DayBC)


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