TOMS is often among the first companies that come to mind when thinking of socially responsible businesses. But how effective is its One for One model, and why is it so silent on sustainability?

TOMS Shoes began with a restless soul, a trip to Argentina, a pair of traditional alpargatas and an idea for a for-profit company that would fight global poverty. It has since become a driving force in the world of social enterprise, infiltrating mainstream fashion with its simple but stylish kicks and providing more than one million needy children with shoes through its feel-good One for One model.

But though TOMS has galvanized millions of customers around its mission, some say that the TOMS model harms the communities it intends to help. Add a troubling lack of supply chain transparency and all of a sudden those warm-fuzzy feelings start to harden. In this week’s Behind the Label, we take a look at TOMS’ sustainability and giving practices to see if the company has earned its position at the top of the social enterprise food chain.

The original premise of TOMS is introduced simply enough:

If you’re new to TOMS, hi, we make shoes, and with every pair purchased, we give a new pair of shoes to a child in need.

TOMS implements its One for One model primarily through partnerships with humanitarian organizations like Partners In Health, IMA World Health, WE International and Goods for Good, as well as through high profile shoe drops coordinated by its non-profit Friends of TOMS arm.

Last June, in a dramatic unveil, TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie announced that the company was expanding from a shoe businesses to a broader “One for One” business, starting with the launch of a new eyewear line that provides sight to one person for every one pair of frames purchased, either through medical treatment, prescription glasses or sight-saving surgery.

Since its founding in 2006, TOMS has been particularly successful at engaging with college communities. Through TOMS Campus Clubs, like-minded students can unite around the common values of “conscious consumerism, helping children in need and being heard through their choices” and participate in events like shoe-painting parties and the now-famous One Day Without Shoes, a celebrity-driven campaign that calls upon people to ditch their shoes for 24 hours in order to spread awareness of global shoelessness.

THE GOOD

Through TOMS’ giving department, more than one million pairs of shoes have been distributed across 23 countries, including Argentina, Ethiopia, Haiti and the United States.

By pairing with reputable groups on distribution, TOMS aims to ensure that its aid is not isolated, but rather part of comprehensive development programs targeting healthcare and education. Goods for Good founder Melissa Kushner writes that these types of donations can be an effective form of aid, when done right.

After eight years of learning how to best provide goods to those in need, I can safely say that shoes, fabric, school materials as well as other necessities like eyeglasses can have a lasting impact, even after they wear out. Goods provision can be right and when it is, it has far-reaching benefits. For example: Goods for Good has witnessed a 25 percent increase in school attendance by providing students and teachers with re-purposed educational supplies and trained over 200 vulnerable people in the marketable skill of tailoring who in turn created over 24,000 school uniforms for orphans and vulnerable children, based on the gift of surplus fabric.

And TOMS makes a concerted effort to make sure its donations are “done right,” a former employee told EcoSalon. Giving partners are thoroughly vetted and communities thoroughly assessed to ensure that local economies won’t be disrupted by large-scale shoe distribution. Each order of donation shoes is made-to-order so that the giving partner can meet the needs of the children they serve – no surplus product in odd sizes here. And most of the donation shoes are basic black canvas, since black shoes are often required for school uniforms and school uniforms are often required to attend school. TOMS also works to establish long-term relationships through repeat giving, so that new shoes can be provided when old shoes are outgrown or worn out.

More information is available in TOMS’ first-ever Giving Report, published in 2010.

THE BAD

Despite TOMS’ efforts to give responsibly, its One for One model has become a subject of criticism from many in the international development community. In 2011, the blog Good Intentions Are Not Enough launched a counter-campaign to One Day Without Shoes called A Day Without Dignity, calling upon aid workers and people from areas that receive shoe drops and aid to speak up against TOMS’ “Whites in Shining Armor” approach to philanthropy.

More than 60 blog posts were contributed to the campaign, including one from Kelsey Timmerman, author of Where Am I Wearing? A Global Tour to the Countries, Factories, and People That Make Our Clothes, who wrote:

Yes, someone giving you a pair of shoes would sure be nice if you didn’t have a pair. But a job that allows parents to send their kids to school could change your family tree forever.

TOMS is also notoriously vague about the origins of its products, the sustainability of its supply chains and the ethical nature of its business practices. While I couldn’t find any direct links to production information on TOMS.com, a Google search revealed what looks like a hastily thrown together summary of TOMS Manufacturing Practices.

We want our customers to know as much as we do. As part of this effort of increasing transparency, we’ve provided some pictures of our factories in China, Argentina and Ethiopia. Regular visits by our production staff and third party audits ensure not only the product is up to standards, but that our factories provide a clean, safe place to work, fair wages and treatment, and never employ underage labor.

What followed were the three images in the screen shot below.

Mycoskie expands upon his approach to sustainability in a recent Q&A with 360 Magazine:

You hear a lot about sustainability in all different realms now. Definitely on the environmental side, on the business practice side, etc. For me, sustainability is knowing that when I give a child a pair of shoes, that when they wear them out or grow out of them, they’ll be able to get another pair, and another pair. We’re going to keep them in shoes because that allows them to go to school and prevents foot diseases. For us to truly say we’re sustainable, we have to not only build a business so we are allowed to continue to give shoes by selling shoes, but we also build profits so if we have a bad season, we can continue to give shoes. 

Mycoskie’s is a valid perspective, though it entirely ignores the environmental and ethical factors that have become inseparable from the sustainability movement. That, TOMS has yet to substantively address.

THE QUESTIONABLE

TOMS is arguably the most successful social enterprise lifestyle brand today, proving that a message about doing good can become a mainstream movement that resonates across demographics. As Timmerman puts it, “step #1 is getting people to give a shit.”

The company is crystal clear about its intentions: to effect social change through a One for One charity model. No mention of pioneering sustainable manufacturing methods, or using zero-waste pattern design, or creating job opportunities in the communities they adopt. Just One for One charity. And there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that focus.

What I do find troublesome, though, is that TOMS continues to create a movement around conscious consumerism and being heard through choices, yet it continues to hedge questions about the sustainable and ethical nature of its manufacturing practices. Most conscious consumers are as conscientious about the origins of their products as they are about the impact made through their purchases. Greater transparency about TOMS’ production processes would ease the concerns of many who want to buy into the One for One movement, as well as validate the company’s reputation as a pioneer in the world of socially responsible businesses – assuming, of course, that TOMS has nothing to hide.

SEE ALSO:

Behind the Label: H&M’s Conscious Collection

Behind the Label: McDonald’s See What We’re Made Of Campaign

Behind the Label: Levi Strauss’ E-Valuate Program

Behind the Label: Chipotle, Food With Integrity

Behind the Label: West Elm Green

The post Behind the Label: TOMS’ One For One Campaign appeared first on EcoSalon.

Column“Drawing lets me explain my feelings, all my happiness, all my sorrows, because drawing is the spirit of expression for all artists.” – Artist Jean-Mark Delphonse

Captured in a sentence, the emotional connection art can have with our souls holds a power that often becomes bigger than any of us. Clothing label Moral Fibers appears to have tapped directly into that internal connection through their mission: “Moral Fibers is a sustainable clothing brand with a commitment to artists in developing countries. We use art and education as tools to grow talent and build financial stability in the poorest communities in the world.”

Co-founded in January 2011 by Matthew Brightman (CEO) and Martin Weiss (COO), Moral Fibers is built upon the idea that international development revolves around employing the unemployed in jobs that require education and art to provide financial stability. Following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Brightman traveled to Port-au-Prince to assist with relief work. Upon that adventure, he met Erick Frazier, who has now become Moral Fibers’ local manager, or “Bossman” as they call him.

With the seeds of inspiration planted in Brightman’s mind after his experience in Haiti, he wrote up a business plan and approached Weiss to be his potential partner in crime. As Weiss tells EcoSalon, “He convinced me to come to Haiti with him and find artists. We had no idea how we were going to turn their art into clothing.”

Artist Jean-Mark Delphonse’s artwork and Moral Fibers tee

With the help of “Bossman” Frazier, they identified their first eight Moral Fibers’ artists from his community in Carrefour, Haiti and the surrounding tent areas. Following that groundbreaking trip, Brightman and Weiss mocked up their first tee by artist Jean-Mark Delphonse and got to work sorting out how they were going to make this new dream a reality.

Martin Weiss (COO), Erick Frazier (Moral Fibers’ Haiti “Bossman”), & Matthew Brightman (CEO)

In the course of the next year, Moral Fibers had expanded its artist base to include 15 creative minds, and since then, each of those artists has gradually moved out of their tents and into houses in Carrefour. As Weiss tells EcoSalon, “When an artist is hired, they provide 12 pieces of art monthly, are required to attend school, and give hours of service to their community. If we decide to use a piece of artwork in a piece of clothing going into production, we get our local manager Erick to ask questions to the artist about their ideas and the process of creating the piece.”

While all the company’s current partner artists are based in Haiti, Brightman and Weiss are working with the artists in Carrefour as a test-bed for their international development model. Moral Fibers’ artists receive salaries of five times the average national income, and get to choose from four benefits: education subsidy for one child, home rental subsidy, healthcare subsidy, or an entrepreneurship fund. In exchange, the artists must deliver 12 pieces of art per month, be actively attending school, and volunteer in their community.

“We’re actively trying to improve our artist development model,” says Weiss.

While both men are full of passion for international development, Weiss and Brightman are also both intent on continuously evolving their model to improve the quality of life and lifetime earning potential for their artists.

“We strive to make the best fashion, and our artists strive to make the best artwork,” says Weiss.

In just a year since their initial launch, Moral Fibers has already embraced a massive shift in perspective.

“The Fall Collection is the embodiment of a large step forward. Moral Fibers was founded as a t-shirt brand that wanted to change what a clothing brand could be, and our artists were found as inhabitants of a tent city in a failed state that wanted to change what art could be,” says Weiss.

Sharing the intimate stories behind the artwork is something key to the DNA of Moral Fibers.

13-year-old artist Jean Daniel Maurilus tells his story

While the profiled artwork originates in Haiti, Moral Fibers does much of the the behind-the-scenes work designing in their Montreal headquarters, and has manufactured their past collections locally in Montreal. Recently, their team has been working on a new initiative, which involves manufacturing at INDEPCO in Haiti. Some of their upcoming Spring designs, launching in April, have been made at this non-profit group of Ateliers that are based in Cité Soleil, Port-au-Prince.

Spring 2012 teaser, launching in April 2012

Managed by Hans Garoute, Haiti’s 2010 entrepreneur of the year, INDEPCO has a 20-year operating history of success, and is funded by the Clinton-Bush Haiti Foundation and USAID. As Weiss tells EcoSalon, “Garoute pairs clients like Moral Fibers with ateliers who focus on low-to-medium quantity, high-quality fashion production, and who will scale with their clients.”

A graduate of New York City’s Fashion Institute of Technology and a former buyer for Macy’s, Garoute is all about incentives for his employees. Offering free sewing classes to all of his workers to increase their skills, Garoute also presents his “sewing graduates” with their very own sewing machine upon completion of his courses.

Moral Fibers sees value in producing their garments at INDEPCO for two reasons. “While a ‘Made in Haiti’ tag adds intangible value to Moral Fibers’ brand image by further supporting economic and infrastructure development in the company’s pilot country, outsourcing sewing to INDEPCO saves Moral Fibers an average of 35-50% on the total cost of goods of each piece sewn in Haiti before shipping expenses,” says Weiss.

Additionally, further investing in generating more job opportunities through manufacturing in Haiti gives Moral Fibers an added-value edge.

By artist Victor Phalange

For Moral Fibers, being a for-profit business in their sector means upholding a responsibility of creating “real social good” that’s sustainable. Shamelessly, Weiss mentions a Men in Black quote when asked about the message he hopes to share via Moral Fibers: “A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it.”

For Weiss, “this quote kind of sums up the problem that you encounter when you generalize about ‘people in developing countries’ or try to teach a crowded classroom instead of an individual.” Experiencing so many aspects of life in Haiti, Weiss has realized directly that individuals are smart, but a lot of them are simply dealt terrible lives, without the opportunity for education, safety, happiness, food, or shelter.

For Weiss, companies like Toms Shoes use a model that is less-than-sustainable. “The ‘Buy One, Give One’ model accomplishes the goal of charity, but will never work for development—no matter how many shoes you send to Africa. You will never succeed in substantially improving the quality of life for anyone there simply by shipping goods.”

On the contrary, Weiss pushes the fact that if you “build a shoe factory, train a foreman and workers, and produce Toms shoes there, you will.” Unfortunately, he explains, Toms Shoes are made in China because production costs are low and workers are already trained.

What Toms Shoes is doing is considered international development and it is doing social good. But, Weiss emphasizes that “Moral Fibers is trying to change this paradigm of sending the excess products of our industrialized world to developing countries and counting it as social good. Our model of international development revolves around employing the unemployed in jobs that require education and art to provide financial stability.”

While it’s all a journey of self discovery, Moral Fibers seems to be treading a particularly positive path, using art as the driving force.

The post THREADED: Moral Fibers – Wearable Art With A Focus On International Development appeared first on EcoSalon.

Inspired by American heritage style and the Pendleton Portland Collection, these picks will help preserve that “cozying-up-by-the-fire” feeling, all day long.

The best thing about fall is that we can cozy up on the couch and wrap ourselves in a thick, warm blanket. With these blanket patterned pieces, we can preserve that cozy feeling, all day long. The Pendleton Portland Collection serves as the inspiration for this American heritage style, but you can find eco-savvy picks from other designers as well. In light of the recent Navajo Nation vs. Urban Outfitters controversy, it’s worth noting that Pendleton has worked with Native Americans in the Southwest since 1895, designing blankets, robes and, eventually, items for ceremonial use. Add a black hat, some black tights and you’re good to go.

Pendleton Reversible Harding Poncho
This limited edition poncho updates a reversible black and ivory Native American design introduced 80 years ago by Pendleton. Justly prized for its luxurious 100% pure virgin wool, this family-owned manufacturer produces outerwear that combines softness with exceptional warmth and original styling. This comfy poncho provides complete coverage, sort of like a blanket.
$395, VivaTerra

Kirsten Muenster Corolla Ring
Each piece of jewelry in Kirsten Muenster’s collection is hand crafted from ethically sourced materials and vintage elements, to create one-of-a-kind, modern heirlooms that reveal the subtle intricacies of nature. This exquisite ring is made using recycled sterling silver with oxidation.
$200, Kirsten Muenster Jewelry

Tracy Watts Dandy Fedora
Tracy Watts is a classically trained milliner with a background in art and painting. Her stylish hats are handcrafted in her Chelsea studio. This Dandy Fedora is the perfect topper to an all black and white ensemble.
$242, Juno & Jove

Shift Dress by Pendleton Portland Collection
This Shift Dress by Pendleton is made from 100% virgin wool. The Jacquard pattern is woven on a special loom, the same method Pendleton has used since 1909. A flattering feminine silhouette will make a timeless addition to your wardrobe. Wear it to work, or a sophisticated night out with friends.
$248, Juno& Jove

JADEtribe Weekender in Black/Beige
This hand woven weekender bag is created from organic cotton and natural dyes by a village of women in Laos. All raw materials to create the natural dyes are grown in their village. Each textile takes three days for the women to weave, making this bag is a true exhibition of craft.
$396, Jade Tribe

Black & Tan Harding Robe Blanket by Pendleton Portland Collection
Made from 100% virgin wool, the Jacquard pattern on this robe is woven on a special loom, creating a double-sided design in reversed colors. The leather carrier ensures that you can carry it in style. Curl up next to a fire with this blanket and a cup of tea for the perfect ending to a long day.
$248, Juno & Jove

Aztec Silver Canvas Women’s Desert Botas
These black and white botas from TOMS feature clever hidden elastic straps for secure fit even without laces. But these kicks are not just stylish, they will boost your karma too. For every pair you buy, TOMS donates a pair to a child in need.
$68, Toms

The post On Trend: Blanket Pattern appeared first on EcoSalon.

Sustainable style news from EcoSalon’s West Coast Fashion Editor.

One for One – Finally, after months of salivating by fashion-loving Toms fans, the collaboration between The Row (Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s American-made clothing line) and Santa-Monica based TOMS shoes is available for purchase. Illustrating the clean aesthetic the Olsens’ high-end line is known for, the casual chic shoes are made of Italian-sourced wool and cashmere blends. Suitable for fall wardrobe pairings, they are the perfect teaming of high design and feel-good: As always, for every pair of TOMS + The Row shoe sold, a child in need will receive a new pair of shoes. Prices range from $98 to $150.

Back to School – Wondering how to snag a free item from organic and socially conscious Prairie Underground’s new fall line? Just post a funny picture of yourself when you were in grade school on Berkeley’s Convert store’s Facebook page. If your picture scores the most likes, you’ll win a free item. It’s all part of their “Back to Cool” event running from September 4th from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Convert. Head over for the trunk show on Sunday and check out the latest fall looks for students and non-students alike, no hall pass required.

Pale & Interesting – I don’t like the sun, but I live in California. Therefore, I’m all about the sunscreen. One line I’m obsessed with is Arcona from Santa Monica. Their natural products leave out all the nasty stuff like petrochemicals, chemical stabilizers, parabens, sodium lauryl sulphates, perfumes, dyes, and any other toxic ingredients but are choc-full of anti-aging antioxidants, plant lipids and extracts, sea vegetables, essential oils and vitamins and minerals. It’s super potent stuff – and everything expires in six months. While most of us are aware of protecting our faces, the earliest signs of aging are seen on the décolletage, hands and forearms. Don’t miss their great offer on the wonderful Reozone 30 Body SPF – it contains 7% each of sun blocking titanium and zinc oxide blended with high concentrations of hyaluronic acid, green tea and Vitamin’s A & C. It’s on sale at 30% off the regular price until tomorrow.

If you have a West Coast event, launch or product you’d like covered, submit your sustainable style story to rowena@ecosalon.com.

The post Eco Style West Vol. 24 appeared first on EcoSalon.

Tom’s wedges have helped espadrilles make a strong comeback.

They were big in the 80’s and forever a wardrobe staple in places like Cape Cod and The Hamptons but thanks to Tom’s, we’ve been able to experience an espadrille renaissance two years running. Some styles like these above are made from hemp, others include cork and linen and all are styled to slim the ankle and push us through our summer days like sun kissed sweethearts.

$69

Look for Lustables daily at EcoSalon. 100% gorgeous green finds, and never sponsored. Submit your favorite to tips@ecosalon.com

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Your fashion choices reveal your political views, whether you want them to or not.

There was a time when tags like “Made in the U.S.A.” meant something. During war times, when buying cotton was limited by choice to only the bare necessities (unless you wanted to be considered unpatriotic by your neighbors), we could directly trace how our consumption habits related to our society’s values. Since then, flag waving morals within fashion have more or less disappeared along with the great American garment factories. With the internet, the world is a much smaller place and sadly, our sense of social values and our concern for our neighbors seems to have shrunk, as well.

The “Made in ____” label actually means a lot on the front of world politics. It relates to tariffs and trade agreements, which government worker rights and standards you support, and the bottom line: the price. The reality is that we haven’t been paying the real price of goods for decades. Whether it’s our own government that has been manipulating the price of our products through trade agreements and tariffs, or the Chinese government subsidizing their labor costs to dominate the world’s production market, it’s all coming back to us. We’re starting to pay for it: prices are going up, jobs have been lost, the environment is at risk, and fashion is once again on the center stage of politics simply by what we choose or don’t choose to wear and how we acquire goods.

Flash Sales

As of late, it seems there are very few things besides sales that get consumers excited to buy more clothes in the middle of a recession. For fashion, an economic recession translates to a mad rash of online flash sales.

According to industry reports, in 2010, on average, flash sale sites reported a 300% increase in sales even though the economy had not nearly recovered. The frenzy these exclusive, one day only, sample sales stir up in consumers (who are fearful of missing out on getting the last designer bag at sample prices), runs parallel to the fears the economy stirs up in times when everyone is fearful of losing their job. The general philosophy behind these shopping patterns is to get as much as you can while the getting is good.

While flash sales encourage cut-throat consumer shopping habits, the fashion industry’s ever cheerful motto continues to be “It’s just fashion, no one’s dying over it,” but the truth is that people are dying over it.

Last December, 25 workers were killed and another 100 were injured in a factory fire in Bangladesh, and that is a highly visible case where the workers died directly because of poor safety standards in the factories. Most factory workers end up severely crippled with chronic health disorders related to a life of hard labor working with toxic materials. In China, by law, the media is forbidden to report on human rights issues. However, recently the Chinese government has made great efforts to clean up its act and provide better working conditions in factories for their people. If you consider factory labor camps where workers are required to take two hour naps on cots underneath their machines mid-day so that they can last the whole 18 hour shift to be humane working conditions, you’d be wrong, but you’d also be part of the status quo. This might be the reason for the other hot trend in fashion sales this year: fashion philanthropy.

Fashion Philanthropy

Clearly, people are concerned about the human condition and want to put their dollars toward something meaningful when they buy their clothes. So, for just about every cause, there is a fashion company doing double-duty selling products to raise money and awareness.

Designers, from Vivien Westwood and Stella McCartney, to companies like the Gap in collaboration with Bono’s Red Campaign, have made huge waves in social awareness by fundraising and sales through profit sharing and partnering with philanthropic causes.

In 1983, Katherine Hamnett launched her line of political fashion tees. While Hammett’s flavor of fashion politics is now outdated, her company was one of the first to market giving a percentage of the profits away to charity, and for this reason she’s considered a pioneer. Luckily, savvy social media experts, marketing campaigns, and branding have allowed fashion philanthropists to become subtle yet clearly recognizable in their charitable product placement. Today, the hint of a rubber bracelet hanging just below your shirt cuff is enough to let people know where you stand.

These affordable tokens serve as status symbols among the high ticket donating entrepreneurs and socialites alike.

The Political Implications of Stepping Out

Just stepping out in a cheerful frock from H&M seems to have political implications these days. We used to be able to buy clothes without a care in the world about who made them, what they were made of, and how the world might be affected. Today, what you buy says quite a lot about who you are and what you stand for. Want to really know where a fashionista stands on political and social issues? Just look at her feet. Shoes are one of the most coveted and telling items in a woman’s closet. You can really tell a girl’s views, values, and how far her morals go just by looking at her footwear.

Take, for instance, these shoe made by Osborn, a company that works with a fair-trade organization in Guatemala to employ traditional craftsmen who are paid a fair wage for their work. At just a glance, these shoes belie a wearer who has a creative lifestyle, who generally stays current with what’s happening in the world of art and design, but who has some rebellious, hippie-heritage deep down leading her to choose to support skilled craftsmen and favor ethnic chic patterns in her fashion statements.

Then there’s the vintage shoe. Their owner is practical, well educated, frugal, slightly sentimental, likes fashion but does not follow any known trends, and probably could be pegged as someone who reads a lot of books. Her old school, working-class-Americana political views are reflected in her subtle lifestyle choices which she carefully cultivates at great pains. When asked about politics, she has well-informed opinions that she exercises at every election when she faithfully votes at the polls.

Next, take a Tom’s Shoe. Similar to the Fair-Trade Osborn model, Tom’s is far more successful in sales and recognizable on the street. This is the Prius of shoes, and like the Prius, it gets twice as many miles to the gallon. For every shoe you buy, Tom’s gives a pair of shoes to a barefooted child in a third world country. Anyone found wearing this shoe chose to support Tom’s cause just by buying these slightly homely slippers. The owner of this shoe proudly reads The New Yorker, is educated, social, political, cares about others and also, about what others think. Even if her interest in philanthropy is ever so slightly pretentious, she is making a conscious choice to do good through her fashion choices, and she feels that’s better than most can say.

Next, there’s the Ferragamo shoe. This is a shoe that is hand crafted by highly skilled craftsmen who have refined fit and quality to an art form over the past 100 years. These heritage shoes are built to last. Women who have known the Ferragamo shoe covet them as heirlooms from their mothers and grandmothers. Even to the average eye, these shoes equate class distinction and old money. To a more critical eye the wearer of this shoe has discerning taste in quality, comfort, and luxury, and is educated but conservative in her world views. Politics? She’d rather not say; she generally keeps her opinions on such things to herself.

Several steps down in class, but not in price is the Louboutin shoe. The higher the stiletto, the higher maintenance the girl. Her greatest aspiration in life appears to become a life size Barbie doll in a Barbie McMansion married to Ken. This kid is a Freudian field day if you can crack the lacquer. She likes flashy cars, big cigars and diamond rings. Politics never come into conversation with this one, and she only attends high-brow charity events as arm candy or with her best friend (the other hot girl). Just don’t take her for stupid; she knows exactly what she’s doing, what she wants, and nothing is going to get in her way.

There are millions of other shoes out there, all of which have something different to say about their wearer, but on the political front of fashion these are just some prime examples of what your shoe choices alone might say about you. What does the rest of your wardrobe have to say? What if every new item you bought was seen as a vote for the ethics in which you want the future to follow, if every time you saw a college student ready to go out in a Forever 21 frock you were reminded that she supports work camp labor? And while choosing to wear a skimpier swimsuit at the swim club could cause a scandal in uptight social circles, in the material world, it certainly could help reduce fabric consumption.

Even if we never return to the glory days of WWII rationing, as fashion continues to get dragged through the trenches for wreaking havoc on delicate planetary ecosystems, one can only hope our wardrobe choices become a lot more thoughtful and truthful, to protect them.

Image: blog.compete.com, www.sometimefriend.com, www.gliving.com, www.thriftaholic.blogspot.com

Editor’s note: Louise Lagosi is not the author’s real name. Catch our fashion industry insider’s insights and revelations every Friday at EcoSalon.

The post From Flash Sales to Philanthropy, It’s the Politics of Fashion appeared first on EcoSalon.

A sensibly chic take on the fiber and jute peasant footwear made in Catalonia since the 14th century – and popularized by designers in the forties and eighties – I like to think of TOMS Shoes as the little espadrille that could:

It could be the most popular shoe second to Uggs for American teenage girls (and fashion crossover dudes). The basic black TOM is now accepted as part of the uniform at schools nationwide in sun, rain, sleet or snow. Who knew canvas was year-round? The choices keep growing, from sparkly sequin and high wedgie editions to earthy vegan and even a new wedding collection.

It could be the most ingenious idea to date for a company giving back on a one-for-one basis to help barefoot populations risking cuts and sores, infections and disease from exposure. On April 5, TOMs raises awareness with its One Day Without Shoes, advertised in a celeb splashed video featuring uplifting images of shoeless throngs across the nation getting into the act.

And it could be catching on big-time as other shoe and apparel marketing execs look for sexy giving campaigns that attract younger generations seeking trends and causes. Ralph Lauren co-branded Rugby TOMS donating a matched pair with every pair sold; Element Skateboards introduced limited edition TOMS+Element shoes with a One for One skateboard benefiting the Indigo Skate Camp in Durban South Africa.

The TOMS movement began in 2006 when Blake Mycoskie was traveling in Argentina and discovered too many poor children were going without shoes. He started his company and returned to Argentina later that year armed with 10,000 pairs of shoes made available by TOM customers through the program. To date, more than one million pairs of new shoes have been issued to children thorough Giving Partners around the world.

Was the idea unique? Well, in 2005, a year before the trip to Argentina and following the 2004 tsunami in southeast Asia, Soles4Soles was born based on the concept of giving without receiving. Wayne Elsey saw the need and spurred on shoe makers to donate a quarter million of their shoes to devastated locations. A year later, another million were shipped to the gulf coast following Katrina. So in 2006, Elsey made it official and founded his non profit.

Shoes2Share sprung from a couple’s adoption of children from Haiti. Described as a grassroots ministry, its humble beginnings have involved distributing suitcases of shoes to relieve the plight of children and families in orphanages, shelters and rehabilitation and feeding programs. In addition to the Caribbean effort, the charity is now targeting children of fallen soldiers, police officers and firefighters.

More on the scale of the one-for-one platform, Payless ShoeSource has introduced the Good Shoe Project, partnering with World Vision to peddle a knock-off of the TOMS canvas boater, called theAirwalk Hope Shoe, for $19.99. For every pair sold, Payless will send a pair to children in Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua or Guatemala. Pitched to customers as the “buy one, give one” deal, they offer not only hope to barefoot victims but to consumers who want to do their part to give without footing the $54-$80 bill for a pair of TOMS.

Eventually, TOMS range may widen as well to make giving opportunities more abundant, reaching kids on U.S. turf who want to get on the bandwagon . Perhaps then, the little espadrille that could will really be too cool for school!

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