We Love Toms!

If you’re like me, you were taken aback with great surprise when you logged onto http://TomsShoes.com and were instead redirected to a new site, one with a shorter URL and a sweet new redesign! Introducing the all-new http://Toms.com.

Focus on Community

The first thing you notice is the new overarching emphasis on interactivity and community updates.  On the old site, you’d have to click from one tab to the other to stay current with all the hottest and most important Toms Shoes news, but now all that information is made completely available to you right on the homepage!  Great idea, Blake Mycoskie, and the new Toms.com web developers!  We couldn’t think more highly about the new emphasis on social media, from an easy link to their Twitter feed (our Twitter feed is available at @WeLoveToms, by the way) and Myspace, Facebook, and YouTube accounts.  And even more so than the Toms Shoes news stories, we think the user-generated product reviews, written by everyday people like you and me, is a really nice touch that personalizes the Toms Shoes One for One Experience.

A Focus on Mission and Long-Term Value Creation for Kids in Need

What’s that, you say?  You’re not familiar with One for One?  Well strap on some Toms Shoes Cordones or Toms Shoes Alpargatas, because this is going to be a fun and exciting ride!  The One for One Mission cuts to the core, the very spiritual essence, if you will, of what the Toms Shoes brand is all about.  You see, for every single pair of shoes that Toms Shoes sells to a person in the United States of America or any number of countries around the world where Toms Shoes are sold, Toms Shoes will then give a pair of shoes to a child in need somewhere far over the world.  To date, they’ve given away shoes in places from as near as New Orleans or as far away as South Africa.  And they’re doing great work in Ethiopia as well fighting the foot disease of podoconiosis.

Toms Shoes Blog and News Updates!

As a Toms Shoes Blog ourself, and a fan page to boot, we can’t stop talking about the new Toms Shoes blog and news section of the site, that’s fully integrated into the domain name and really customized to deliver a top-notch user experience.  Sound a bit technical?  It’s because we know our stuff!  Yes, we here at WeLoveToms.com are a bit nerdy when it comes to blogs and the internet, but all the better to get our message about Toms Shoes, and the Toms Shoes message itself, out to people like you.  Besides, we wear Toms Shoes all the time, and that infinitely adds to the coolness vibe

So – all in all, the new Toms Shoes website, over at Toms.com, is a huge win!  We love it and wish the Toms Shoes team nothing but success as they ramp up their online marketing efforts.

And for all of you that want to get some Toms Shoes yourself, well hey!  Go click on the banner beneath this article and you’ll save $5 at checkout!  Simply use the promo code ChooseShoes.  It’s that simple!  As simple as One for One?  You bet.

I just received an email from Toms Shoes Chief Shoe Giver Blake Mycoskie today! Sure, he probably didn’t just send it to me – I have a feeling he sent it to the entire Toms Shoes email list. But this email was important, because in it he reached out to all of us Toms Shoes supporters, to ask us how WE will be participating in the world to make it a better place in 2010. I could go on, but I think Blake can say it better than I. So without further adieu, here is the email from Blake Mycoskie. The subject line is “Making tomorrow better”.

Dear WeLoveToms.com –

What is your vision for tomorrow?

While traveling in Argentina a few years ago, I met barefoot children who were struggling just to get through their daily lives. I desperately wanted to give them shoes for a better tomorrow, which led to the creation of TOMS. Since that time you — the TOMS community — have given away over 400,000 pairs of shoes to children around the world through our giving partners.

I couldn’t have imagined that one simple idea — all children deserving shoes — would create such an astonishing movement. Thank you for embracing this dream and helping to create the TOMS community we have today.

Now, we at TOMS HQ would like to hear from you. What is your dream for making tomorrow better than today? Share with us how you are hoping to make a difference in our world.

Our goal at TOMS is to be a company who wants a better tomorrow for everyone — it is so central to our mission it is how we came up with our name (TOMS stands for tomorrow). And we believe we all have experiences that lead us to want to make a difference in the world.

Most great ideas start small and close to home. What are your ideas of improving yourself, your community, and even our world? No idea is too big or too small. Believe me, you never know where the act of writing down your dreams will lead.

Just a few years ago I took a moment to write down my vision for tomorrow, and I hope you will do the same on TOMS.com now:

http://tools.toms.com/VisionForTomorrow

We look forward to being inspired — there’s a big world to change out there.

Carpe diem,

–Blake

Blake Mycoskie
Chief Shoe Giver
TOMS Shoes

Will you take the time to submit how you are making tomorrow better?

The One For One Movement cuts to the very core of what Toms Shoes is all about.  When we say “One for One” on this site, or when Blake Mycoskie (founder and Chief Shoe Giver of Toms Shoes) accepts an award at the Clinton Global Initiative and mentions the One for One Model, what we all refer to is a specific model that sends a pair of shoes to a child in need for every single pair of Toms Shoes purchased.  The notion of One for One is powerful because it ties consumer action (in this case, the purchase of a pair of Toms Shoes) to the doing of good.  This motivator is very powerful because consumers like yourselves feel good about making a purchase with Toms Shoes, because they know that their purchase is contributing to the wellbeing of a child somewhere on the planet.  By buying a pair of shoes, they can do good.

Before I continue, perhaps you would enjoy viewing this YouTube video made by Toms Shoes that explains the One for One Movement far more eloquently than I can:

Wow.  That video really spells out what Toms Shoes is about.  I can’t really say it better than that.  It really makes you think that Toms Shoes is so much more than a shoe company.  Yes, they sell shoes.  But what they are really doing is creating a vehicle – a system – to put shoes on the feet of kids.  It’s just that simple.  At the end of the day, that’s why Toms Shoes was formed.  What a beautiful, and simple, concept.

Of course, it’s great to put shoes on kids feet.  It’s amazing.  If you watch that video you can’t help but feel moved by the real and powerful work that this company does.  But I have a feeling that Blake Mycoskie didn’t want to stop at just One for One with shoes.  And I think that right now, we have a real opportunity as workers, small business owners, and entrepreneurs, to really incorporate the One for One model in everything we do.  Specifically, we can apply it to future businesses.

Do you have a bakery?  For every loaf of bread you sell, you donate a loaf of bread to the homeless shelter down the street.  Do you have a home-building company?  For every house you build, you donate a home to Habitat for Humanity.  Do you have a blog?  For every post you write that helps you make money, you write a post educating people on how they can do good.  That’s why I love this site and what it does.  Because every time I write a post, a person is one step closer to buying a pair of Toms Shoes.  And in my book, that means that they’re doing good.  So I gladly write every post you read here because if it can convince you to buy a pair of Toms then you are helping do some good in this world and you are making a very real difference in the process.

So after all that is said, the only thing to ask is that you go to TomsShoes.com either through this link or through the banner below, and you go buy a pair of Toms Shoes.  With the One for One model in full effect, your purchase means that a child just like the little ones in the video we saw gets what might be their very first pair of shoes.  What a simple, and wonderful, gift.

Toms Shoes always has the most amazing styles – seriously, we can’t just get enough!  They have the most colorful variations of shoes as well – red shoes, blue shoes, white shoes, black shoes, brown shoes, orange shoes, and more.  But a lot of people out here like pink shoes.  Specifically with the Toms Shoes logo, a pink pair of shoes does wonders to both make a fashion statement and a social statement as well.  You are saying – I am bold, I am confident, and I stand-out – and, you are also saying that you support children in need and good causes with your purchases.  That is an important statement as well.  But you are wondering if Toms Shoes has pink shoes?  Well look no further than right here.  Because we at WeLoveToms.com love all kinds of Toms Shoes, including the Pink Ones!  Here are our favorite Toms Shoes with pink, good for either men or women:

This one has really cute pink diamonds throughout the shoe!  Click here to go to TomsShoes.com to check it out.

This one has a really cool rustic style, with some pink hues in it.  Definitely a cool shoe for the hipster artist who likes Toms Shoes.  (Or anyone else).  Click here to go to TomsShoes.com to check it out.

This shoe also has some pink, along with a super funky paisley design.  If you want some paisley Toms Shoes with some pink as well, then this is the shoe for you!  Click here to go to TomsShoes.com to buy them.

This shoe is a classic favorite.  Purple stripes around pink squares with blue hues.  A great shoe, kind of the essence of the funky Toms Shoes design we know and love. Click here to go to TomsShoes.com to check them out.

Another suave, cool, Toms Shoes design.  Here we’ve got fading from gold to gray across the shoe, with purple and pink hues all throughout.  Super stylish!!  Click here to go to TomsShoes.com to check them out in further detail.

And of course, you can’t go wrong with these ultra-classic red Toms Shoes.  They’re not fully pink, but they sure are just as bold and they make a great statement along with going along with pretty much all of your favorite outfits.  Click here to go to TomsShoes.com to check them out.

As always, remember that for every pair of shoes you buy, Toms Shoes gives a pair away to a child in need.  It’s called the One for One Promise.  And they’ve given away over 150,000 pairs of shoes since Blake Mycoskie founded the company back in 2006.  So go and buy a pair of Toms Shoes, or three.  Every time you buy one, you are helping a child in serious need get shoes on their feet.  And after you bought that pair of shoes, smile.  Because you’ve earned it.