TOMS Shoes Listens to Critics

I'm sure many of you know the TOMS Shoes story: founder Blake Mycoskie saw poverty in Argentina, learned of kids running around barefoot and decided to start his company. For every pair of shoes TOMS sells, they give a free pair to a child, usually one living in a developing country. But this one-for-one model doesn't help solve the underlying causes of poverty, as critics have pointed out. It seems TOMS might be listening to its critics. According to Tiny Spark, which reports on the business of nonprofits and NGOs, TOMS will produce some of its shoes in Haiti starting in 2014. Tiny Spark's Amy Costello writes:

"Mycoskie acknowledged that his decision to begin manufacturing in Haiti was a result of listening to his critics. “If you’re building a brand you have to listen to the critics, and we have,” he said in an interview with Entrepreneur Magazine last week.  “We are evolving through some major paradigm shifts.”"

Be sure to read the full Tiny Spark story and listen to Tiny Spark's podcast about TOMS Shoes.