I have a love/hate relationship with Toms, the ethical shoe company who donate a pair of shoes to children in developing countries with each pair sold.
So I decided one day, that they were the missing item from my wardrobe, and organised my finances accordingly to buy a navy and white striped pair. And I loved them, and gushed about them to all of my peers, because they were so ethical and stylish and comfortable. All was well, until it rained, and the sole managed to be semi-destroyed in one outing to town and back. And so I hated them, and ranted about their horrendous quality and how I was so upset about how they weren't designed to last. I was definitely not going to buy another pair.
Except recent reading has shown that the ethical shoe trend is catching on. Sketchers have introduced a brand of espadrilles called Bobs (seriously) which donate a pair of shoes to developing countries with every pair sold. Deja Vu?
Their website states: "It isn't a new idea, but it's a great idea-" which made me laugh and wonder if there was soon going to be a court case between Toms and Bobs, maybe even involving Tom and Bob who were probably the initiators of such an idea in each respective company.
However, I've been challenged recently by Tearfund's Rhythms app, a new website which has a catchy tagline: "It’s all about taking actions to change the way you live so that together we can change the world." Last summer I had the massive privilege of travelling to India on one of Tearfund's Transform trips and it was so great - (shameless plug) go if you possibly can, it will transform you!
In India, I realised that very few of the street children owned a pair of shoes and actually, it's one of those little things you notice that screams poverty. In a city like Calcutta there is serious cultural diversity and a huge difference between the rich and poor. I had the unfortunate experience of breaking my flipflop while travelling to work one day in monsoon weather, and know first hand that walking round an Indian city barefoot is not a pleasant experience. My convenient solution was to take a taxi to the office and then purchase a new pair of shoes. It was a small financial sacrifice for a first-world charity worker like me, but for many people in that city, shoes are the first sacrifice in favour of food, shelter or education.
Anecdote aside, Rhythms encouraged me to think differently about my Toms. One could say that they are overpriced for what they are, they do not last and they fall apart in the rain. However, thinking about it, the concept is actually quite exciting. Shoes for shoes. And after a bit of reading, I was supportive once more. Maybe it was a bit stupid to expect my canvas shoes to survive a torrential downpour in Durham. Maybe I was just being selfish when they didn't live up to my high expectations.
Conversely, maybe I've just been sold by the power of ethical advertising.
But taking actions to change the world - well, maybe giving a pair of shoes can actually change someone's future. I'm not advocating that we absolutely have to buy Toms to give to charity (we're definitely not short of options in the UK) but the concept that shoe companies are making us more aware of the things we take for granted? I like that. Let's have more companies doing something beneficial, making us think more about others and less about ourselves. That's the sort of mindset that can change the world.
Comments
Post a Comment