Put Some Heart in Your Sole

A few months ago, we featured Toms Shoes and the do-good-with-your-feet mission that is the — ahem — sole of the company and its founder Blake Mycoskie. The concept is simple: For every pair you buy, Toms gives another away to people in need. This year alone, Toms will give away 200,000 pairs. In just over two years, Toms has given away more than 100,000 pairs of shoes.

For the holidays, Toms is upping the ante and aims to sell 30,000 pairs of shoes, donating another 30,000 to children in Ethiopia to help stamp out podoconiosis.  Otherwise known as nonfilarial elephantiasis or "bigfoot disease," it strikes young people who go barefoot in Africa's silica-rich soils.

It's particularly prevalent in some areas of Ethiopia where the soil is just right. Tiny particles in the soil penetrate the skin through the feet, enter the lymphatic system, and cause pain, swelling and sores which develop in the legs and feet. It's a horribly disfiguring disease and can be prevented if only people had shoes to wear.

Toms has sold about 9,000 pairs in 10 days (it will donate 200,000 total this year), so they still need your help. But it's a sweet deal: For about $40 you get some hip kicks for yourself or a loved one, and the opportunity to prevent disease for someone else. We're sold.

Photo of Blake Mycoskie courtesy of Toms Shoes.