Credit: google images.

Something to think about…

Toms produce their shoes in India, Argentina, Ethiopia, and China. The exact locations of the factories is unknown,  probably for ‘legal reasons’. They  give plain black canvas shoes to over 50 countries, they give colorful shoes in Argentina to keep with tradition and they give winter boots in colder climates. They give shoes  in the same countries that they make them, so do they pay really fair wages but not give shoes to their kids because their families wouldn't be as poor as families who have somebody working in a factory making nothing? Or do they give them the same wages as other factories do and give their families shoes because they would still be considered poor? When it comes to this it all confuses me. Something else that I don’t understand is why they only give colorful shoes to kids in Argentina? They say its to keep with the tradition in Argentina  but why don’t they extend the same courtesy to other countries? They give in countries like South Africa,  Swaziland, Mexico, Romania, and Jamaica but surely those countries, along with the other countries they give in, have their own traditions and those should be kept with as well? So why don’t they give colorful and individual shoes to all the countries? Or why don’t they give all plain black or navy shoes in every country? 

Where am I wearing?

I know this is a little off topic because it is not fully about toms but I want to make you all aware of a book written by Kelsey Timmerman called “Where am I wearing?”. Although the title may suggest it is a debate on people wearing clothes that were made in horrible conditions and by people who get paid next to nothing to make them , its not. It is however a book about Timmerman travelling to different countries trying to find out where an outfit of his clothes comes from, although he says himself that it was more of just an excuse to get paid to travel! Anyway he goes on to find some of the factories that make is clothes and he interviews some of the people who work in these factories. More often not he finds that the workers are happy working in these factories as it gives them a job and some pay, however little it may be. He then discovered that working in a factories and the horrible conditions present there are some of the more ‘glamorous’ (for want of a better word)  jobs in these poor countries.  If you don’t work in a factory you are left with very little options as to where you work.  More often than not the workers n the factories just wanted the more developed countries to stay  out of it. So I ask you this: is toms better to just stay out of it or is it good to ‘help’ them?

Is it all for charity??

Toms give Shoes in over 60 of the world’s poorest countries including Haiti, India, Albania, Angola and Kenya. Toms give “sight” in 12 countries Bangladesh, Egypt and Paraguay. If you go onto the Toms web site you will see for yourself that they do in fact say they help over 60 countries by giving them shoes and vision but you will also see on their website that they have clothes, ‘tribal’ collections and even phone covers but nowhere does it say where the profit from these products goes. I mean don’t get me wrong I think that the whole one for one movement is really good and it is an idea that should be supported but some aspects of the company seem a little shady, like if we go to one of the places on their list are we going to see kids walking around with I-phone 4 covers or clothes with the toms logo printed on them? It’s not all bad though,  the money taken from those products might go into marketing or shipping but the fact that they don’t state what it actually goes to makes me a little specious as they have ONE FOR ONE printed all over their website. So I ask you this: should we be a little bit suspicious of Toms or should we just believe what we are told?