TOMS Blog

Fellas, felines & friends: this is a big one. Whether or not you’ve been following these lists for the past four days, no matter (though if you have, we appreciate it!). Today, you’ll know for sure that 2012 brought us some goooooood stuff. Here is some of the good-est stuff that came to fruition over the course of this past year:

10. We popped up in London with the little blue TOMS shop in Seven Dials, Covent Garden! 

9. You guys made One Day Without Shoes come alive once again, hosting or attending more than 3,000 events, including 500+ campus activations, in 50 countries (and 50 states!). You spread the awareness of the impact a pair of shoes can have on a child’s life, and the conversations your actions caused lit up the globe.

8. We solidified our commitment to our Giving Partners (the organizations that deliver the One for One promise to people in need) by supporting their work to the last mile. What are we talking about? We call this our “Last-Mile Contribution,” and it’s the added logistical and monetary support we give our Partners to get shoes and sight to any remote corner the organizations intend to deliver it. Read more about the Last-Mile Contribution at http://toms.sh/last-mile

7. You joined the TOMS Community on 4 new social platforms! This year, we added Tumblr, Spotify, Google+, and Viddy to our social media repertoire — joining six predecessors: Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, FourSquare and YouTube — and it’s been rad to see you come along for the ride! 

6. On and leading up to 10/11/12, TOMS joined some of the world’s leading eye care organizations in spreading the word and the education about World Sight Day. With a campaign around that education, visual distortion filters that traveled the US, and a big awareness event at Austin City Limits, we (and lots of you) took part in a larger effort to help wipe out avoidable blindness. 

5. We officially launched TOMS in Australia, carrying the movement nearly 8,000 miles from where it first began in Southern California! Though Aussie customers can still shop on TOMS.com, there’s also the option to shop for TOMS at local retail shops (find them here).

4. TOMS stood alongside organizations and companies we believe in. In 2012, TOMS partnered with FEED, the University of Miami RJ Dunlap Marine Conservation Program (with a Shark Shoe!), Linus, and Movember to help feed children, preserve a dwindling species, make some radical bike-friendly kicks, and raise awareness and funds for men’s health initiatives. 

3. Honing in on TOMS founder/chief shoe giver’s dream of opening up the Giving Trip experience to more people who have vested interested in the Giving side of One for One, we launched a campaign we’ve been stoked about. In 2012, TOMS Ticket to Give became the first TOMS campaign of its kind: a contest that offers YOU the chance to travel with TOMS and our Giving Partners to distribute shoes to children in need. Since inception, three groups of excited TOMS fans claimed their Ticket to Give. Look out for this opportunity once again, with a whole new twist, in 2013.  

2. We challenged our customers. You rallied. Because of your TOMS Eyewear purchases, we helped give sight to 100,000 people by the close of the Summer of Sight campaign and initiative.

1. Powered by your purchases, we reached a hugely exciting milestone in Giving. As of recent, TOMS is giving shoes in 50 countries, and giving sight in 13 countries!