Toms just spilled the beans: It’s diversifying into coffee.
The conscientious shoemaker announced Tuesday it has developed a coffee line that will use its sales to help provide clean water for cooking, drinking and sanitation to two billion people around the globe who don’t have clean water access, the New York Times reports. Toms founder Blake Mycoskie established his shoe dynasty by giving away one pair of shoes for each pair he sells. His pastel-colored flats are ubiquitous on socially conscious college campuses and cities throughout the country. The company has given poor children 10 million paris of shoes since Mycoskie founded the company in 2006.
Every bag of coffee sold by Toms Roasting Company, which comes in blue-and-white bags like Toms shoe box, will finance a week’s worth of clean water for one person.
“Once people get over the initial shock when they hear we’re going into the coffee business, I think they’ll see that Toms and the one-to-one model is a platform for doing a variety of things, not just a shoe or eyeglasses company,” Mycoskie said.
[NYT]
