After discussing Poverty, Inc. in class, I found myself wondering what had happened in the aftermath of the release of the film. One of the examples that garnered a significant amount of criticism in the film was the shoe (and now other products, as well) company, Toms. The company takes pride in its “buy one give one” model, where every time one pair of shoes is purchased, one pair of shoes is donated. In fact, when you search “Toms Shoes” on Google, its tagline “The One for One Company” is the first item that you see.

Poverty, Inc. was concerned about the displacement that occurs from this model. What happens to the local cobbler when the Toms truck swoops in? What happens when the Toms truck does not show up at all?

After receiving such feedback, I was curious what CEO Blake Mycoskie had decided to do about it. According to this article, Mycoskie at first took his critics “personally, but then I realized they were right…using our model to create jobs is the next level.” Mycoskie then said that Toms plans to have 1/3 of all shoes produced in the countries to which the company donates by the end of 2015.

Given that it is now 2018, I turned to the Toms website to see if Mycoskie’s plans had come to fruition. The site now has an entire page dedicated to “Beyond One for One: We are committed to more than just Giving.” This seemed to be a direct answer to the comments from the film. According to the page, Toms has supported over 700 jobs and is now producing Toms shoes in four countries. Additionally, Toms has started an effort to provide startup funds to over 20 companies with a social mission.

While it is hard to determine exactly what impact Toms has had outside of giving shoes, it seems to me that Mycoskie took the lessons from Poverty, Inc. and has done his best to evolve as a result of them. Intriguingly, the movie was not enough of a catalyst to stop Mycoskie from continuing the one for one idea. It will be fascinating to track this company’s future strategies for combatting social issues.