Blake Mycoskie first visited the country of Argentina while competing in the second season of The Amazing Race with his sister in 2002. He returned there on vacation in January 2006, where he noticed that the local polo players were wearing a form of shoes called alpargatas; a simple canvas slip-on shoe that he himself began to wear. The shoes have also been worn by Argentine farmers for hundreds of years and were the inspiration for the classic style of TOMS shoes.
Mykoskie’s innovation underlying TOMS is what he calls “One for One.” When TOMS sells a pair of shoes, another pair of shoes is given to an impoverished child, and when TOMS sells a pair of eyewear, part of the profit is used to save or restore the eyesight for people in developing countries.
TOMS Shoes’ has grown to become an estimated $100 million dollar business. As of 2010, it had sold its two millionth pair after doubling sales each year.