Stepping Up; Cool shoes for a cool cause: Buy one, and someone in need gets one free.(Blake Mycoskie)(Brief article)

Byline: Jane Herman

Blake Mycoskie had an epiphany during a three-week visit to Argentina: The 30-year-old designer noticed that everyone, from farmers to polo players, was wearing simple rope-soled shoes called alpargatas, and that in many villages-such as Los Piletones, where he was doing volunteer work-shoes were in high demand. "I know it sounds cheesy," he says, "but I was sitting on a farm, pondering life, and it occurred to me, 'I'm going to start a shoe company, and for every pair that I sell, I'll give a pair to someone who needs them.' I said, 'They'll be shoes for tomorrow; I'll call them Toms.' It just popped into my head, and the company hasn't changed one iota since."

Adapted from the original Argentine slip-ons, Toms are made of a similar canvas--the "cornerstone of the line"-and feature a flip-flop sole for comfort and ...