Why Sight
TOMS’ customers have given us the amazing honor of putting new shoes on children’s feet with every pair they have purchased. While giving some of these shoes to children in need, Blake Mycoskie, the founder of TOMS, was struck by the poverty in many of the communities he was serving. He saw so many basic human needs that were still unmet.
Blake immediately recognized the incredible power of One for One™, and came to a startling conclusion: TOMS could be more than a shoe company - it should be a One for One™ company. With so many different needs around the world, he felt TOMS had an obligation to try to improve as many lives as possible.
The first step in this new chapter of TOMS is sight. We started here because sight is a fundamental need. The loss of sight has a dramatic impact on a person's life - and on his or her family and community. TOMS is now giving to address this need because:
- 1This is a Solvable Crisis
- Blindness and visual impairment is the seventh-largest health disability in the world. But in most cases it can be prevented or treated. In fact, available solutions, including medical treatment, prescription eyeglasses or a 15-minute cataract surgery, could impact 80% of people afflicted with vision impairment and blindness.
- 2We Can Help Break the Poverty Trap
- Of the nearly 285 million people in the world who are visually impaired, almost 90% live in developing countries. It's a vicious cycle -- poverty and disease can lead to vision loss. And blindness and poor vision keep people trapped in poverty.
- 3Sight Means Education and Opportunity
- More than 19 million children around the world suffer from blindness or impaired vision. 90% of children who are blind do not attend school. Children who have trouble seeing are often unable to go to or succeed in school, and have fewer chances to achieve a productive and successful life.
- 4Women Have an Equal Right to Sight
- Two-thirds of people who are blind are women, in part because many families in developing countries are more likely to pay for eye care for male family members. By providing easy to access local eye care, we can help more women and girls around the world get sight saving and restoring services.
- 5There is an Immediate Impact
- Many of the solutions to blindness and visual impairment can be immediate. If it's a pair of eyeglasses or medical treatment that's needed, patients are treated on the spot. Those needing eye surgery are referred immediately so their vision can be restored within just a few days.
- 6We Can Create a Better Tomorrow
- Regaining sight and preventing loss of sight transforms lives. Children can go to school the next day, and many adults return to work within a week and are once again able to provide for their families. When more people are able to lead healthy, productive lives, entire communities have a chance at a better future.
How It WorksBack to Top
With our eyewear line, One for One™ means more than just giving eyeglasses. While prescription eyeglasses are a part of the holistic eye care TOMS supports, we have learned that people’s needs can be quite different. We've set up our approach to be able to address the most widespread needs. So one person buys a pair of TOMS glasses, and one person receives the eye care that he or she needs.
We deliver that care through partnerships with expert eye care organizations on the ground, which makes sense since we wouldn't dare to pass ourselves off as eye care professionals. With our support, our Sight Giving Partners organize screenings right in the community to identify the people who need care. TOMS then helps our partners provide care in one of three ways:
- 1Medical Treatment:
- Treat a person's sight-threatening condition such as infection, injury or disease, by administering medical treatment such as prescription medications and removal of foreign objects from the eye.
- 2Prescription Eyeglasses:
- Determine the corrective lenses a person needs and provide the right pair of eyeglasses. The patient gets to choose new frames and even check out their new look in a mirror. We're told even the grandmas in Tibet insist on seeing their reflection to choose the right frames!
- 3Sight-saving Surgery:
- Perform a commonly needed operation, such as cataract surgery, which can be a 15-minute procedure. Cataract surgery is particularly impactful as cataract is the leading cause of blindness in the world.
TOMS Partners with Seva Foundation and a network of community-based eye care organizations that deliver high-quality eye care to people in need, while building local capacity. Seva (which means "service" in Sanskrit) has been implementing sustainable blindness prevention and sight restoration programs for over 30 years and has helped nearly 3 million people in resource-poor communities around the world to see again. To learn more, visit seva.org.
Where We Give
Our goal is to help save and restore sight to people in need all around the world. Currently, TOMS is helping give sight in more than 10 countries worldwide, including Cambodia, Nepal, Tibet, Ethiopia, Egypt, Guatemala, Pakistan, India, the United States, Paraguay and Bangladesh.
We are not yet accepting applications for additional Sight Giving Partners. If your organization would like to express interest in becoming a partner in the future, please visit www.TOMS.com/eyewear/givingpartners and we will be sure to keep your information handy.
Statistical sources: vision2020.org & who.int
Watch The StoryBack to Top
While developing TOMS Eyewear, Blake Mycoskie and a small team traveled to Nepal to understand vision-related needs in the area. Witnessing the immense need for regained sight, Blake was inspired and hopeful that the One for One™ model could begin to meet this need. See why.
