TOMS 2023 Impact Report
We’re in business to improve lives.
As of today, we’ve left a positive impact on more than 105,463,049 people.
Since our beginning in 2006, TOMS has been on a mission to do good through good-looking products that feel good. How? Good question.
When you buy TOMS, you help fund access to mental health resources for the millions of people who need them (maybe even you someday?).
And that kind of impact? It looks good on you.
Read on to learn about all the good your purchases helped create in 2023.
Letter From Our Chief Brand & Impact Officer
TOMS is in business to improve lives. This mission has been at the heart of who we are since our start in 2006.
Now what it means to "improve lives" has evolved for us. As the pioneers of the One for One® model, we began matching each pair of shoes purchased with a donation of a pair of shoes. A catalyst for the way a great number of brands began to approach business, our example set into motion the importance of improving human lives—socially, environmentally and internally. But mostly, our mission begged us to look inwards at ways we could stretch our impact further and even more effectively.
Enter mental health. While the world affairs of 2020 put mental health under a direct spotlight, it has been a neglected part of human health for much longer. The mental health crisis touches everyone—with 1 in 8 people in the world experiencing a mental health challenge; and ripples of those mental health challenges impacting all of us.
At TOMS, we believe every single individual deserves access to quality, affirming mental health care. It's why TOMS has evolved its strategy to give a third of our profits to help support organizations making meaningful mental health strides in their communities.
It'd be easy to say that we're proud of the impact we, alongside our incredible Impact Partners, have made thus far. But the reality is that your hard-earned dollars spent at TOMS is what has made all this good possible.
For that and from the bottom of our hearts, we thank you. This report captures your impact in 2023. When you wear TOMS, you Wear Good.
To us, business is a force to be used for good.
As a Certified B Corporation™, we report on all aspects of our business—so you can feel good knowing that we meet B Corp’s high standards of transparency, accountability and social/environmental performance.
We have been B Corp certified since 2018, and will embark on our second recertification in 2024. With each new recertification, we push ourselves to be better than before.
Purpose
1/3 of our profits for good
We give 1/3 of our profits for good through cash grants and deep partnerships with nonprofits working to create impact in three areas: mental health, access to opportunity and ending gun violence.
2023 Numbers for good
US Dollars Given
Lives Impacted
Allocation of US Dollars Given
- 12% Ending Gun Violence
- 21% Access to Oppportunity
- 67% Mental Health
Impact Partners
Our Impact is felt across the globe.
In 2023, we funded 39 organizations, in 17
communities,
across 11 countries.
Mental Health Tips from Our Impact Partners
Our phenomenal Impact Partners have provided a variety of resources to support people with their mental health. For Mental Health Awareness Month, we shared 31 mental health tips with our TOMS community—one for each day of the month. What resulted is a collection of resources that’s readily available to our community—a daily reminder that mental health matters. A few tips below:
Meet International Medical Corps
TOMS Longstanding Partner in Mental Health and Humanitarian Support
TOMS has supported International Medical Corps since 2013
TOMS is proud to support our Impact Partner, International Medical Corps, and their response to the conflict in Ukraine. International Medical Corps provides critical medical, mental health and training services in humanitarian situations.
Meet Venice Family Clinic
TOMS Impact Partner of the Year
We are thrilled to honor Venice Family Clinic as our 2023 Partner of the Year. Through the pandemic and beyond, we have seen its true dedication to the belief that everyone deserves quality health care, which very much includes mental health care.
TOMS has partnered with Venice Family Clinic in several ways over the past 4 years including:
- Impact grants focused on mental health programming
- Volunteering for Giving Tuesday
- In-kind donation of eyewear to support its vision services
World Mental Health Day
On October 10, TOMS celebrated with our 10x10 program, giving 10 nonprofits focused on mental health in 10 countries $10,000 US dollars each.
10 Organizations Prioritizing Mental Health
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Fundacíon Origen – México
Fundación Origen provides women in Mexico with free and accessible mental health treatment, crisis intervention, and referral services via their helpline.
International Medical Corps – Ukraine
International Medical Corps provides critical medical, mental health and training services in humanitarian situations.
Jack.org – Canada
Jack.org is a mental health organization that works alongside youth to build communities and advocate for equitable systems that support their mental health needs.
Mentally Aware Nigeria Initiative – Nigeria
Mentally Aware Nigeria Initiative provides free mental health counseling and psychological first aid to individuals 18 to 25 years of age in Nigeria.
The Maya Centre – United Kingdom
The Maya Centre provides free counseling and support to low-income and minoritised women in North London, UK, especially those who have experienced violence.
Mental Helse Ungdom – Norway
Mental Helse Ungdom works for increased transparency around mental health, prevention of mental illness, and better mental health services in Norway.
Mental Health Initiative (MHI) – Germany
Mental Health Initiative (MHI) is a social impact startup helping strengthen mental health, prevent suicide, and reduce the social stigma of mental illness among youth in Germany.
MIND Us – Netherlands
MIND Us focuses on promoting mental health, preventing mental illness, and providing early support to youth in the Netherlands.
National Alliance on Mental Illness Western Carolina – United States
NAMI Western Carolina provides the region with support, education and advocacy at no charge to families and individuals affected by mental health conditions.
Wall of Sharing – Thailand
Wall of Sharing provides free video call sessions with psychiatrists and psychologists to help Thai youth receive the support they need.
Things are looking up
Since our eyewear portfolio launch in 2011, TOMS eyewear purchases have helped restore sight to 988,654 people and counting.
Together with our partners, we helped establish 55 vision centers in Bangladesh, India and Nepal—that continue to operate today.
While the vision centers live on, TOMS today operates with an evolved giving model—now providing cash grants to Impact Partners working in local communities.
Beyond the check
Funding is important for our Impact Partners to continue their mission, but we don’t stop at cutting checks. We build meaningful two-way relationships that provide ongoing support—through volunteering, celebrating big wins, donating products and helping to create lasting connections.
Joined our partner, Homeboy Industries, for a 5K race
Created moments of surprise and delight—like the Taylor Swift experience, where we sent four Brave Trails campers, four of their friends and two of the amazing Brave Trails staff to the final night of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour in Los Angeles
Gave more than $1,700,000 US Dollars worth of in-kind (non-monetary) donations in 2023, in the form of shoes, eyewear, signage and more
Built mental health first aid kits for our partner, Brave Trails
Made floral bouquets for residents of Didi Hirsch’s Via Avanta Program, a residential treatment center that keeps mothers with their small children
Planet
Taking care of the place we call home
Sustainability is a journey, and we’ve learned a lot about taking good care of the place we call home. We take a holistic approach to measure and improve across our business, not just our product.
In 2020, we embarked on an ambitious five-year sustainability roadmap.
In 2020, we embarked on an ambitious five-year sustainability roadmap.
With just under two years to go, we’re proud of the progress we’ve made and are excited for all that’s to come.
Our Commitments
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Accomplished in 2023: In 2023, 27% of our footwear line qualified as earthwise™. Learn more about our earthwise™ framework toms.com/planet.
Coming in 2024: We plan to further simplify the way we bring our earthwise™ offering to life in the future, focusing on our signature styles and tried and true materials.
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Accomplished in 2023: Through the B Corp process, we have a clear roadmap of opportunities to better our business even further with the planet in mind. In 2023, we started some key measurements, launched a resale program in partnership with thredUP, and got clear on what we can accomplish in time for our next recertification in 2024.
Coming in 2024: We’re excited to submit for recertification and continue to use B Corp as a roadmap for constant improvement.
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Accomplished in 2023: As a member of the Canopy Pack4Good Initiative—an environmental not-for-profit implementing real solutions to reduce waste in packaging—we’re proud to meet its conservation standards, sourcing all wood-based material from sustainably managed forests. We continue to be plastic-free in our packaging (except for some hangtag fasteners). All of our earthwise™ products are 100% plastic-free and we’ve switched our samples to use 100% recycled LDPE polybags.
Coming in 2024: Maintain our commitments with an ongoing packaging redesign project.
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Accomplished in 2023: In 2023, we made some moves! We shifted our US warehouse to the middle of the country, so that packages would not have to travel as far to reach their final destination. We worked with one of our largest transportation partners to measure our emissions and get a baseline for future improvement. When looking at Q3 of 2023 (our first quarter post warehouse move), our average CO2 emissions per package was 12.82% lower than in Q1 when we were still at our previous warehouse.
Coming in 2024: Continue collaboration with our transportation partners in identifying potential ways to decrease our carbon footprint.
Moving Forward
We’re proud of the strides that we’ve made for our planet, but there is more to do. We’ve learned that unforeseen events can create complications; the tremendous change and disruption in the world since we made our original commitments grossly affected global supply chains.
Specifically, the original path we had laid out for sourcing 100% sustainable cotton by 2025 is no longer viable.
We are continuing to update our goals to reflect what is more achievable and are actively considering the steps we can take to continue to make progress.
Reuse, Repurpose, Recirculate
With the B Corp framework in mind, we partnered with thredUP.
- This partnership encourages customers to send in gently worn shoes, clothing and accessories in exchange for TOMS.com credit—providing a platform to buy preloved products, helping keep items out of landfills, and reducing the need for new production.
- Since launching a TOMS-specific thredUP platform in April 2023, more than 940 items have been recirculated. In total, through thredUP, 64.5K TOMS products have been recirculated since 2014.
People
Ground up change starts with us
TOMS has a long term commitment to ensure our company and culture is rooted in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism. We are hard at work year-round to ensure we’re actively combating systemic racism, as well as policies that lead to inequities. Here are some of the ways we’re building equity within our community.
Inside TOMS Staff Demographics
Active US Employees
New Hires By Year
We’re a proud part of the diverse Los Angeles community. As such, we’ve implemented policies and programs that address equity through the employee lifecycle—from applying, hiring and onboarding processes to advancement, learning opportunities and internal development programs.
Source: Staff self-disclosures, December 2023. Please note this does not represent our total Global workforce as disclosure is not required.
*Employees have the option to disclose or withhold their demographic information at TOMS. “Unspecified” represents those who have opted out.
Impact Looks Good On You
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for all the good you have made possible by shopping with TOMS this year. Cheers to continuing to Wear Good in 2024, and for years to come.
