What is it about traveling in South America?

I keep telling Scott, who co-authors this blog, that I'll be posting about the Bamboo Bike Project sometime soon. I think it's a great idea but for some reason I just don't find myself interested in doing it at the moment! Maybe it's the plethora of blogs already doing it? Maybe it's the fact that I don't live in San Francisco or New York where the majority of the bamboo biking scene is unfolding. Whatever it is, there will be more to come in the future.

Speaking of the future, it looks bright for the One For One movement, made famous by TOMS Shoes. The new introduction of TOMS Eyewear means that Toms can expand its charitable contributions to a much broader range of customers - assuming you're willing to fork over at least $135 for a pair of sunglasses. We hope you are, but there is an alternative just in case the high price tag of these hipster shades has priced you out of the market for charitable consumerism.

Toms founder, Blake Mycoskie, who got his calling while traveling through Argentina, has good company in a man named Charles Perry. Charles was also globetrotting through South America when he got the charitable consumerism bug, and he has created a company called World Minded.

World Minded's mission is to create eco-friendly clothing with a purpose, and they do this by donating 10% percent of sales from their humanitarian collection of 100% Organic Cotton Tees, and 1% of sales from everything else.


World Minded may just be a start up right now, but they continue to collaborate with artists and brand ambassadors to further their mission of doing good through consumerism. They may lack some of the big name prestige of Patagonia, TOMS, and Timbuk2 but their designs are aesthetic, refreshing and purposeful. Look forward to World Minded's fall line coming out in August, 2011 for a new assortment of great looking tees, hoodies, and accessories. I believe that World Minded can do well on the basis of their designs alone, but let's make an extra effort to vote for the changes we want to see in the world by supporting them, and everyone else on the frontier of clothing with purpose.

Update: TOMS Eyewear and the One for One Movement

We recently heard word that TOMS would reveal the next chapter of their One for One movement. For weeks, we were teased and tempted by mystery boxes on display at store locations across the nation. Concealed within those boxes were TOMS' next product. That's right; TOMS is not just a shoe company anymore. They are a One for One company. So what will you be able to get, that will in turn be given to someone in need?

Allow me to introduce TOMS Eyewear; a hip line of sunglasses with a story behind each pair. Because TOMS isn't giving a pair of sunglasses. It's much more than that. For each pair that you buy, TOMS will help give sight to a person in need! Through partnerships with Seva, a foundation dedicated to building sustainable eye care programs in developing countries, your purchase helps to provide screenings in communities that need it the most. Those who need care receive it through medical treatment, prescription glasses, or sight-saving surgery.

Why sight? Blake Mycoskie, owner of TOMS, and a small team traveled to Nepal to understand how Seva is working to prevent blindness and restore sight. They returned with a determination to support sight-giving programs and developed a way for us to be a part of it. Watch how their trip went in the video below and check out the cool shades available to you now, here.



By the way, I just ordered my first pair of TOMS shoes!

TOMS - Shoes for a better TOMorrow

While traveling in Argentina in 2006, Blake Mycoskie noticed many children living without shoes to protect their feet. He came up with a plan to help these kids have a better way of life. “What if I start a shoe company, and every time I sold a pair of shoes I gave a pair away? That way, as long as I continue to keep selling shoes, these kids will have shoes for the rest of their life.”

And so TOMS was born. It’s called the One for One Movement: you buy one pair of shoes, TOMS donates one pair of shoes to a child in need. With customer support and the help of Giving Partners, children in several countries around the world are now protected from soil-transmitted diseases and infection from cuts or sores. As of September 2010, TOMS has given away 1,000,000 pairs of shoes! And the giving keeps growing with each purchase. It is Mycoskie’s goal to give repeatedly as the children grow, so they never go without shoes again.

In June, TOMS will expand its next chapter of the One for One Movement by asking you, “What’s your next chapter? What’s your One to One?” Whether its music, art, food, or a place to live, you will be able to help TOMS build a better tomorrow. Find out more on the vimeo channel.