Who Owns TOMS?

Blake Mycoskie founded TOMS in 2006 in Los Angeles after traveling in Argentina, where he saw children without shoes and encountered the alpargata, the region's traditional canvas slip-on. His idea fused product and mission: for every pair sold, TOMS would give a pair to a child in need. The "One for One" model launched from his apartment with 250 samples.

The brand exploded into mainstream consciousness through the late 2000s, driven by the giving story, celebrity adoption, and campus-style grassroots marketing. TOMS expanded into eyewear in 2011, coffee in 2014, and handbags and apparel, applying the giving model to each category. By 2014 the company had given more than 10 million pairs of shoes.

That year, Bain Capital bought 50 percent of the company at a $625 million valuation, leaving Mycoskie with the other half and his role as "Chief Shoe Giver." The capital was meant to accelerate growth, but sales plateaued as the alpargata trend cooled and the giving model lost novelty.

Debt taken on for the buyout and expansion became unmanageable. In December 2019, facing a maturing $300 million loan, the company struck an out-of-court deal: lenders Jefferies, Nexus, and Brookfield converted the debt to 100 percent equity and injected $35 million in new capital. Mycoskie and Bain walked away with nothing.

Under creditor ownership the brand has stabilized at a smaller scale. The giving model evolved in 2020 from one-for-one product donation to committing one-third of profits to grassroots organizations, a more flexible structure the company says better serves communities. TOMS maintained its B Corp certification through the transition and continues to sell across roughly 50 countries through wholesale partners and its own e-commerce.