TOMS + Dave Matthews Band

A couple months ago, an amazing opportunity landed on our door step. I have to be honest, we're fortunate to have a lot of great individuals approach TOMS and want to do collaborations or partnerships, but this one in particular was really cool, and we knew right away we had to move forward.

Dave Matthews Band has been pioneering the music industry for over 17 years. They have sold over 35 million albums worldwide and have toured thousands upon thousands of miles all over the world. For this, and many other reasons, we knew they would be a great compliment to the TOMS Vagabond Tour.


The Spring 2009 Vagabond Vans have been out for a few weeks and if you've already made it to one of their events, you've seen the DMB seal stamped on the side that says, "Official Soundtrack." So what does that mean? When you watch the Vagabond's weekly videos on the TOMS YouTube channel, you'll hear Dave Matthews Band tunes... as well as some exclusive content. The band has also given us a stack of concert tickets to their shows, which the Vagabonds will be giving away at their events all semester long. You can see the Vagabond Tour schedule on the Events tab of the Facebook Page and DMB tour schedule here.



Its so neat to have one of the most influential, progressive, forward-thinking, change-making bands in American culture supporting the TOMS One for One mission? It's just amazing. We hope to soon see millions of Dave Matthews Band fans sporting TOMS and becoming part of this movement with us!

1 YEAR AGO TODAY

One year ago today I arrived back in the USA with 200 pairs of TOMS in 4 duffle bags. Each pair had been hand made, inspected and deeply cared for by me and my new Argentine friend, Alejo Nitti. I am not sure which was more unbelievable to me at the time, the fact that I had given up a secure, well paying job to start a shoe company in Argentina where we would give a pair away for everyone we sold, or the deep friendship I had developed with Alejo. I first met Alejo in January at the La Tarde polo ranch where he was introduced to me as my �polo instructor�, and where he presumed to tell me how great he was at everything from golf to polo, to sailing as he rummaged through my luggage and travel books. I kid you not, he literally picked up a book on sailing I had been reading and went into a 20 minute dissertation on how he learned to sail as a child and was �very good�, and without skipping a beat, seeing a golf magazine in my book bag, began to tell me his handicap and how he was a �very good� golfer even though he had never had a lesson in his life�.this continued as he covered many subjects, girlfriends, and sports as we walked out to the polo field that first afternoon�..needless to say I was annoyed and exhausted before my first polo lesson ever started, which explains why I fell off the horse within the first 5 minutes.

3 months after that first day, and countless hours meeting with Argentine shoe makers, driving down dirt roads with pot holes the size of watermelons, and lots of vino tinto, I realized that Alejo and I were a lot more alike than I cared to admit, and without a doubt, he had become my best friend and the strongest supporter of the TOMS idea. So much, that he put his polo career aside and took over the management of all our production�.and one year later I am still hearing how he is so �very good�, but now it has to do with shoe making.

So, as we celebrate this one year anniversary of TOMS, I want to dedicate it to Alejo Nitti and the many people in Argentina who have given us so much support. Alejo works harder than anyone I know and continually finds ways to improve our operations. One year ago he was a 26 year old cocky polo player, today he is the �greatest shoe maker in the world� and yes, that is a quote from him.



In terms of the �Tour Update�, we just left Phoenix and are headed to Texas. I must say the Chandler Nordstrom group in Phoenix was one of the most enthusiastic and supportive groups we have encountered. Not only did they sell 40% of their inventory in 2 hours on a Tuesday afternoon, they proved quite creative when taking the group picture (see above pic, yes that is a �S� I am making) Ok, Zak�s got a long drive ahead of him, and I need to catch a little sleep, so stay tuned, no doubt we will be �messing with Texas� soon enough.

Click Here to see the video blog

1 YEAR AGO TODAY

One year ago today I arrived back in the USA with 200 pairs of TOMS in 4 duffle bags. Each pair had been hand made, inspected and deeply cared for by me and my new Argentine friend, Alejo Nitti. I am not sure which was more unbelievable to me at the time, the fact that I had given up a secure, well paying job to start a shoe company in Argentina where we would give a pair away for everyone we sold, or the deep friendship I had developed with Alejo. I first met Alejo in January at the La Tarde polo ranch where he was introduced to me as my �polo instructor�, and where he presumed to tell me how great he was at everything from golf to polo, to sailing as he rummaged through my luggage and travel books. I kid you not, he literally picked up a book on sailing I had been reading and went into a 20 minute dissertation on how he learned to sail as a child and was �very good�, and without skipping a beat, seeing a golf magazine in my book bag, began to tell me his handicap and how he was a �very good� golfer even though he had never had a lesson in his life�.this continued as he covered many subjects, girlfriends, and sports as we walked out to the polo field that first afternoon�..needless to say I was annoyed and exhausted before my first polo lesson ever started, which explains why I fell off the horse within the first 5 minutes.

3 months after that first day, and countless hours meeting with Argentine shoe makers, driving down dirt roads with pot holes the size of watermelons, and lots of vino tinto, I realized that Alejo and I were a lot more alike than I cared to admit, and without a doubt, he had become my best friend and the strongest supporter of the TOMS idea. So much, that he put his polo career aside and took over the management of all our production�.and one year later I am still hearing how he is so �very good�, but now it has to do with shoe making.

So, as we celebrate this one year anniversary of TOMS, I want to dedicate it to Alejo Nitti and the many people in Argentina who have given us so much support. Alejo works harder than anyone I know and continually finds ways to improve our operations. One year ago he was a 26 year old cocky polo player, today he is the �greatest shoe maker in the world� and yes, that is a quote from him.



In terms of the �Tour Update�, we just left Phoenix and are headed to Texas. I must say the Chandler Nordstrom group in Phoenix was one of the most enthusiastic and supportive groups we have encountered. Not only did they sell 40% of their inventory in 2 hours on a Tuesday afternoon, they proved quite creative when taking the group picture (see above pic, yes that is a �S� I am making) Ok, Zak�s got a long drive ahead of him, and I need to catch a little sleep, so stay tuned, no doubt we will be �messing with Texas� soon enough.

Click Here to see the video blog

1 YEAR AGO TODAY

One year ago today I arrived back in the USA with 200 pairs of TOMS in 4 duffle bags. Each pair had been hand made, inspected and deeply cared for by me and my new Argentine friend, Alejo Nitti. I am not sure which was more unbelievable to me at the time, the fact that I had given up a secure, well paying job to start a shoe company in Argentina where we would give a pair away for everyone we sold, or the deep friendship I had developed with Alejo. I first met Alejo in January at the La Tarde polo ranch where he was introduced to me as my �polo instructor�, and where he presumed to tell me how great he was at everything from golf to polo, to sailing as he rummaged through my luggage and travel books. I kid you not, he literally picked up a book on sailing I had been reading and went into a 20 minute dissertation on how he learned to sail as a child and was �very good�, and without skipping a beat, seeing a golf magazine in my book bag, began to tell me his handicap and how he was a �very good� golfer even though he had never had a lesson in his life�.this continued as he covered many subjects, girlfriends, and sports as we walked out to the polo field that first afternoon�..needless to say I was annoyed and exhausted before my first polo lesson ever started, which explains why I fell off the horse within the first 5 minutes.

3 months after that first day, and countless hours meeting with Argentine shoe makers, driving down dirt roads with pot holes the size of watermelons, and lots of vino tinto, I realized that Alejo and I were a lot more alike than I cared to admit, and without a doubt, he had become my best friend and the strongest supporter of the TOMS idea. So much, that he put his polo career aside and took over the management of all our production�.and one year later I am still hearing how he is so �very good�, but now it has to do with shoe making.

So, as we celebrate this one year anniversary of TOMS, I want to dedicate it to Alejo Nitti and the many people in Argentina who have given us so much support. Alejo works harder than anyone I know and continually finds ways to improve our operations. One year ago he was a 26 year old cocky polo player, today he is the �greatest shoe maker in the world� and yes, that is a quote from him.



In terms of the �Tour Update�, we just left Phoenix and are headed to Texas. I must say the Chandler Nordstrom group in Phoenix was one of the most enthusiastic and supportive groups we have encountered. Not only did they sell 40% of their inventory in 2 hours on a Tuesday afternoon, they proved quite creative when taking the group picture (see above pic, yes that is a �S� I am making) Ok, Zak�s got a long drive ahead of him, and I need to catch a little sleep, so stay tuned, no doubt we will be �messing with Texas� soon enough.

Click Here to see the video blog

Day one Recap

No heat last night, freaking freezing in the airstream

No hot water = no shower = people feeling sorry for us at nordstroms and buying lots of TOMS..hmm, maybe we are on to something.

No rv parks, so we slept in the parking lot of nordstroms (see attached sunrise pic). the good thing is we did not have a morning commute, the bad thing is we could not "dump" the days waste so things are a little smelly right now.

On the good side, we met some really great sales associates at Nordstroms and sold a bunch of shoes. We also drank some great wine at Leap Shoe Lounge in Calabasas.

I think 50 more kids in Argentina are smiling right now, and I feel really alive.

Stay tuned, I have some great video footage of zak?.