Shoe Design

Toms shoes won the 2007 People's Design Award.  The winners of this award are chosen online via a popularity contest.  Toms shoes were created by entrepreneur, Blake Mycoskie in 2006.  So what made these shoes such a sensation? Why did this particular canvas shoe design win the People's Design Award?  Pictured below is the shoe with a simple dark blue canvas.

Toms shoes are unique.  They are created from light weight canvas, but still have a protective rubber sole underneath.  Their simplicity adds to their design qualities.  A bit of background info helps understand the creation of Toms, and the answers to my previously asked questions.  Just in case you're out of the loop on this shoe sensation, Blake Mycoskie founded this company to provide shoes for those without in third world countries.  Toms is a non profit organization which actually donates one pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair purchased.  Mycoskie found inspiration for his shoe design from the Pyrenees originating design called the espadrilles.  Espadrilles are made from eco-friendly jute (a vegetable fiber) woven to create the sole, with cotton or canvas tops.   A picture of this inspirational shoe is below:

They come in many patterns as do Toms shoes. Here is a picture of variations of Espadrilles with a good view of the woven sole details.

http://www.faqs.org/photo-dict/phrase/7969/espadrilles.html

Toms shoes were an innovative design and really caught on to be such a sensation because of their contributive business model.