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Toms Shoes increases sneakers push, donates to causes like preventing gun violence, as struggling brand pivots from millennials to Gen Z and teens
- Once worn by celebrities such as Snoop Dogg and Anne Hathaway, Toms is making a bid to rebound from a remarkable fall in recent years
- The brand has ended footwear donations, instead giving a third of profits to causes it says Gen Z cares about, and marketing has been revamped to focus on teens
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Toms, the once high-flying shoe brand, is itching for a comeback, and it starts with expanding beyond the millennials who swooned for its slip-ons and how it donated a pair of shoes to a needy child for each one sold.
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To connect with Gen Z – today’s teens and early 20-somethings – the brand has ended the footwear donations that keyed its breakthrough a decade ago. Now, it is giving a third of its profits to causes it says Gen Z cares about, such as preventing gun violence. Marketing has been revamped to focus on teens. It’s also pushing further into sneakers.
This is all part of the brand’s bid to rebound from a remarkable fall that saw it sink from being touted in US magazine Vogue and worn by celebrities such as Snoop Dogg and Anne Hathaway, to being mismanaged into near-collapse. Creditors took control of the debt-laden company in December 2019 and Magnus Wedhammar, a former Nike and Converse executive, arrived soon after as CEO to clean up the mess.
“There’s no secret that over the last four or five years Toms has gone through a revenue decline,” Wedhammar said. But the brand still has decent name recognition, he explained. “Most Gen Zs are aware of Toms.”
To convert more into customers, the Los Angeles-based company will weave its new giving model into its marketing. The brand plans to use fewer professional models and instead highlight young people who are advocates for the causes the company is supporting.
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