In recent years the popularity of TOMS shoe company has risen across the world becoming a well known name in the clothing industry. Although they aren’t the only rising brand in the community based shoe organization category, the community building shoe company Oliberte is similar to TOMS. Each company’s mission is to help poor communities in Africa become self sustainable. To be specific TOMS have always promoted their “One for One” deal which gives someone in a poor african community a new pair of shoes when you buy your own. This was the first clothing company that made this kind of promise to its consumers that I’ve come across while researching. Then there is Oliberte a shoe company that is similar to TOMS with their mission. Oliberte is a shoe company that rather than giving out shoes to the poor are actually giving people in Ethiopia a chance to have a job. Every shoe is made by someone who was hired in Ethiopia the entire production team is runned by Ethiopians. They also boast about how they are the world’s first fair trade certified footwear factory.

With two shoe companies having a good cause there must be one that is better to buy from. One of these companies has to be the dominant brand, I choose to rate these two companies by the price of their shoes and if they’re affordable for most customers. Then I rate them on the overall quality of the shoe and what kind of care go into making these shoes. Lastly I rate these companies on how effective their company is on the community they’re donating and reaching out to.

TOMS have a wide price range from the cheapest shoe costing <$50 to the most expensive costing >$100. This gives the customers the chance to shop through their catalog and come across a shoe that is affordable, which is nice since they are a popular company. While Oliberte is more of an expensive company to purchase from, most of their catalog is >$100. This might be a turnoff for many shoppers who want an affordable shoe.

Oliberte really puts effort into making the best quality shoe. Oliberte uses local materials in Ethiopia to make and shape their shoes. Thus making the high price reasonable for the shoes. This can’t exactly be said by the TOMS shoe company, TOMS don’t use authentic materials such as Oliberte does to make their shoes. When it comes to care and quality of a shoe Oliberte surely does win this competition.

Finally to really decide which shoe company is the better choice we have to think about the actions each company is making to better the community they are trying to help. First off, TOMS has been donating free shoes to kids in poor communities all around africa for a long time now. This was a very nice contribution to be a part of as a person who is conscience of where they buy their clothes from. But Oliberte being newly established in 2009 has become a company who basically gives jobs to unfortunate people in Ethiopia. As a consumer who is conscience of where I buy my clothes this alternative is much more rewarding. Knowing that people in a poor community in Ethiopia are getting jobs and are being treated well with fair workers rights makes me feel like I’m helping a bit more.

Overall these two companies are doing a lot to help fight poverty in small african communities. Although it really comes down to the choice of helping out more for an expensive price to helping out less but for a cheaper price. After owning shoes from each company and following their cause I personally like Oliberte more as a shoe company rather than TOMS. Oliberte might be a little more expensive, I feel like I’m getting a better quality shoe and I’m buying and shopping the right way.