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Out of Print was built on a friendship that goes back to 1984 between two second-grade friends who moved to a small suburb of Portland, Oregon at the same time.  Jeff and I stayed friends through the years because we share so many interests, however, neither one of us could have imagined that one of those interests would lead us to starting a business and helping improve lives.

We started Out of Print in 2010 based on a very simple question, “How can we get people talking about books and reading again?”  The book cover has always been a great conversation starter, but with the reading experience entering the digital age, it can be impossible to know if someone on the bus is reading Sense and Sensibility or Slaughterhouse Five.  Although eReaders improve immediate access to literature, we felt the need to preserve the iconic art that so many of us associate with our favorite books.   And so, the “band tee” for the book lover was born!

  After three and a half years, we have customers in over 80 countries and all 50 states.  Our customers are as diverse as the selection of books in a well-stocked library, but they all share a common love for reading and have joined us to celebrate their favorite works of literature.  Every day they send us pictures of our shirts in exotic places, or tell us stories about their interactions while using our products (my favorite is of an Of Mice and Men shirt that started a debate of whether it referred to a book or heavy metal band out of CA.  It turns out they are both right and they both left knowing a little more about Of Mice and Men--book and band). 

In addition to furthering conversations about reading, we are also passionate about giving back by increasing access to books around the world.  Books are key to building strong educational systems and prosperous communities.  From the very first shirt we sold, we have partnered with Books For Africa to help donate one book to a community in need.  In three and a half years, we are very proud to have helped donate over 550,000 books! 

Jeff and I, along with the rest of the Out of Print team, could not be more excited to be working with TOMS. We see TOMS as a true innovator in social entrepreneurship and have a genuine love for their products.  This back-to-school season we’ll help donate tens of thousands of books and shoes to people in need, while continuing the conversation about books. The very same books we hope you’ll all be carrying in your amazing TOMS x Out of Print tote bag—what could be better than that?!

  What’s your story?

Todd Lawton

charity: water is an excellent example – we’ve delivered three TOMS x charity: water product collaborations and, through our work together, have been able to build two wells in Ethiopia. This past April, we launched our first TOMS Eyewear collaboration with charity: water. There is a significant connection between access to clean water and eye health, making charity: water a natural partner for this One for One product. Through the Eyewear partnership, we initiated a clean water project in India.

Movember is another nonprofit partner that serves and entirely different need: raising awareness and funds for men’s health issues, specifically prostate and testicular cancer initiatives. We have collaborated annually with this moustache-loving organization since 2010 on limited-edition TOMS x Movember shoes. Not only has TOMS been able to contribute financially to Movember, but we have also have actively encouraged TOMS supporters to take action and join the Movember moustache-growing awareness campaign each November. We take personal pride in participating in Movember each year by creating a Movember fundraising team of Mo’ Bros and Sistas at TOMS HQ, and hosting the annual Halloween bash/Moustache Shave Day to start the campaign off strong.

Our most recent nonprofit partner is Oceana, whom we collaborated with to create TOMS x Shark Week shoes. We called it, “A Cause with TEETH.” Watch the video here.

One of my favorite things to do as a Senior Account Manager in the TOMS Giving Department is to spend time on the ground, meeting with our Giving Partners’ field staff. It allows us to understand the complexity of the work our partners do, and how shoes are integrated into different development programs around the world. Recently, I had the opportunity to travel with ADRA International, a TOMS Shoe Giving Partner, to five African countries. While in Africa, I learned more about ADRA’s work, and also gained a new understanding of how shoes play a role in their programming in the countries they serve.

ADRA’s mission is to identify and address social injustice and deprivation in developing countries. Through holistic and integrative programming, the humanitarian organization seeks to improve the quality of life of those in need. ADRA does this by investing in the potential of these individuals through community development initiatives targeting food security, economic development, primary health and basic education. In addition, ADRA also provides aid to disaster survivors in emergencies.

One of the five countries we visited was the East African nation of Uganda, where ADRA has worked for 29 years. Over the past two years, Uganda has seen an influx of refugees — those who have been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution or natural disaster — due to increased violence and civil unrest in neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo. As a result, the Ugandan government decided to reopen the Rwamwanja refugee settlement (used by Rwandan refugees in the ’90s during and after the genocide) to host newly arriving Congolese refugees.

For each refugee household, the Ugandan government has allocated 1.25 acres of land to help establish their homesteads for agriculture. This is where ADRA comes in. ADRA’s Uganda field staff works with these communities to help bring them towards self-sufficiency. Through a partnership with the United Nation’s Food & Agriculture Organization, ADRA Uganda procures seeds and conducts agriculture trainings so new households can work toward self-sufficiency. 

What happened as a result of this initiative? A bumper-full of crops! Households are able to eat the food they had grown, sell the extras and save some seeds for the next season’s planting. Through this development initiative, the refugee community has been able to quickly move from relief into development.

ADRA’s first distribution of TOMS Shoes took place in October 2012. During my time in Uganda, I saw numerous children walking down the road in their TOMS. Not only is ADRA helping families with food and farming, but through our partnership, ADRA is excited to also bring smiles to children who have already had a lifetime of challenges. When I spoke with some of the children, they told me their new shoes were comfortable, and for many, those were their only pair of closed-toed shoes. ADRA Uganda is continuing its work in the settlement community and will soon begin development programs in income-generation, environmental awareness, peace and reconciliation trainings and gender equality sensitization. 

The answer for a growing number of Peruvians has come through Coprodeli, a respected nonprofit that reflects the optimistic spark of its founder, Padre Miguel. We began our week by meeting with him and hearing his vision. From his initial journey to Peru in 1983, Padre Miguel was struck by the needs of his community and has since steadily expanded his focus from schools and education to health care, business incubation and job creation. As someone once said, “A goal is a dream with a deadline.”  

  Make no mistake, Padre Miguel has goals, not dreams!

  Our days were centered on TOMS’ Giving role. We visited a different school each morning and afternoon to give shoes to children.  Our team fitted hundreds of kids at each school with a new pair of shoes. And along the way, we saw the many other ways that Coprodeli and their volunteers were impacting the communities they served in a positive way. We saw it all: tours of dispensaries, pharmacies, a mental health support group, a housing development, even a high school class in quantum physics. For us, it reinforced TOMS’ mission to seek out Giving Partners that provide holistic solutions to the communities they serve. TOMS Shoes are supporting players in a much larger production.

  The kids were wonderful and reminded me of my own. Their joy in playing soccer, Frisbee or volleyball eased their burdens and bonded us all. Their needs are the needs of kids anywhere: to be loved and cared for, to have a chance and to know that they matter. We did our best to acknowledge and fill those needs in the time we had with them.