A Happy Camper Without Shoes

Hello Everyone!

Well, I am half way through my internship here at Toms Shoes, and it has been a great experience thus far. For the most part, we are settled in at the new office and I am enjoying the lattes with the beautifully crafted latte art in the mornings. I am definitely a happy camper. 

Us interns also recently hosted a One Day Without Shoes Rally for the Toms employees at HQ, and it was a smashing hit! All our teamwork came together for an event that will be talked about for quite sometime. Below is an image of the intern class in front of the pledge wall. 

Also, here is a link to the One Day Without Shoes Rally DIY (I'm in it! I'm the one handing off my shoes in the shoe check in): http://www.onedaywithoutshoes.com/diy-installations 

And a link to the One Day Without Shoes site (which is April 10th): http://www.onedaywithoutshoes.com/ 

One Day Without Shoes at Toms HQ will probably be another one of those days that goes in the books as being an unforgettable life experience, so hopefully there will be a blog posting then. 

Thanks for reading and stay tuned!

Week 4??

Hey Everyone!

Sorry for not blogging/posting last week...things have been a little busy around here, and I can't believe that it is already week 4! Crazy! Anyway, I have been packing boxes and boxes of shoes to be sent over to our new office, which the official move date is February 17th! I am super excited for parking, air condition, and no (or hopefully less) slips, trips, and falls (which was the name of a little seminar us interns went through during orientation). If you see the office, literally there is a slip, trip, and fall waiting at your every turn and move...but, hey! it keeps you on your toes and alert of your surroundings. And going off on a tangent, I had a meeting with a fabric vendor this week and on the way towards the conference room, he nearly ate it..which was interesting because at that moment we were talking about what his thoughts were on our building, and to be careful where you walk.

Okay, so back on track, besides packing up lots and lots of shoes, I have also been working with the designers and developers on the Toms+ line. For those who don't know what the Toms+ line is, it is the higher end line of Toms that is more fashion forward. It's exciting to be designing more adventurous constructions, and uppers. And on top of all that, I get to also make decisions on what goes on the shoes, such as the color of the outsole, whether to include eyelets, or what color should the stitching be.

Also, for those of you who follow Toms, you probably know about Jonathan, the guy with the mohawk, and Sean from the Toms documentary as the guy who cried, and I have the honor of working with both of them. Jonathan works in production and logistics, and we share the same workspace room, so we have been able to talk every now and then when he's not in a meeting. And then Sean overseas the footwear product development department, which is the department I am in. I know on a previous post, I posted pictures of my name tags and it says I am the production intern, but I am not a production intern, because I don't work with Jonathan's department. I am technically considered product development, design, and sourcing intern (and more specifically, sustainable materials sourcing). So, I will post a picture of my new name tag that hangs on the wall outside my office. :) Well, I guess this is my two weeks in a nut shell, or what I can remember doing...

Thanks for reading!

Week 2 (first almost full week at Toms)

Hello Everyone!

I have survived my first almost full week at Toms! (We had MLK day off, but one of my managers believes that it counts as a full week). Yesterday, my mom asked me What did you do at work today? And literally, my mind went blank. Not because I didn't know what I did that day, but more along the lines of so many events and tasks are done in one day or in a span of multiple days, that it all gets jumbled together. 

What I know for certain that happened yesterday, was a footwear season launch meeting, where the Product Development department (that includes me!) puts together a meeting where we bring footwear prototypes, show inspiration boards, and powerpoint presentations on trends we feel will be big for that season. We invite other departments within Toms (Sales, International Sales, Creative, etc..) to come sit in on the meeting and enjoy a spread of coffee, baked goods, and veggie platter, while discussing ideas, opinions, and suggestions on the season's trends.

It was a great experience to not only sit in on the meeting and hear ideas from other departments, but it was also a great experience preparing for the meeting. 

Here are some photos from around Toms HQ. I can't share with you the specifics of the meeting, but I hope these photos will do. 

Thanks for reading!

First week at Toms

The adventure begins! My first week at Toms consisted of orientation and meeting people from different departments and hearing their Toms story. The people at Toms are inspiring and I can't wait to learn from them. We also had a "style your sole" party, which was a good chance to see the vast amount of creativity in my fellow interns. Also, a little fyi, Toms has a casual dress code, but two items that are frowned upon are: swimsuits and bobs shoes. Thank you for reading and being apart of this journey.