Toms Shoes wants you to go shoeless — for a good cause

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You know it has to be for an important cause for a shoe company to request that you go barefoot.

Charitable footwear company Toms Shoes, which donates a pair of shoes to a child in need with every shoe purchase, is asking the world to go without shoes on one day -- April 5 -- to raise awareness of the impact a pair of shoes can have on a child’s life.

The One Day Without Shoes event launched last year, and more than 250,000 took off their kicks for the cause, with 1,600 related events taking place around the globe.

Why are shoes so important? Without them, you’re at risk of picking up unsavory things through your feet, said Toms’ founder and chief shoe giver, Blake Mycoskie, who added, ‘Wearing shoes and [practicing] basic hygiene can prevent both infection and disease due to unsafe roads and contaminated soil.’

For more information on the cause and events near you, visit OneDayWithoutShoes.com.

-- Emili Vesilind

Video: Toms Shoes’ video for 2011’s One Day Without Shoes campaign. Credit: Toms Shoes