Students go barefoot to raise awareness for TOMS Shoes

At 10:45 a.m. Monday senior Emily Nicholls walked into the entrance of the IU art museum barefoot.
 
Her toes were painted bright blue and on top of her left foot the words “one day” were written in all capitals. On her right foot was the TOMS shoes logo.

Nicholls, an apparel merchandise major and head of TOMS shoes club at IU, was shoeless in honor of the company’s event “One day without shoes.”

The club along with IU Styleta sponsored the event, which led three different walks around campus Tuesday.

Styleta is an organization that supports different charities around the country by selling clothes and giving involved students experience in the fashion world.
Darcy VanDiepenbos, co-director of IU Styleta, said the group chooses a new charity to donate its proceeds to each semester.

This semester the group chose charity: water. Charity: water is a nonprofit organization that strives to bring clean and safe water to developing countries.
Nicholls said before the event that “any awareness gained is better than we had
before.”

As Nicholls and a group of shoeless models convened outside of the art museum to begin their 11 a.m. walk, a large tour group of prospective students and their parents walked by, most with their heads facing down, curiously observing the bare feet of the women.
 
Emily Gammons, a freshman and model for Styleta, said she got involved because she likes TOMS’ mission of donating one pair of shoes for every pair of shoes purchased.

The company, which started in 2006, has already donated one million shoes as of last September. Nicholls said at least 20 people came up to her asking why she was barefoot.

She also was told by several of her classmates that they saw people walking around with no shoes. Nicholls said she thought the day went very well.

The most memorable moment for her was climbing up a tree in front of the Indiana Memorial Union with some other models. Nicholls started the day barefoot and was still going at 6 p.m., only putting her shoes on while walking through food courts.

She even encouraged her younger sister, freshman Molly Nicholls, to participate in the event.

“You can’t grasp or understand what these children are going through unless you experience it yourself, at least for one hour,” Nicholls said.