going on to Argentina . I went to some of the villages and it was one of the defining moments of my life when I saw these kids not wearing shoes . That 's where I kind of had this ` ah ha ' moment . I started thinking , what if I started a business where every time I sold a pair of shoes , I would guarantee that customer that I would give another pair to someone who does not have shoes ? CNN : How did you pursue your vision ? Did you have any experience as a designer or shoemaker ? Mycoskie : I had absolutely no experience in shoes or fashion so I approached the business how I have done everything in my life , and that 's with reckless ambition . There were a lot of really cool styles of shoes in Argentina that we did not have in the United States so I picked one of them , the alpargata , and I started figuring out how to make shoes . CNN : Did you expect the company to be a big success when you launched ? Mycoskie : I was not really
LONDON , England -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Blake Mycoskie is the founder and `` chief shoe giver '' of TOMS Shoes , a company that matches every pair of shoes it sells with a free pair to an impoverished child . Blake Mycoskie started TOMS Shoes in 2006 . The company is committed to giving free shoes to poor children around the world . CNN caught up with the 32-year-old entrepreneur to talk about the inspiration behind his revolutionary business and what he has planned next . CNN : Tell us about the TOMS model . Mycoskie : The TOMS initiative is very simple : For every pair of shoes we sell , we give a pair away . When we know that say , we 're going to sell 10,000 pairs this spring , we make another 10,000 to be given away . CNN : Where did you get the idea to start TOMS ? Mycoskie : I decided to go back to some of the places that my sister and I had visited on `` The Amazing Race . '' -LSB- Mycoskie and his sister participated in the reality TV show in 2002 . -RSB- I found myself