Our First Shoe Drive

1992 Print Ad

This ad was for our first ever shoe drive for the homeless. We realized that rehabilitation starts with how someone is perceived – if a person can dress for a work environment, he or she is more likely to get a job. The response to this ad was overwhelming. The shoe drive, which started as an event in our New York stores, soon expanded to become a nationwide clothing and shoe drive. 20 years and 20 drives later, we still host the initiative every February. A few months after this ad first ran, we were surprised to receive a letter from the homeless man featured in the image, who was upset that we hadn’t obtained his permission before publication. We apologized and explained that we didn’t know how or where to contact him to ask for permission and that we hadn’t meant to offend him. We told him more about the shoe drive initiative, and after he considered the circumstances, he asked for some new shoes and we happily agreed.