This story was first reported on and published by Glossy sibling site Modern Retail.
The new CEO of Toms told Modern Retail she wants to “reawaken and reignite” the canvas shoe brand as it gears up for its 20th anniversary next year.
“The world is ready for Toms to come back,” Jessica Alsing, who took the top job earlier this month, said in an interview. “I think this brand has just been sleeping a little. We haven’t seen the strength of the Alpargata in so long.”
The Alpargata is, of course, Toms’s core shoe — the one that put the company on the map in the 2000s and was once responsible for half of its revenue. But much has changed in two decades, including the Alpargata’s dominance in footwear, the competition from buzzy shoe startups, and macroeconomic headwinds like tariffs and inflation. What’s more, Toms has historically grappled with mounting debt, and during the pandemic, it lost traction when shoppers started buying sneakers and more athletic-looking shoes.
Now, under new leadership, Toms aims to get back into the “consciousness of the consumer” through exclusive color drops, local collaborations and new comfort technology, Alsing said. The company is sticking to its newer philanthropy model, which involves giving profits to causes customers care about, like preventing gun violence. (Toms did away with its “buy-one, give-one” model in 2019.) Toms will also continue to roll out non-Alpargatas shoes, like heels, platform sandals and lace-up boots.
Alsing, who previously held positions at Crocs and Williams-Sonoma, spoke with Modern Retail about her plans to re-energize Toms and court new customers. The following excerpts have been edited for length and clarity.
What are some of your goals for Toms, as the new CEO?
“I couldn’t be more excited to really bring this brand back into the relevance and the consciousness of the consumer. We have our 20th anniversary coming up next year [in 2026], so we really want to capitalize on that. We have some incredible new products, and a lot are being pulled from the archives but reimagined for the modern day.
Our DNA is a very laid-back, SoCal, easy-on, easy-off attitude. The consumer is ready for that. We want to bring back our Alpargata and make the Alpargata hot again. And I think this [next stage of the business] is the perfect opportunity to do that.
We also want to start investing in our brand marketing through experiential efforts. [In May], the team did a wonderful La La Land coffee takeover [in Los Angeles], and that brought us closer to our consumer. … We want to focus on collaborations with other partners. We’re looking at a number of opportunities that not only strengthen the awareness and relevance of the brand, but also connect with different consumers that we may not have connected with in the past.”
When you talk about bringing ‘the Alpargata back,’ what will that look like?
“We have some new technologies [we’re integrating into the line]. One is CloudBound Arch Insole. It’s basically the signature insole, with memory foam and a built-in arch support that cradles your foot and enhances pressure distribution and stability. Then, we have also have the CloudBound Rise Insole, and that’s a signature insole with memory foam at a slight angle for enhanced foot alignment and naturally-improved posture. So, we’ve got two really cool technologies that are coming out [in 2026, as part of our ongoing CloudBound offering].
We’re also doing some elements of frequent color drops, starting in March. We’re really tapped into runway trends. There are only going to be 200 [units] released in these drops, and they’re going to be numbered. This is going to be a really cool collector’s item for either new consumers or consumers who have loved us for a long time.”
You mentioned the CloudBound technology. Are you tweaking any of your messaging around comfort, compared to years past?
“I don’t know if we’re looking to change messaging. I think the marketing team has done a phenomenal job of revamping the brand’s tone of voice. What I will say is: We want to lean into the features and benefits of the product, but we may be more subtle in the way we speak to comfort. Maybe it’s posting imagery of someone walking in Europe for 20,000 steps, rather than calling it out so literally. … [But] that’s not the only thing we’re known for. It’s important that we do lean into style, that we do lean into comfort, and that we do lean into our philanthropic edge.”
Do you have any plans for additional wholesale or regional expansion? If so, what are those?
“We want to deepen and strengthen our wholesale partnerships. I think color drops will be really great for that, as will collaborations. … [But] right now, we really want to focus on the U.S. We have so much opportunity here at home. We do distribute in EMEA and in APAC, although the businesses are relatively small, compared to the U.S. … But I have a lot of experience internationally. I lived 10 years in Amsterdam, and I spent time in Singapore. I think, once you lock into the strength of your home base, you can start to utilize those synergies across the world. If we can win in the U.S., it gives us more opportunity to pivot to other markets and be successful there.”
What are some of your major challenges at the moment? How do you plan to tackle those, as CEO?
“We’re faced with the same challenges [as other brands]. They’re typically macroeconomic. They could be tariffs, they could be the government shutdown, they could be consumer spending — all of those really impact our business. What we need to focus on, as an organization, is really being as agile as possible and pivoting where we have that opportunity.
The temperature in the macroeconomic climate is going to continue to heat up in some ways, but one of the biggest challenges we can affect within our own ecosystem is promotions. We’ve trained our consumers a little bit [to expect] promotions, and I’ve seen a lot of brands do [discounting] as consumer demand starts to decline. That’s what we really want to get away from — and to not only show the features and benefits of the product, but also to increase the consumer’s willingness to pay full price. That’s what’s going to be important [as something] we can control.”
You spoke about reducing promotions, but do you plan to offer discounts around Black Friday? What are your holiday plans, more broadly?
“Yes, we want to meet the demands of the consumer. [With] Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we want to make our tentpole events as big, meaningful and excitement-generating as possible. But within those spaces, we want to have quiet times, too, where we can really share the strength of the product and that SoCal lifestyle and speak to the consumer on a full-price, higher-level brand marketing perspective.
We’re really tapped into the general holiday momentum. But our focus is really on the 2026 year. We want to keep our finger on the pulse of what’s going on in AI, so [we can] understand how we can adopt any new technologies that help us drive our business. In the past, we’ve been focused on the product technologies, which are really important. But, there are opportunities to go forward that we need to think about, as well.”
What are some of the ways you’re looking to use AI?
“I think the challenge with AI is that it’s moving so fast. That’s fantastic, but at the same time, we want to make sure we are connecting with the consumer and that it doesn’t feel like AI connecting with the consumer. There’s an authenticity that’s very important. With AI, I think our first opportunity is back-office [matters] — things that don’t really touch the consumer directly — until the technology starts to grow into a space where we can adopt it for more communicating.”
