“We’re nothing like Toms,” says Maro LaBlance, the U.S. representative of a new company called Saola that’s making environmentally friendly sneakers. But during focus groups and other meetings where she has introduced her startup, LaBlance heard plenty of the T-word. “Toms is not about sustainable manufacturing,” she says. “Yes, they give back, but their project is humanitarian, not environmental.”

The distinction is lost on some shoppers, for whom Toms has become the gold standard of do-good footwear. That company’s founder, Blake Mycoskie, noticed during his travels in Argentina that many kids lacked shoes. To solve that problem, he launched Toms in 2006: its one-for-one principle translates each Toms sale into a pair of shoes for a needy child. Recipients now total more than 60 million.

That’s a tough standard to beat. But two brands are trying to reinvent the shoes-as-betterment formula with companies that are leveraging footwear into improved standards for both people and the environment.