Build shoes for kids who’ve never owned a pair.
Sole Purpose asks a simple question — ever walk a mile in someone else’s shoes? What if they had none at all? Your team assembles sandals from recycled materials that, through our partner Soles4Souls, reach children in developing countries — where a pair of shoes can be what lets a child attend school. It’s one of our signature charity & CSR team building events.
Sole Purpose is a give-back shoe build team building activity: your team assembles durable shoes from recycled materials that, through our partner Soles4Souls, reach children in developing countries who've never owned a pair. A hands-on hour that builds teamwork and leaves a tangible donation behind, for groups of 10 to 5,000.
Sole Purpose, in a nutshell.
Sole Purpose pairs an eye-opening look at what it means to go without with the hands-on work of assembling sandals from recycled materials — real shoes that, through Soles4Souls, reach children who have never owned a pair.
Perspective
Ever walk a mile in someone else’s shoes? What if they had none at all? A grounded, human reminder of what teams can do together.
Recycled into wearable
Teams turn recycled materials into durable sandals — a give-back that also keeps material out of the landfill.
Shared purpose
Everyone contributes to a tangible, countable result for a child who needs it.
Works at any size
From 5 to 5,000, scaled to your room.
The details planners ask for.
- Duration90 minutes to 3 hours · can anchor a conference theme
- Group size5 to 5,000 — any size
- FormatIndoor; rounds of 8–10; two people build one pair
- Charity partnerSoles4Souls
- What your team buildsDurable sandals from recycled materials
- Where they goChildren in developing countries, so they can attend school
- Optional add-onsGlass Walk / Trap Walk · sponsor a Shoe Bank
- Setup & teardownFully managed by our event crew
Three moves from empathy to impact.
See it through their eyes
The room opens with customizable, experiential content and a short film from Wayne Elsey, founder of Soles4Souls — a grounded look at what going without shoes really means.
Build the sandals
At rounds of eight to ten, teams assemble durable sandals from recycled materials — usually two people to a pair, each building a single shoe. Optional Glass Walk and Trap Walk challenges raise the stakes.
Send them where they’re needed
Through Soles4Souls, the finished sandals reach children in developing countries — where a pair of shoes can be what lets a child attend school. Then the team returns to their seats for the wrap-up.
It looks like a shoe build. It debriefs like empathy in practice.
The sandals are the story; the wrap-up is where it turns into behavior. Facilitators tie the experience to the themes your team is working on — here are the three we return to most.
Walk a mile
Ever walk a mile in someone else’s shoes? What if they had none at all? Empathy stops being an abstraction the moment you build a shoe for a child who has never owned one.
Perspective & understanding
Putting yourself in another’s shoes — a teammate’s, a customer’s — is a fundamental building block of every relationship. We crystallize it before your team ever picks up a tool.
One small act
A single pair of shoes can change a person’s life. Small, deliberate acts compound — the same is true of the work your team does every day.
Your team builds something real — for a child who needs it.
Every pair reaches a child through Soles4Souls, and because the sandals are built from recycled materials, your team also keeps that material out of the landfill. It’s measurable impact your CSR team can report — and, optionally, teams can sponsor a Shoe Bank, so as a child outgrows one pair they turn it in for the next size, all the way through graduation.
The need is real: an estimated 300 million children worldwide don’t own a pair of shoes — and in many places a child needs shoes to be allowed to attend school.Figure per Soles4Souls, Legendary Team Building’ shoe-build charity partner.
Shoes That Matter FAQs
What is the Sole Purpose activity? +
Sole Purpose is a shoe build team building activity. Teams assemble durable sandals from recycled materials that, through our partner Soles4Souls, reach children in developing countries who have never owned a pair — where a pair of shoes can be what lets a child attend school.
Who receives the shoes, and who is your charity partner? +
The sandals are distributed through Soles4Souls to children in developing countries. Legendary Team Building runs the experience; Soles4Souls handles distribution.
Can this support CSR reporting? +
Yes. We provide participation numbers and donation totals so your team development doubles as documented community impact.
How many people can take part? +
From 5 to 5,000, including conference general sessions. It works at any group size, seated in rounds of eight to ten.
How long does it take? +
Most sessions run 90 minutes to three hours, and it can anchor a conference theme. We tailor the length to your agenda.
What is a Shoe Bank? +
An optional add-on some organizations sponsor: when a child outgrows a pair of shoes, they turn in the old pair and receive the next size — again and again, all the way through graduation, so there’s always a pair waiting.
What are the Glass Walk and Trap Walk? +
Optional challenges we can layer into the experience to raise the stakes and deepen the team dynamic. Availability depends on your venue.
What’s included? +
Everything to run it end to end: a lead facilitator and event crew, all build materials and kits, the charitable donation of what your team builds, plus full setup and teardown. You bring the room and your people; we bring the rest.
How much does it cost? +
Pricing depends on your group size and city, and it’s set per participant with the charitable donation included. Tell us your group and we’ll send a tailored proposal, usually within a business day.
A few of the thousands of teams who trust us
What teammates wrote on the spot.
Unedited comments from participant evaluation forms across our give-back events. Only lightly de-duplicated.
The Legendary Guarantee
You’re putting your reputation on this event — so we put ours on it too. We measure every event, and across 2,000+ events since 2003 our average is 4.76 out of 5. If your team rates their experience below 9 out of 10, we’ll make it right: we’ll re-run a session, or refund our facilitation fee. No fine print, no runaround.
Bring Shoes That Matter to your team.
Tell us your group size, venue and dates. We’ll design an event your people — and a community of kids — will never forget.
We reply within one business day. No obligation.