When Toms Met Tabitha

TABITHA SIMMONS has collaborated with Toms on a new footwear collection. Taking her signature nautical stripes and quirky design aesthetic and applying it to Toms's famous espadrilles, the result is a covetable one.

Comprising eight styles, the collection was in part inspired by Simmons's children (the "I love you" print comes from the love letters she would leave then when she was away travelling), but it was really Toms's buy-a-pair, give-a-pair business model that captured her imagination. For every pair of Toms shoes bought, a pair is donated to an orphan or child from a disadvantaged background in a developing area of the world.

After hitting it off with Toms founder Blake Mycoskie in New York, she dived head first into a one of the brand's charitable giving projects, spending a week in Honduras, delivering the shoes personally. "It was an incredibly humbling, special moment," Simmons told us. "I didn't realise how diligent Toms are in measuring kids feet and making sure they fit properly. It was so great to hang out with them and see how grateful they were. We arranged it so that children were giving the shoes to other children - to see their self-esteem grow as they were giving was amazing."

"We're now in 65 countries and have 75 partners around the world," said Mycoskie. "The idea is that our shoes aren't seen as aid anymore, but as a part of a bigger programme. To have Tabitha's design eye and cache applied to our shoes is just great."

The collection starts at £26 for children and £90 for women and will be available at  Net-a-porter.com.