A co-worker of mine made an interesting point yesterday: ten years ago, socially responsible consumers were looking at the clothes they were buying and trying to determine if they were having a negative impact on the country where they were produced. People didn't want to buy sneakers if they were put together by children working in a sweatshop somewhere in Asia.

The problem with this is that while this might prevent some undue suffering by nudging the invisible hand, it does nothing to propel the products being produced in a better direction. A much more common trend these days is people looking not only for products that do no harm, but ones that actually generate a positive social impact. Tom's Shoes is probably the best example of this kind of a product with the giving built in.

A sign of the times. And a promising one, at that.