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I'm assuming this isn't a random hypothetical but I don't know what shoe company you are talking about.

I’ve heard this about TOMS

Yes and once they have destroyed the competition, then they start charging.

Yeah, predatory pricing and its logical extreme, giving the product away, is another common strategy of big business.

There are three kinds of prices:

1. below the competition - predatory pricing, dumping

2. same as the competition - collusion, price fixing, cartel

3. more than the competition - gouging, profiteering

All three are illegal. There's no legal way to set a price.

Below the competition ins't predatory if you can make a profit off of it. Predatory specifically means that you price it at a serious loss and then jack up the price when the competition dies.

Companies have sales at a loss all the time. Would you rather they put the merchandise that doesn't move into the landfill?

> then jack up the price when the competition dies.

That never happens, for good reason. Think about all the money a big corporation would lose trying to sell below cost to drive out a mom and pop.