Hasta La Ideas

Philanthropy is sexy this season with Pact’s new underwear that gives back.

The new Festive Holiday Underwear Collection from Pact brings light not just to your skivvies but to those who need it most. Featuring three festive patterns designed by Yves Behar and his team at Fuseproject , with every purchase the brand donates a handheld, solar LED lantern to Haitian earthquake victims in Port Au Prince.

Over half of Port-au-Prince’s inhabitants report that they feel unsafe at night, in part a result of Haiti’s lack of streetlights and general energy scarcity. Pact’s lantern donations will increase the security of Haitian families, especially women living in the city’s more vulnerable areas.

“We could not imagine a more worthwhile cause this holiday season than helping provide access to a basic resource—like light—to the people in Haiti,” said Jason Kibbey, CEO of Pact. “The fact that a Pact underwear purchase can directly provide a family in Haiti with a solar lantern, and all the benefits light provides, is an honor.”

The Holiday Collection is the result of a partnership between Pact and the non-profit Earthspark and Citizen Effect’s Light Up Haiti Campaign.

The collection ranges from $18-$26 on their Pact’s site.

The literary t-shirt label launches a line for kids and new designs

Turning classic book covers into inspirational t-shirts, Out of Print recently added a kids line to its collection of “intelligent” literary fashions. Tykes can don soon-to-be-favorite reads like “The Catcher In The Rye,” “Moby Dick,” “Pride and Prejudice” or “Brave New World” with their distressed, 100% cotton tees.

Out of Print also launched its first collection of Originals—a series of re-imagined graphics designed to inspire young adults to read classics like “The Great Gatsby,” “The Outsiders,” “Animal Farm” and “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Designed by Ohio native and Philadelphia-based designer Mikey Burton for a graduate thesis project, the illustrations reflect his penchant for ’70s rock ‘n’ roll posters (past projects include gig graphics for Wilco, Spoon and Joanna Newson), as well as his talent for visualizing each story’s essence.

Burton explains, “The whole reasoning behind my project was simply to get young adults interested in reading. I was never a big reader myself and it was something I regret every day of my life. Maybe if I thought reading was cool when I was a kid, I would have done it more. Also, in a time where people are doing less reading, I think it’s more important now than ever to make reading seem more appealing.”

For every shirt (or now, sweatshirt) Out of Print sells, they give one book to Books For Africa. October 2010 saw the altruistic label send a 40-foot sea container of 560 boxes with over 20,000 books of donated text and library books to schools and libraries in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Kids tees sell online from Out of Print for $22, with mens and womens designs available for $28 each tee and $38 for sweatshirts.

Building on their solid business model marrying modern-casual style with philanthropy (for every pair sold, they give a pair to a child in need), Toms Shoes recently rolled out some fetching new looks for summer.

The mostly nautical-inspired collection includes several altogether new styles, as well as updated spins on the well-worn classics. The first-ever Toms heel, an open-toed wedge, brings a dressier more feminine silhouette into the mix, available in three solid colors (black, yellow, and pale green) and stripes (navy, orange and red). Interpreting surf-inspired streetwear, the neon Scuba classic (pictured at top in orange and green) makes an on-trend choice.

Similarly, the men’s Bimini Stitchout, with its durable sole and back drawstring, handsomely riffs on the classic dock shoe (available in navy and washed-out white).

Just one season after being released, the popular lace-up Cordones gets three new faded plaid prints that look as if they’ve already endured several seasons on a sunny boat deck. (Pictured top.)

The men’s Bimini Stitchouts ($68) are currently available for purchase on the Toms site, while the wedges ($69), plaid Cousteau Cordones ($69), and Scuba classics ($48) come out at the end of this month.

For every hand-tailored tie sold, Figs gives a school uniform to a child in East Africa through their Threads for Threads program.

The L.A.-based label offers standard and bow ties in a variety of dapper fabrics, ranging from woolen Ivy League plaids to Italian silk bicycle patterns. They also offer custom ties, allowing for even greater personal expression with a host of styles to choose from.

Figs ties begin at $105 and sell online with a guaranteed of being “100% awesome.”



by Adrienne So

Colorado-based Venture Snowboards recently teamed up with environmental advocacy nonprofit POW (Protect Our Winters) for a snowboard graphic contest that will feature winning designs on a run of limited-edition handcrafted Venture snowboards.



The public can cast a vote now through 15 March 2010 for one of the top five designs (three of them pictured here). The winning designer will receive a limited-edition Venture/POW board, but the environment is the real winner with part of the proceeds from the limited edition boards going towards POW’s efforts in mobilizing the winter sports industry to take action on the issue of climate change.



Pro snowboarder Jeremy Jones, star of 12 Teton Gravity Research films, founded POW in 2007. For more information on Protect Our Winters visit their website.

Venture Snowboards creates handmade back-country boards using sustainable practices, and their Storm-R has been voted best of the year by Backcountry and Snowboarder magazines. Check out the Venture Snowboards site to learn more.