We are proud to announce that Maison Martin Margiela (part of the group OTB) participated in 2012′s “Sapin de Noel des Créateurs” charity auction in support of the A.V.E.C. association for cancer research. The event took place at Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild in Paris and for the first time in Japan at Hankyu Umeda department store in Osaka. All profits from the Japanese event were given to the ASHINAGA charity to support their work for orphaned children.

“There is more action to be done to fight aids than to wear this T-shirt but it’s a good start.” Each year on World AIDS Day, Maison Martin Margiela (part of the group OTB) releases a Charity AIDS T-shirt with this slogan in a different language. Their 2012 Chinese edition is available online at: http://bit.ly/QTtGMW.

Diesel and EDUN have joined forces to further apparel trade and development in Africa with a co-branded, co-designed denim collection. Entirely manufactured in Africa with the finest CCI cotton from Uganda, the Diesel + EDUN collection is about trade, not aid. Using raw, untreated denim cut, sewn and washed in Northern African countries such as Tunisia and Morocco, the Diesel + EDUN collection was built around a reinterpretation of the four-pocket jeans of the 1970s popular on the streets of South Africa.

Starting in Spring/Summer 2012, Diesel began presenting a series of seasonal collectible T-shirts and a bracelet under the label “Diesel for Only The Brave Foundation”. Proceeds from their sales in Diesel stores throughout the world and online are donated to the Foundation. New items will be available in stores every season, each bearing a different message taken directly from the Foundation’s manifesto (printed on the inside of the T-shirt). For the first in the series, the message is “We believe in less talk”, a reference to the Foundation’s principle of generating concrete actions that directly benefit those in need.