The fight against AIDS is on track to achieve the first AIDS-free generation by 2015.

Tomorrow celebrates the 23rd World AIDS Day. Since its beginning in 1988, 30 million people have died from the disease and 2.5 million children younger than 15 are living with HIV. But in four years, the world can realize the end of HIV transmission from mothers to babies delivering a key milestone for the beginning of the end of AIDS.

Major brands are continuing their support with limited edition (RED) products to help raise funds for the charity.

Apple is selling a (RED) iPad and iPod Nano; Nike a (RED) collection including trainers, a destroyer jacket and backpack; Gap is selling a t-shirt by French fashion designer Isabel Marant; Lauren Bush's FEED project created a tote bag; and Converse made 500 pairs of (RED) Chuck Taylor All Star shoes with the ‘Ephemeral Pitches, and Notes, Rhythm and Phonetics’ print design from José Parlá.

For the third year in a row, Starbucks will make “your handcrafted beverage an agent of change. They will be turning all handcrafted beverages (RED) on World AIDS Day, December 1st, across the US & Canada, making a five cent donation on every handcrafted beverage sold."Continue reading...

Britain's Gorillaz band may be just four cartoon dudes with 'tude, but that didn’t stop the group’s second album, 2005’s Demon Days, from going five times platinum in the UK, double platinum in the States, and nabbing five 2006 Grammy Award nominations, one of which they won.

It also hasn’t stopped the band from making a deal with Converse to design a line of shoes, according to Spin.

One of the band’s flesh-and-blood cofounders, comic book creator Jamie Hewlett of Tank Girl fame, “has designed a series of Gorillaz-themed prints for the Gorillaz Chuck Taylor All Star collection,” Spin reports.

They are due to hit shelves in February, the same month that the NBA All-Star game is scheduled to take place in Orlando. But who knows if that is going to happen or not with the way owners and players are facing off in a collective-bargaining standoff that is getting tenser.Continue reading...

Since the start of the global recession, plenty of companies have shut down, entered bankruptcy, or laid off a good chunk of their workforce. Yet, as the Financial Times points out, some corporations manage to continue funding large museums and exhibitions, such as Deutsche Bank’s sponsorship of England’s Frieze Art Fair.

Deutsche Bank is so steady that it didn’t seem to bat an eye earlier this year when Frieze decided to also throw a fair in New York and another one alongside the one that already sprouts up in London, the FT notes: Deutsche went ahead and sponsored both of them, too. 

UBS sponsors Art Basel and Miami Basel; Unilever’s dollars are tied up in an annual commission at the Tate Modern. Other such brands as Converse, JP Morgan, Louis Vuitton, and Agnès B give as well. But despite these instances of corporate generosity, overall support for the arts by corporations has fallen 20 percent, according to a report cited by the FT.Continue reading...

After China's fake Apple stores debacle, Apple moves to open real Apple store in prestigious Peking University library. (Not so fast, say officials.) And scoring two knock-offs in one, Chinese consumers are now being tempted with fake Converse sneakers bearing Apple's logo. They sell for about $5; click here for the fall lineup.

Below, check out legit branded kicks exclusively for the China market — Angry Birds sneakers! — and more.Continue reading...

Fourteen top clothing brands have traces of toxic chemicals that are harmful to human health and the environment within them, Greenpeace has discovered, according to Agence France Presse.

Traces of the chemicals, known as nonylphenol ethoxylates or NPEs, were found in such brands as Adidas, Uniqlo, Calvin Klein, H&M, Abercrombie & Fitch, Lacoste, Converse and Ralph Lauren, Greenpeace reported in its study, “Dirty Laundry 2,” according to the AFP.Continue reading...

Converse finally opens its Brooklyn "Rubber Tracks" studio where local artists can record for free.

Lady Gaga no longer banned in China, while Rihanna and Gaga fight for Facebook supremacy when Google+ really needs them. And maybe it will get them. Rihanna, meanwhile, also bumped Megan Fox as the new face (and derriere) of Armani.

BMW is now making bikes... for the Olympics. 

China's ad industry worth $28 billion this year, and over $33 billion next year.

Below: Burger King, McDonald's, Kenny Powers and more.Continue reading...

In the video above, Nike chairman and cofounder Phil Knight narrates the philosophy behind the company's Better World corporate citizenship platform. He articulates its goals for sustainable packaging and product design, giving back to the community, and looking beyond the bottom line to improve lives (hence the "better world" tagline). He also admits that Nike could do more to improve the lives of the factory workers around the world who make its shoes and branded goods.

So Knight can't be too pleased by the latest news about its longstanding battle with human rights and labor activists regarding its global contractors. The Associated Press today released an expose documenting how dozens of factory workers making Nike's Converse sneakers in Indonesia are routinely abused on the job.Continue reading...

Lauren Bush's FEED USA campaign, which raises money to improve school food programs across America, last crossed our transom when it produced "Made in USA" bags for Gap that turned out to be made in China, and Gap duly apologized for the gaffe.

Now another retailer, Nordstrom, is offering an exclusive FEED bag, to support the activist's (that's her at right) global FEED Projects program, with French beauty brand Clarins on board.

This bag, dubbed FEED 15, is a makeup bag rather than a tote bag, however. It contains Clarins body lotion, hand cream and lip gloss and will be available for $30 starting July 15th at Nordstrom and on the FEED web store and starting August 1st at Clarins.com.

To extend the exclusivity even further, in October, Bloomingdale's will offer a similar FEED 25 bag. The "15" and "25" on the bags indicate the number of children fed around the world with the purchase of each bag, according to WWD.Continue reading...