We love all of the amazing independent designers out there. In order to find out more about just what makes all of these creative types tick, we present to you an ongoing segment called Indie Designer Interviews.

We're pleased to introduce you to Staci Tubbs, founder of Beads of Hope®. Stacy created this line of handmade beaded jewelry as a way to help raise awareness of childhood cancer, and at least 10% of the proceeds of every purchase goes directly toward cancer research.

Most of us check out Forever 21's online store everyday in hope of finding a decent designer knock-off.

Others are fortunate enough to have the discretionary dollars to occasionally purchase a Marc by Marc top or pair of J Brand wide leg trousers on sale at Shopbop.


And then there is that select group of individuals who have so many luxury goods that they don't even have enough room in their 2,000 sq. feet closets to store them all in, so they give away a few of their luxe goodies to the less fortunate: Their equally fabulous, but poor friends.

While Kate Moss is outfitting her fans in cool graphic tees for a charitable organization, three prominent makeup artists are on a mission to hook-up your footwear collection for an equally important cause.

Trish McEvoy, Laura Mercier, and Bobbi Brown have each created fun limited-edition Havaianas flip-flops for just $15 with any 2 cosmetic or fragrance purchases.

Say what you will about supermodel Kate Moss, but the woman appears to have a heart. We imagine this latest charitable endeavor really struck a chord with the former Calvin Klein model and mom to Lila Grace.

Under her line for Topshop, Miss Moss has created an impossibly cool limited-edition graphic tee that benefits the Starlight Children's Foundation, a charity for seriously terminally ill children and their families.

100% of the profits from the t-shirt will go to charity where the funds will allow Starlight to provide an additional wish for a sick or terminally ill child every week for the upcoming year.

Kate, you're still pretty cool.

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As a New Orleans local, we're loving what reusable shopping bag company What's ur Bag is doing. Not only have they created a new line of environmentally friendly reusable grocery bags in a range of fun colors and prints, but they're also doing all they can to help bring back the recovering New Orleans economy. The bags are manufactured by a company that was totally destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and rebuilt, and all of the labels, packaging and material come from vendors based in NOLA as well. Their website was designed by a single mom from New Orleans and five percent of all profits go to Hope House, a New Orleans charity that feeds, trains, houses and clothes the homeless.

There are tons of eco-friendly reusable bag options on the market right now, but many are made in China. You can feel good in more ways than one by shopping with a reusable bag from What's ur Bag.

Whit Honea is a slacker, a borderline degenerate, and a daydream believer. He's also our resident expert on casual chic. If it's comfortable, and not heinous, he's all over it. He's quite charming, really.

Nothing says comfort like a vintage t-shirt and nothing says feeling good like giving a check to tax deductible charity organizations. Why not combine the two?

It appears to be working for Give and Take.

If you thought Andy Warhol was the only one who could work a soup can then you are so wrong.

As a super-fan of 1960s style, fashion designer Lisa Perry has taken the iconic Campbell's soup can to a whole new level. Lisa has designed three unique dresses with Campbell's tomato soup in mind and she wants you to vote on your favorite.

The goal of these designs is to raise money and awareness for the Go Red For Women movement which is part of American Heart month. Each vote made will raise $1 to the movement and the winning design will be worn by Toni Braxton. Learn more and vote on the designs here. I have to say it's pretty hard to decide which dress is the best but the mini dress got my vote in the end.

One of the most successful campaigns in the beauty world is M.A.C's Viva Glam campaign. When you purchase Viva Glam products at M.A.C., 100 percent of the sales go towards M.A.C.'s AIDS Fund, which raises money to fight HIV and AIDS globally. This Fall M.A.C. has reached an incredible milestone by raising $100 million dollars. This milestone has been 13 years in the making and M.A.C will continue to raise money as they set their next goal.

Aside from having great Viva Glam products to purchase, celebrities have lent their fame to campaign as well. In the past Viva Glam spokespersons have been Ru Paul (the first spokesperson), Eve, Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Missy Elliot, and many more. The next spokesperson will be none other than singer Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson.

Viva Glam products are for sale year round, so head to your M.A.C counter and support a good cause.

Kimonos have never looked so good.

Josie Natori is celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the Natori Company and to mark the occasion, Natori has commissioned five designers to re-create her signature kimono. Designers Vena Cava, Erin Fetherston, Sari Gueron, Jenni Kayne and Brian Reyes have each designed a one-of-kind kimono that is being auctioned off online. All proceeds from the auction will go to the Council of Fashion Designers of America's Scholarship Fund.

All of the designer's kimonos are exquisite, but I have to say that the kimono designed by Jenni Kayne is my favorite. Jenni's kimono (pictured in the center) is made of 100% silk charmeuse men's suiting material and has a very obvious Japanese silhouette. The kimono fits a size 4-6 and the bidding starts at $1,000.

To place a bid head to CharityFolks.com but act fast because bidding ends 11/27/2007!

Upon entering Smashbox Studios for Fashion Week Daily's LA Fashion Week Kickoff Party, you can't help but notice DHL's bright red and yellow booth and wonder, "What are they doing here?" DHL is a delivery service.

DHL is proactively supporting LA Fashion Week's green initiative by providing several eco-friendly products for the designers, buyers, models and journalists attending the event.

Guests of LA Fashion Week can ship their goods directly from the venue using products made from recycled materials. DHL is even distributing the official Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week schedule cards, which are printed on recycled paper. They are also giving away a limited-edition tote bag designed by Zac Posen. The "Tote for Teachers" is part of a fundraising partnership benefiting TeachersCount, a non-profit that supports teachers.

If you aren't lucky enough to attend LA Fashion Week, you can still reap the benefits of DHL's good work by purchasing their red and yellow leather tote for $400 at www.toteforteachers.org, 100% of the proceeds will be donated to the organization.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and some of our favorite designers have created products specifically for the cause. There are now products that help the fight against breast cancer for every aspect of your life.

For the kitchen: Kitchen Aid has their most popular tools in pink for their Pink Cook for the Cure Collection. When you buy from the collection (which includes the stand mixer, measuring cups, spatulas and more) Kitchen Aid will donate 10% of the retail cost to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

For your body: Keeping fit is a great way to reduce your chances of getting breast cancer. Stay fit (or get fit) with Valeo's pink body ball and Valeo will donate part of proceeds to support breast cancer research.

For your face: Chances are you need new cosmetics, so why not buy cosmetics that support fighting breast cancer? Clinique, La Mer, Este Lauder, Go Smile, Tweezerman and more are supporting the fight.

For your closet: Lisa Kline, C&C California, Splendid and Christian Dior are a few of the names in the industry that have created fashions to support Breast Cancer Awareness month.

There are so many great options this month, so shop for a good cause.

Pope Benedict XVI is known for his love of luxury, especially expensive shoes. In fact, for his 2007 pope-a-month calendar, Benedict sported several pairs of red Prada loafers, so you know the Bishop of Rome has got to come correct!

The pope recently shared his love of fine Italian shoes with the homeless in Minneapolis. After giving Vatican representatives a tour of Sharing and Caring Hands, a homeless mission, the nonprofit received two large boxes containing several dozen pairs of handmade Italian shoes from the pope. Mission director Jo Copeland described the papal charity as "Just grand! This is just the best gift. That Pope Benedict, wherever you are, God bless you!"

Now I don't want to sound like a crank here, but what is up with giving a homeless shelter a bunch of pricey shoes? At best, it's impractical. At worst, it's insulting.

Seriously, if the pope really wanted to do something for the poor of Minneapolis, why not finance some health insurance or pay for a little workplace training?

After all, if you give a man a pair of expensive Italian shoes, he'll look stylish for a day, but if you teach a man how to earn his expensive Italian shoes, he'll look stylish for a lifetime.

Don't you love it when you can "look good" and "do good" at the same time? It's not very often that you can find clothing that are both good for charity and aesthetically pleasing. Don't get me wrong, clothing that help people in need are always a good thing, but sometimes we would rather wear those articles to sleep rather than out in public.

Don't lie to yourself. You know it's true.

ShopBop and Glamour Magazine have teamed up to create five limited editions t-shirts that help support the charity Malaria No More. Five hot designers were tasked with designing these "do good" tees: Peter Som, Erin Fetherson, Marchesa, Jovovich-Hawk, and Thakoon.

Each white tee shirt has a unique pen and ink like drawing and will be sold on ShopBop.com for $68. For each Fashion Gives Back tee sold, six bed nets will be donated to women and children in Tanzania through Malaria No More, an organization dedicated to fighting a disease that kills one million children in Africa each year.

Fashion for a good cause is a good thing, so get your shirts while they are still available.

Everyone's heard of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon -- the game named after the famous actor who's been in so many movies that he can be connected to anyone in Hollywood in six moves or less.

In response to the game, Bacon formed a charity, called SixDegrees.org. The idea is to raise money -- both by allowing site users to donate to causes championed by their favorite celebrities, and by making it easy for users to raise awareness about their own causes. Plus, those users who become the most popular (and therefore, raise the most money for their charity of choice), will receive up to $10,000 for their cause.

The best part is that you can promote the site (and look cool) with the official SixDegrees.org t-shirt. It's stylish, it's in support of a good cause, and it's only $20. You can buy your own here.

For a video about how the site works, go here.

[via ShoppingBlog.com]

Leave it to a charity campaign to make you think about how important it is to have that "it" bag, hot new sunglasses, a ice cold cocktail, or luxury beauty items. All seem like everyday items don't they? Whether you "need" these items or they are just nice things you work to attain, they are part of our everyday lives and I doubt we think twice about it (well maybe the credit card bill gets you thinking).

Cordaid Mensen in Nood' (People in Need), a Dutch charity company, has begun a very interesting campaign in response to our "need." The campaign shows people-in-need posing with objects that we consider important and necessary.

A designer handbag (looks like Marc Jacobs to me) which cost 32 pounds is being compared to the price of food (for an entire week) which costs 4 pounds. Designer sunglasses (perhaps Gucci's) cost 24 pounds, where just having access to water is a mere 8 pounds. Other comparisons include aftershave for 35 pounds vs. a new home for 6.5 pounds. A pint of beer for 4.5 pounds vs. 50 liters of fresh water weighing in at 1.5 pounds.

An interesting campaign but has it gone too far, dressing up the starving and sick in a fashion magazine style spreads? Hopefully it will make people want to donate money to those in need and not make people stare at the pictures then go on their merry way.

So what do you all think, has Swedish fashion photographer Carl Stolz and Mensen in Nood' gone too far with these pictures?