Pappalardo x Product (RED)

Continuing with the idea of acknowledging that HIV/AIDS exists 365 days a year, I'm sure you've all heard of PRODUCT (RED) products (which range from Gap clothing to iPods to Dell computers to Hallmark cards). Although these products will not eradicate the issue, they develop a sense of consumer consciousness with the hopes that they'll research the cause that their products are advertising.

The newest (RED) product is a Converse sneaker designed by skateboarder Anthony Pappalardo. From the picture it looks to be made of suede and it's a blue and white colourway with red trimming. Pappalardo's name is stiched on the side and on the back is a red heart. Personally, I like the detailed stitching around the tongue; it kind of looks like a spider web. To see more of these shoes, check out the promo video here.

And once in a while, to keep things interesting, I'd swap the blue laces for the (Nike)RED ones that just came out a couple of days ago.

Via Hypebeast

World Aids Day (a day late)

I know I'm a day late on this one but I crashed early last night and didn't get around to posting anything. Anyways, yesterday was World AIDS Day. Although typically associated as being prevalent in poor nations, HIV/AIDS is a big problem here in Canada too. I looked up some statistics on HIV/AIDS and I'd like to share a few of them with you:

- 33.4 million people worldwide were infected with HIV at the end of 2008
- About 2/3 of those infected live in Sub-Saharan Africa where the adult prevalence rate is an astounding 5%
- At the end of 2005, 58,000 Canadians were infected with HIV (up from 50,000 in 2002)
- About 25% of all those infected actually became infected because they were not aware of the risk

In a way, posting this a day late just emphasizes the fact that HIV/AIDS is a serious problem and one day a year doesn't make up for the fact that those infected live with it, and the stigmatization that surrounds it, 365 days a year.

Stay educated because AIDS is a fairly preventable disease. Hopefully you already know the measures you can take to prevent the disease from spreading to you, but in case you don't or want to learn more, the UN has a great resource document and is available here

Statistics found here