DESIGNERS AGAINST AIDS 
Non-profit organization ‘Beauty Without Irony’ has launched the international project ‘Designers Against AIDS’ (DAA) in 2004 in order to raise AIDS awareness in the international media and towards the general public, more specifically towards young people in the industrialised countries using elements from pop culture (music, fashion, design, arts, sports, film, celebrities, etc).
HOW DOES DAA WORK?
AIDS awareness project Designers Against AIDS -born in Belgium, but active all over the world- wants to reach young people by using their favorite celebrities from the worlds of music, fashion, sports and art to raise their interest and curiosity, making them visit the website www.designersagainstaids.com, click on the links to local AIDS organisations and learn more about the disease.
The main objective of Designers against AIDS is to raise awareness and to get the subject of HIV/AIDS back into the media all over the world, as lately it has become a forgotten disease, especially in the western world. Our messages are: ‘Prevention is the only cure for HIV/AIDS‘ (protect yourself and your partner) and ‘Know your status’ (get tested). Furthermore we fight for the acceptance of and equal rights for seropositive people.
Media
Continuing with new international collections presented ever since, DAA has reached a vast amount of press in lifestyle TV programs, regular newspapers, glossy magazines and different spaces in media mainly focused to a young audience. Media who have reported about DAA include i-D, Vogue, Interview, Elle, International Herald Tribune, Zoo Magazine, De Morgen, Weekend-Knack, De Tijd, El Pais, El Mundo, Citizen K, Marie-Claire, Vanity Fair, Madame Figaro, Libération, New York Post, Le Monde, Cosmopolitan, MTV, TMF, JIM TV, Studio Brussels, Interview, Canal +, Fashion TV., Vogue TV France...
Website
The most important tool for DAA is the website www.designersagainstaids.com that is shown on every item, in press releases and publications and that constitutes a platform with links to local AIDS organizations. This way visitors can learn how to protect themselves -and how to help others who are less fortunate than they are. And if they look for this info actively on their own computer, maybe they will remember/understand it better. Currently the informative pages are available in English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Dutch, Russian, Chinese, Finnish and Japanese, while an Arabic translation is in the works.
RECENT PROJECTS
Marc Jacobs X Playboy t-shirts to benefit DAA
Marc Jacobs created this T-shirt (and two other styles) for Playboy, to 100% benefit Designers against Aids. The limited edition tees were sold in the Marc by Marc Jacobs stores in New York during New York Fashion Week february 2011.
Marc Jacobs wrote: Just wanted to let you know about our latest windows at the Marc by Marc Jacobs store (403 Bleecker Street, NY). In collaboration with Playboy, we are featuring a Playboy themed photo window which goes along with the collector's book set, Hugh Hefner's Playboy, 6 Volumes, for sale at Bookmarc (400 Bleecker Street, NY). Starting Friday, February 11th through the 18th, customers will be able to get their photo taken with Playboy bunnies in the window of our store, and will receive free prints. In addition, we are also supporting Designers Against AIDS, through the sales of new Marc Jacobs + Playboy T-shirts. The 3 T-shirt designs retail for $35 each, with 100% of the proceeds going to benefit the charity.
Thank you Marc Jacobs!
DAA: The First Decade
"A celebration of pure beauty, idealism and lust for life"
November 2010: we launched the book "DAA: The First Decade". Ten years ago Designers against AIDS (DAA) was born. Founder of DAA and mother organization Beauty without Irony, Ninette Murk, was asked to translate her no nonsense message in to a book. Beauty, positivity and tolerance are the main focus of "Designers against AIDS: The First Decade".
A collection of more then one hundred amazing pictures: all different visions of ‘pure beauty', a look at the past: ten years of initiatives and campaigns, highlighting the most beautiful and significant moments and the inspiring story of founder Ninette Murk. In addition Peter Piot, former President of UNAIDS and philosopher/writer Alain de Botton contributed to this book. The cover is by photographer Erwin Olaf.
You can order the book online- via us or amazon.com or in several bookshops worldwide.
International HIV/AIDS Awareness Education Center 
Following the worldwide success in raising AIDS awareness with retail store Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), the next international Designers Against AIDS (DAA) initiative has recently been launched.
The first International HIV/AIDS Awareness Education Center (IHAEC) is DAA's most recent and ambitious project. This training center in Antwerp, Belgium will to host students from all over the world and will teach them how to set up
successful HIV prevention and awareness programs, using the same pop culture based methods as used by DAA. The students will be taking this knowledge home, to build up equally successful campaigns in their countries of origin.
DAA condom pouches designed by Véronique Branquinho for Delvaux
On Valentine's day Delvaux will launch a limited edition of DAA condom pouches, in order to support our new education center. This project unites two established values in the Belgian fashion scene, with one thing in common: Love of Beauty!
Starting from February 14, 2011 the pouches will exclusively be available on both the Delvaux and the DAA website.
The DAA clothing collection 
DAA presents different items every season that are being promoted and sold worldwide. The first DAA collection was shown in June 2005 as a T-shirt/jersey based fashion line and sold in fashion, concept and music shops worldwide. The items are designed by famous and emerging fashion designers, musicians, artists and sports celebrities.
Online store
In May 2009 Designers Against Aids will launch their own online shop in cooperation with Global Detox, offering a range of celeb-designed fair trade organic cotton collections. Here you‘ll find T- shirts, underwear and nightwear for men and women. 25% of the sales price of every item will be donated directly to our education center. www.designersagainstaidsshop.com
Fashion against AIDS - an ongoing collaboration with H&M 
In 2007, DAA approached giant fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz for a cooperation seeking to mould the opinion of the biggest possible amount of fashion lovers towards AIDS prevention, especially youngsters in the industrialised countries. Taking on their Corporate Social Responsibility, H&M, the international fashion company based in Sweden created a platform for DAA to spread its message through the designs of international artists and musicians.
On January 31st 2008 H&M and Designers Against Aids launched the first ‘FASHION AGAINST AIDS’ collection of T-shirts, tank tops and hooded sweaters for boys and girls designed by world‘s most acclaimed musicians and fashion designers, such as Timbaland, Katharine Hamnett and Rihanna. The collection was sold in H&M Divided departments and promoted in the media and towards the public in 27 countries. A special mention goes to the Video Wall on www.hm.com where young people could upload the statement "Protect yourself and the people you love -use a condom" and say this out loud together with the FAA artists who were also broadcasted during more than 6 months saying this quote. Hundreds of youngsters uploaded their statement -many of whom wear a FAA T-shirt.
The artists participated free of charge and 25 per cent of the proceeds from the collection went to HIV/AIDS prevention projects around the world coordinated by DAA. www.hm.com
FAA 2 collection was sold in almost 1000 H&M stores in 30 countries from May 28, 2009. Artists included Tokio Hotel, Katy Perry, Roisin Murphy, Pharrell Williams/N.E.R.D., Estelle, Yoko Ono, Dita Von Teese, Dangerous Muse, Cyndi Lauper, Yelle, Robyn and Katharine Hamnett. All T-shirts and body’s are again made of organic cotton and 25% of the sales price will be donated to HIV/AIDS prevention projects of Designers against AIDS, UNFPA, MTV’s Staying Alive Foundation and YouthAIDS.
The 3th edition of FAA, this year (2010), was the festival collection. A funky collection of festival fashion and goods. Also for the first time condoms were sold in the festival beauty cases.
We are currently working at the FAA 4 collection. More info soon.
Models against AIDS
In January 2008 DAA established ‘Models Against Aids’ in order to inform girls and boys who dream of becoming a model about HIV/AIDS and safe sex. Models Against AIDS also raises funds for future AIDS awareness programs: for every booking, each model will donate 1% to DAA. Furthermore, models will take part in future campaigns, give lectures at schools, speak out during interviews and at events and motivate their colleagues to also join MAA. Spokesperson for Models Against AIDS is Belgian top model Elise Crombez
