Socks For A Cause

Bustle Clothing’s limited-edition Safe Sox are helping raise funds for CANFAR

Toronto-based Bustle Clothing has teamed up with the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research (CANFAR) to create a funky line of socks that are helping raise funds for Canadian HIV/AIDS research and educational programs.

Bustle’s limited-edition Safe Sox come in playful patterns, plaids and colourful pop-art graphics, with all proceeds going to CANFAR. And, despite having launched just late last year, the charity socks already have some famous fans including Newfoundland and Labrador MP Seamus O’Regan, beloved design personalities Tommy Smythe and Brian Gluckstein, TV host Ben Mulroney, former politician John Baird, and even Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Currently, 75,000 people in Canada are living with HIV, with affected people now living longer but having to struggle with the complications associated with the virus, according to CANFAR vice-president and COO Kyle Winters.

What was the light bulb moment for the new line? Bustle Clothing co-founder and creative director Shawn Hewson told IN, “After a few seasons of attending Bloor Street Entertains [CANFAR’s largest SHOPPING SOCKS FOR A CAUSE Bustle Clothing’s limited-edition Safe Sox are helping raise funds for CANFAR annual fundraising event of the year] as a guest, I knew it was time for Bustle to generate its own fundraising and awareness initiative to support CANFAR. I thought, everyone wears socks—why not make great socks in support of this great cause?”

But there’s more. Hewson is taking his fundraising initiative one step further and encouraging others to get charitable. He’s issued a Safe Sox challenge, motivating people to pay it forward. Translation? Each set of socks comes with a card challenging the receiver to, in return, gift someone else with another pair of the charity socks.

Safe Sox come in 15 electric styles and are available in single pairs ($15), sets of three ($48)—or, if you’re feeling extra fancy, you can grab the complete boxed set of 15 ($187).

Bustle Clothing’s limited-edition Safe Sox are available now through www.bustleclothing.com/canfar.