Back in the aughts, the nonprofit (RED) found a way to marry people’s shopping habits with their desire to make a difference—one that was just as real as the cherry-red iPhones in their hands or the statement tees hanging in their closets. Launched in 2006, (RED) works with retailers on collaborations that raise money for the Global Fund, which finances programs to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS. Current partners include major brands like Apple and Fiat.
“People want to buy things to make themselves look cute, something to improve their life, their home,” explains Laura Brown, who joined (RED) as chair of the Creative Council in 2023. “(RED) took the desire people have for commercial goods, most prominent being the famous collaboration it did with Gap, and teamed it with something that helps people live. ‘I want to get this cute T-shirt from the Gap.’ Well, this T-shirt actually helps you help these people.”
Brown is a former fashion journalist who served as the special projects and executive director at Harper’s Bazaar before taking on the role of editor in chief at InStyle, a position she held until 2022. “There are so many creators working with (RED), so many funders, so many prominent folks, but there had never been an assembled group of people from arts, fashion, and entertainment together until now,” says Brown. As a result, (RED)’s mission in fashion has become much more pointed, and it has enlisted movers and shakers like South African designer Thebe Magugu to further its outreach.
“There is still an incredible amount of stigma and lack of access around the AIDS crisis, a fact that I am very sensitive to, having experienced HIV up close through family members while simultaneously living in a country considered to be an HIV capital,” says Magugu. “The ones who passed in my family from [AIDS] could’ve benefited from access and education around their infection, and the family who are around me today, who are infected with HIV, are leading such full, healthy lives through awareness and access.”
While access to life-saving treatment has increased, obstacles remain present. In April, as a result of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s efforts to reduce his staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) by 20 percent, the Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy (OIDP) was terminated and the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and Tuberculosis Prevention (NCHHSTP) lost about a quarter of its staff. This has happened during an initial 90-day pause of U.S. funding for HIV/AIDS, which started shortly after Trump took office on January 20.
While partial funding was shortly restored through a temporary waiver, as the administration continues its review to determine whether such support falls in line with its “America First” foreign policy, the impact and possible implications if funding is ultimately cut are sobering. In March, UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima warned that with recent cuts and discontinued funding, the world could see an additional 6.3 million AIDS-related deaths in the next four years. (Byanyima noted that in 2023 alone, there were 1.3 million new infections globally and that in Africa, which bears 53 percent of HIV infections, more than 60 percent of new infections affect women and girls.)
This is all despite advances in medicine that have produced a new HIV-preventive treatment that, if approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), would need to be administered only twice a year.
“For decades now, the world—governments, the private sector, NGOs, and individuals—have been pushing and heading in the right direction to end this disease,” says (RED) president and COO Jennifer Lotito. “But with the recent halting of foreign aid budgets and the culling of organizations that have been central and critical to the fight, we are already seeing avoidable infections, suffering, and death occurring.”
While the detrimental impact of HIV/AIDS has largely faded from the U.S. zeitgeist, the disease is very much alive, and it is spreading. This is why efforts to not only raise awareness but also secure funding for treatment and prevention are more crucial than ever.
Today, (RED)’s branded merchandise continues to be a selling point, from a limited-edition puffy heart necklace designed by New York jeweler Roxanne Assoulin to a red-and-white version of Paris-based atelier Nomasei’s best-selling Nono loafer. (RED) has also partnered with Magugu on an extension of his Heirloom II project, in which people can upload an image of a loved one so that it can be translated into a custom look using peacock feather print. “I love this idea of democratizing images of wax prints, because it has always just been in celebration of royals or celebrities, but what about our moms, our dads, our sisters, our brothers, our soulmates?” the designer says. This summer, (RED) will be releasing an exclusive collaboration with La DoubleJ.
And if you want proof that your new merch is actually doing something, (RED) is more than happy to bring it back to the numbers. “(RED) has raised nearly $800 million to date, and that money has helped some 325 million people,” says Lotito. “The money funds extraordinary life-saving prevention, testing, treatment, and counseling programs, as well as training frontline workers in the most vulnerable communities in the world. When you consider that a daily antiretroviral pill can cost as little as 10 cents in sub-Saharan Africa, you understand the real impact that every dollar raised can have. That one pill is both a treatment to keep you alive and healthy and also prevention to stop the virus from passing to your partner or your unborn child. I’d call them miracle pills, but it’s just science at its best.”
Looking ahead, the organization will launch the DISCOVE(RED) Fashion Prize in 2026 as part of an effort to not just promote up-and-coming talent but also set them up for long-term success. As part of the creative council, Magugu, Iman, and Cynthia Erivo will be among those helping to curate the prize, which will be exclusive to African talent. “There is a huge amount of talent there. There’s just so many infrastructural challenges,” says Brown. “Sometimes it’s as simple as an introduction or support for production or asking, ‘Have you met this person in Paris or this photographer?’ and just facilitating that. I think African style is the greatest style in the world and that African designers should be much more dominant.”
Up to 10 emerging designers will each receive a grant to create a (RED) collection or signature piece that will then be retailed in international markets. Fifty percent of the net profits will be donated to the Global Fund, while the other half will go to the designers to fund sustainable business practices. “Designers in Africa, particularly those of color, are overmentored and underfunded,” says Magugu. “The two have to be balanced, because even if you teach me basics, conditions are often that there are no funds to execute those learnings, so this is an important balance the prize strikes.”
