Ahead of New York Fashion Week and breast cancer awareness month, a T-shirt for a special cause made its debut at the Harlem’s Fashion Row Fashion Show and Style Awards: The Komen Giving Tee, a first of its kind tap-to-give shirt which engages wearers in Susan G. Komen’s mission to end deaths from breast cancer.
In partnership with Harlem’s Fashion Row (HFR), the NFC-chipped T-shirt was created by Rome-based designer Stella Jean, HFR’s 2023 designer of the year. It was worn on the red carpet at the most recent iteration of the fashion event on Sept. 8 by Loren LoRosa, senior news producer at The Breakfast Club and host of pop culture podcast The Latest with Loren LoRosa.
Priced at $39, The Komen Giving Tee launches on Oct. 1 and is available to order beginning on Monday. It creates opportunities for everyone to engage, turning a hug and a tap of a phone into a direct donation that will help fund lifesaving breakthrough research, support services for patients and their families, public health programs and policy advocacy. Proceeds from sales of the shirt help fund Komen’s efforts as well.
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“I’ve worn and loved beautiful clothes from every major designer,” LoRosa said in a statement. “But I couldn’t be prouder to wear Stella Jean’s T-shirt for Susan G. Komen. If you hug me and tap my shoulder with your phone, you can help Komen help people with breast cancer. I am going for as many hugs as I can get.”
Breast cancer, which can affect anyone of any age, remains a pervasive health issue— approximately 324,580 people will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year in the U.S., and 42,670 will die from it. It affects 1 in 8 women in the U.S. in their lifetime and is rising in women under age 50. Black women are disproportionately impacted; they are more likely to be diagnosed at a young age, face more aggressive forms of the disease and are nearly 40% more likely to die from it, compared to white women.
“Breast cancer is striking more young women, of every background, than ever before, and it’s still taking Black women’s lives at a higher rate than white women’s,” said Amber Guild, incoming president and CEO of Susan G. Komen, in a statement. “That’s the urgent, unfinished fight this shirt is about. We’ve made real progress in detecting and treating this disease, but progress isn’t the same as done. We need louder voices, urgent action and the generosity of people who refuse to accept that anyone should still be dying from breast cancer.”
The T-shirt’s debut at fashion week kicked off Komen’s “Don’t Fail the Girls” campaign, a powerful call-to-action which is featured on the tee above a hand-rendered Stella Jean drawing representing women embracing and supporting each other. The Komen Giving Tee extends Komen’s Breast Honesty platform which empowers people to have open conversations about breast health, understand their personal risk, prioritize recommended screenings and push for timely, high-quality care for everyone.
The Komen Giving Tee can be found at https://www.harlemsfashionrow.com/dont-fail-the-girls, and you can learn more about the T-shirt and support Komen’s mission at https://www.komen.org/givingtee.
“Together, we are an unstoppable force,” said Jean in a statement. “And now is the time to come together, use our power to lift each other up and stop people from dying from this disease. I am honored to join Susan G. Komen, Harlem’s Fashion Row and Loren tonight and every night in the most important women’s health movement of our lifetime.”
