Toronto’s urbancoolab is celebrating Pride Month while giving back with their newest collection and campaign.
The “We’re ALL In This Together” collection was designed in-house by urbancoolab’s team to create colourful, vibrant clothes in support of Rainbow Railroad, a global non-profit that works to support LGBTQ+ individuals escaping persecution. The pieces are gender neutral, with hoodies, shorts, tees, leggings, tanks etc. for everyone. Half of the proceeds from the collection go toward helping those in need.
Instead of using fashion models for the lookbook, urbancolab teamed up with the LGBTQ+ community to star in the campaign, which was shot by Riley Stewart in The Village in Toronto. The faces include Toronto-based trans barber Tyler Lumb, Toronto drag queen Humza/Mango Lassi, Hamilton-based lesbian life partners Becca Webster and Dee Geurtin, and Toronto drag queen Aurora Matrix.
Lumb has worked with Rainbow Railroad in the past and says they offer imperative resources in Toronto. “When I think of Rainbow Railroad, I think of them being one of the longest serving non-profit organizations helping out thousands of LGBTQ members, and I believe they are one of most important ones we have here in the city,” he says.
Aurora Matrix is impressed with the organization’s ability to provide money and resources to rainbow refugees who need help most. “I appreciate how they find safe places for them to live just how they are,” she says.
Becca Webster also agrees: “I think it’s awesome how they’ve been able to save so many people from terrible situations. Honestly, sometimes I just like to read stories from them because when we’re planning trips and thinking about where we want to go in the world, its important to educate ourselves on what’s safe.”
You can see the campaign images below: