NEW YORK, Feb 7, 2005/ FW/ --- One of the trends emerging this week during the New York fashion season is designers using the catwalk as a platform to publicize a good cause and encourage the fashion flock to support it.

Seen at Zang Toi last Saturday are “We Care, We Cure” T-shirts that Zang Toi designed for an organization that cures birth defects in children.

This is a first for Zang Toi, who had always privately supported charities, but this time it was subtly announced to the audience by putting the T-shirt in the gift bags with a leaflet about the charity.

Friday night at Anand Jon, his show was the prelude to the charity benefit for the tsunami victims of India wherein most of the attendees to the show are well-heeled New Yorkers who at the end of the night opened their pocket books to help the recovery efforts in India after the devastating tsunami.

The biggest splash though was during the opening of Olympus Fashion Week, when Kenneth Cole, well known for his charitable work asked his audience to give funds to the tsunami victims and contribute to Help USA, a non-profit organization helping the homeless become self-sufficient.