Why Getting a Heart Embroidered Will Help Make the World a Better Place

Between something personalized and something not personalized, we're going to take the former every time. Hands down. A custom denim piece hand-embroidered with your initials? That little extra detail makes all the difference. And while there are a ton of customization services out there (from sneakers to pillow cases, you can get pretty much anything custom these days), one brand is taking it to the next level—with the option of embroidering two symbols that will help make the world a better place.

That sounds hyperbolic, but we're not kidding. In addition to letter embroidery, cult-favorite made-in-USA denim brand Industry Standard has launched the heart and safety pin symbols, and for all orders of either, a portion of the proceeds will go to organizations that help at-risk communities (the heart will benefit Planned Parenthood; the safety pin, American Civil Liberties Union).

"The safety pin is a beautiful symbol of tolerance that emerged during a time of great division and turmoil. I started wearing one ever since I caught wind of the movement, but in my morning rush, would sometimes forget to take it off whatever I wore the day before and attach it to what I was wearing that day. That's when I decided to embroider one on my jeans, which I already wear every day, so now my safety pin is always on me. I can't take a profit on a symbol of peace. It wouldn't be right. That's why a portion of proceeds will go to the ACLU, a nonpartisan organization that defends the rights and liberties of all individuals," says Nicole Najafi, CEO and co-founder of Industry Standard. "Planned Parenthood is a phenomenal organization for women's health, and we thought the heart would be a nice, subtle symbol to represent it for us."

We love the message so much, we featured the heart-embroidered Industry Standard jeans in the February issue of InStyle—see Fernanda Ly modeling it, above, and click through to see the rest of her Valentine's Day-themed spread. As of now, plans for future symbols (and whether they'll also be philanthropic in nature) have yet to be determined, but head to industrystandardny.com right now to get your symbols embroidered on any pair of Industry Standard jeans. It costs an extra $15 to add an embroidery, and you have a choice of five different thread colors and two placement options.

Fernanda Ly is wearing Industry Standard jeans ($125; industrystandardny.com), a Me and You sweatshirt ($45; itsmeandyou.com for a similar style), and a Loquet London ring ($520; loquetlondon.com). Andreas Ohlund & Maria Therese/Lundlund; hair: Dennis Deboy/R+Co and R Session Irons/Art Department; makeup: Alice Lane/MAC Cosmetics/The Wall Group; styling: Ali Pew; manicure: Yuko Wada/Dior Vernis/Atelier Management; model: Fernanda Ly/DNA Models.