To help community organizations become more sustainable, Levi Strauss & Co. launches a $100,000 denim insulation fund, an initiative designed to reuse unwanted denim while keeping it out of landfills. The company will provide grants to organizations currently undergoing construction projects to offset the cost difference of using recycled denim insulation instead of conventional insulation.

Timberland believes it can help alleviate hunger, create jobs, protect wildlife and preserve the environment—all through the simple act of planting a tree, five million in five years. It’s a bold pledge in support of a bold vision. And although the notion is pretty simple, Timberland’s global reforestation program recognizes that success doesn’t come quite as easily as that.

Gap Inc. announced that it has joined the White House initiative Skills for America’s Future, a new public-private partnership focused on workforce development and job placement for community college students. The fashion retailer will roll out a new pilot program entitled “Gap for Community Colleges” in seven cities, which will offer community college students strategic job- and career-building skills to help take advantage of potential job opportunities.

Vivienne Westwood Anglomania and Lee Jeans are encouraging public from around the globe to demonstrate various ways to resist some of the most unpleasant aspects of our world. The brands have teamed up to launch an online project, “100 Days of Active Resistance,” to invite people from different parts of the world to share photos, which mirror the core concept of the initiative—demonstration of the ability to see below the surface, understand what’s going around and face up to problems.

Victory doesn’t always come in the form of a winning on-field goal or a walk-off home run. Sometimes, victory is just as simple as a phone number after a long night out on the town. This October, sportlifestyle brand, PUMA®, salutes these special competitive moments with the launch of The PUMA Social Club LA, the place for the social games we play off the field with friends, when the sun goes down.

From printing workshops to photo classes—Levi’s is about to launch the next round of its “We Are All Workers” extensive campaign, which has been rolling out across the USA since June. For two months, from July 1 through August 28, the brand has been encouraging San Francisco-based creatives to come to one of its dedicated venues and dive into the process of creating unique prints and learning the secrets of the industry. Now, Levi’s is paying tribute to another iconic city of the US, New York, by opening The Levi’s Photo Workshop to  educate local emerging artists as well as collaborate with them.

With only three months left before 2011, global companies are gearing up for creating calendars for the upcoming year. While some brands invite celebrity photographers to shoot and movie stars to be featured in their calendar editions, New Balance Germany decided to crowdsource this job,  inviting creative talents to contribute to the brand’s new SNKRlendar.