Bonics Heart Beats Foundation X vitaminTHICK [Kid@Heart]

On Thursday, December 2, Brandon “DJ Bonics” Glova was rushed to a Pittsburgh hospital after experiencing extreme pain and discomfort in his shoulders and chest. Glova had returned home from a 60 city tour as the DJ for emerging hip hop MC Wiz Khalifa just two weeks prior, and despite being only 30 years old, he was having a heart attack. “I had never experienced such a combination of pain and fear. They called it a heart attack; I call it a harsh reminder of how sweet life is,” Bonics recalled.

Since recovering from this life-threatening episode, Glova has created the Bonics Heart Beats Foundation, which will promote heart health and a healthy lifestyle specifically to adults under the age of 40. To build some momentum for the Bonics Heart Beats Foundation and further the cause, Glova has enlisted vitaminTHICK, a street lifestyle fashion company out of Boston, to collaborate on a special edition t-shirt design. The concept for the shirt, entitled “Kid@Heart,” is inspired by the importance of remaining youthful in both thoughts and actions, advice by which Glova now lives.

“When we were younger, we would run around and play as if we were invincible,” said Glova. “Too often as adults our health becomes an excuse to not be active or live a healthy lifestyle, which is exactly what we are hoping to change. With the vitaminTHICK brand being dedicated to the spirit of childhood, and the company having ties to Pittsburgh as both of the owners are Carnegie Mellon grads, I felt that this partnership would be perfectly aligned.”

The shirt design features a proud kid clenching a lunchbox by his waist. His silhouette, which is filled with an image of the universe, represents the endless possibilities and dreams associated with youth. The character’s oversized glasses are a playful reference to Glova’s signature style.

Andrew Shedd, vitaminTHICK’s Creative Director, further elaborated on the project, “Fans and culture junkies alike often perceive talent like Bonics in a limited capacity in comparison to his true depth of character. Bonics' experience was a very human one, and the "Kid@Heart" concept captures that human element with a degree of warmth and sensitivity that really resonated with us. Responding proactively as he did with the intent to deliver a message that has such a genuine earnestness and positivity speaks to that depth of character in a way scarcely touted in mainstream media."

The Bonics and vitaminTHICK "Kid@Heart" collaboration t-shirt will retail for $26 and goes on sale this Valentine’s Day at 12pm eastern. It can be purchased online at TIMEBOMBSHOP, and in stores at Timebomb and Shop412 in Pittsburgh, and Bodega in Boston. The proceeds will be donated in their entirety to the Bonics Heart Beats Foundation, and more specifically to supporting community events this spring, which will promote heart heath awareness and an active lifestyle.

For more information, please visit Dj Bonics’ website at www.djbonics.com

and the official vitaminTHICK website at www.vitaminthick.com

Photos courtesy of Jordan Beckham, www.jordanbeckham.com

vitaminTHICK X CMU X TimeBomb = Cool Kids Club

[ This offer is exclusive to students and faculty with a CMU ID from 11/20/2010 - 12/30/10 ]

vitaminTHICK was founded within the walls of Carnegie Mellon University by two alumni with too much retail and fashion consumer savvy to not be designing and marketing premium men's apparel. To commemorate it's second season in coast-to-coast retail, brand principals Elliot Curtis and Andrew Shedd would like to do their part in combatting style apathy, a social symptom of the campus-wide epidemic known as the "CMU Goggles" effect, by issuing all students and faculty with valid CMU ID a courtesy discount at our local retailer TimeBomb.

Come check out vitaminTHICK today at TIMEBOMBSHOP

vitamin THICK Up In Here!

vitaminTHICK is a celebration of living life to its fullest through community, culture, and dope clothing. With the street cliches of violence, greed, and politics plaguing the urban fashion industry today, co-captains Elliott Curtis and Andrew Shedd listen to the echos of their youth for inspiration. “Back in the day” was a glowing and carefree time when anything and everything was possible. Without all the posturing and bad noise, childhood was a time when we had our whole lives in front of us. The vT brand is a blending of this nostalgic mindset with a culturally informed social commentary.

VitaminTHICK’s commitment to originality and high energy creativity is simply an extension of the pillars that the brand was founded upon. vitaminTHICK grew from the dorm rooms of Carnegie Mellon University as a private

commission sneaker customization service created by Jesse Chorng and Elliott Curtis in the spring of 06. Today, those hand painted and laser-etched one-of-ones exist only in blog retrospectives and in the closets of several insiders, but the attention to detail and quality of craft remain cornerstones of the brand. Since the earliest days, vitaminTHICK had ideas that went beyond sneakers and extended into a wider range of street fashion. In the Fall of 06, fellow student and visionary Andrew Shedd joined the vitaminTHICK squad, as he shared a desire to create a clothing line that brought something fresh to the street wear industry. The spring of 2008 marked the official introduction of what vitaminTHICK is today: a line of authentic, limited edition clothing and accessories. In the Fall of 09 vitaminTHICK successfullylaunched in a very select number of retailers and was met with praise and enthusiasm.

vT’s product, like its approach to brand and design, embodies the definition of limited edition in its most earnest sense. Nearly all the vT pieces are individually numbered out of a finite denomination. This is real. No marketing gimmicks. No fine print. Just BAM- “I have shirt 23 out of 100. Only 99 other heads are up on this piece right here.” Although the products are exclusive, vitaminTHICK is a community of those who hold lifestyle to a higher level. This is why VitaminTHICK’s products adhere to a design regimen that shells out for style-specific prints, eco-friendly inks, extra attention to stitch work, and the little details that might go unnoticed to some but define the brand to Shedd and Curtis. These principles of value-added design tower over brands that subscribe to the cost cutting and inferior quality of mass production. vitaminTHICK’s founders have been students of the street wear industry for many years now, and with confidence they present a brand with a level of quality that can truly stand against the titans of the game.

vitamin THICK is available now at Timebombshop.com check it out!