www.handbag.com and Cancer Research UK have announced a new partnership with the launch of the first ever Handbag Amnesty. Taking place throughout the month of September - www.handbag.com's dedicated handbag month - and climaxing in October, the Handbag Amnesty will give women across the country the opportunity to bid for the designer handbag of their favourite celebrity including just to name a few Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller and Dame Shirley Bassey, to raise money to help beat cancer.
www.handbag.com and Cancer Research UK are asking celebrities to make space in their wardrobes by donating one of their designer handbags to the Amnesty. The bags will then be auctioned on eBay from the 3rd-14th October to tie in with Breast Cancer Awareness month. Open to everyone, all proceeds will go to Cancer Research UK, the largest single funder of research into breast cancer, one of the most common cancers in the UK.
The Handbag Amnesty, however, is not just about celebrities. www.handbag.com and Cancer Research UK are also asking members of the public to donate a handbag that is still in good condition to their local Cancer Research UK shop. Good handbags always sell like hot cakes in Cancer Research UK's nationwide chain of charity shops.
Claire Higgins, Head of Marketing at www.handbag.com, says: "As the leading lifestyle website for women in the UK, we are in the unique position of being able to reach more than 1.5 million women across the country. 44,000 cases of breast cancer are diagnosed every year in the UK so we are very proud to be working with Cancer Research UK to help make a difference - not only by raising a lot of money to fund research into preventing breast cancer, but also by helping to raise much needed awareness of the illness."
Paul Farthing, Director of High Value Relationships at Cancer Research UK, says: ‘We're delighted to be working with www.handbag.com to launch Handbag Amnesty. The auction of celebrity handbags will be an exciting way to raise funds for our vital research into breast cancer. We also hope that by encouraging supporters to donate their own favourite handbag, and other unwanted quality items to our shops, we will be able to raise even more to help beat cancer.'
Other celebrities taking part are:
Alesha Dixon
America Ferrera - Ugly Betty
Annie Lennox
Ashlee Simpson
Barbara Hulanicki
Beth Rowley
Beverley Knight
Claudia Winkleman
Dolly Parton
Duffy
Erin O'Connor
Fearne Cotton
Geri Halliwell
Heidi Montag - From The Hills
Dame Judi Dench
Julie Benz - From Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Kate Bosworth
Kelly Osbourne
Lauren Conrad - From The Hills
Leah Wood
Lily Cole
Maggie Gyllenhaal
Michelle Gayle
Mischa Barton
Rachel Stevens - S Club 7
Ruby Hammer - Ruby and Mille make up
Scarlett Johansson
Sharon Osbourne
Sharleen Spiteri
Sophie Ellis Bextor
Tamzin Outhwaite
Tracey Boyd
Trinny Woodhall
Zandra Rhodes
For more information please visit www.handbag.com/amnesty
Or contact:
louise.bury@hearstdigital.co.uk
Notes to editors
About www.handbag.com
www.handbag.com took the UK by storm when it launched in 1999, as the first website dedicated to women's lifestyle. Now with over 1.5 million unique readers every month, it is very proud to be the market leader.
www.handbag.com is a stylish, glamorous, trusted and informative editorial title providing the inside track for busy women online on everyday important issues like fashion, beauty and celebrity news and relationships. With the luxury look of a glossy and the lightening reactions of a daily, www.handbag.com offers a breadth of coverage from expert writers, establishing a powerful reputation as the leader in a crowded field.
www.handbag.com was acquired by the National Magazine Co. in October 2006 alongside its subsidiary sites www.getlippy.com, aimed at 18- to 30-year-old women, http://www.allaboutyou.com/ for women aged over 35. www.handbag.com is part of the company's Hearst Digital network.
About The Hearst Digital Network
The Hearst Digital Network, a division of the National Magazine Company', publishes the following websites: http://www.handbag.com/_, http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/_, http://www.getlippy.com/_, http://www.allaboutyou.com/_, http://www.cosmopolitan.co.uk/_
About the National Magazine Company
The National Magazine Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hearst established by William Randolph Hearst in 1910.
The business comprises the core wholly owned business, also called the National Magazine Co and interests in two joint ventures. These are partnerships with some of the world's best publishers as follows:
NatMag Rodale:
A 50:50 joint venture with Rodale Inc. of the USA which focuses on health and wellbeing.
COMAG:
A 65:35 joint venture with Conde Nast, one of the UK's largest magazine distributors.
NatMag publishes 14 consumer titles in the UK: Coast, Company, Cosmopolitan, Cosmopolitan Bride, Country Living, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Harper's Bazaar, House Beautiful, Prima, Prima Baby, SHE, You & Your Wedding, and Zest. The group publishes three large scale weeklies, Best, Reveal and Real People and also publishes a further two magazines, Men's Health and Runner's World, through NatMag Rodale.
NatMag division, Hearst Digital Network, publishes a number of community websites for NatMag magazines and also includes the Handbag network and http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/, the UK's leading consumer health site.
For more information please log on to www.natmags.co.uk
About Cancer Research UK
Cancer Research UK is the largest single funder of breast cancer research in the UK.
Last year Cancer Research UK spent approximately £45 million on research into breast cancer.
Cancer Research UK carries out world-class research to improve understanding of the disease and find out how to prevent, diagnose and treat different kinds of cancer. For more information on breast cancer, please visit www.cancerresearchuk.org/breastcancer
