The now-iconic ‘Protect the Dolls’ shirt has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for a life-saving trans charity.
Earlier this year, designer Connor Ives closed out his Autumn/Winter 2025 show at London Fashion Week wearing a shirt emblazoned with the phrase. Commonly used by the LGBTQIA+ community and allies in support of trans women, “dolls” is a term rooted in ballroom culture.
Following its debut at LFW, Ives told Gay Times that his career has “been bolstered by the trans community,” hailing them as his “muses, friends and family from the beginning”.
“I was feeling pretty helpless with everything going on with the current regime in America,” he said. “It’s no surprise that this feeling of despair is by design, so I wanted to do something to not give in.”
On 26 February, he began selling the garment on his official website to raise money for Trans Lifeline. In the months since, it has been spotted on stars including Addison Rae, Haider Ackermann, Lisa Rinna, Madonna, Pedro Pascal and Troye Sivan.
On 26 September, Ives shared an update on Instagram, revealing that more than $600,000 had been “raised and donated” to the grassroots charity, which provides “direct emotional and financial support to trans people in crisis”.
“This money will be used by Trans Lifeline to fund their life-saving services, as well as mobilizing funds through microgrants to trans people all over the United States for the first time since 2023,” the Instagram post reads.
Kai Alivar Horton, Executive Director of Trans Lifeline, extended his “deepest gratitude to all the folks who have purchased, shared, and uplifted these Protect the Dolls shirts”.
In an impassioned statement, he said: “Your generosity and belief that trans people, and most specifically trans femmes and women, deserve to live in a world that protects, celebrates and resources us, is truly the most hope-inducing gift we can receive as an organisation.”
Horton – who reiterated Trans Lifeline’s belief that “another world is possible, one that is filled with trans love and joy” – highlighted the importance of rallying behind trans people in light of the “deep levels of violence abuse” inflicted by the Trump administration.
“Your donation has helped to see a future that securely employs our people during a time of so many systemic attempts to erase us,” he continued, “[and] with your generosity, we can and will sustain.”
Ives added in his caption that he has “never been more proud” of his team and the “supporters of this wider movement”.
“This t-shirt has changed my life, and I’m hoping it will in due course change so many others. In times like these where every day feels more perilous than the last, I am moved by the humanity of this movement and what it has made possible,” he explained.
“This is only the beginning. Protect the dolls forever.”
For more information, visit Trans Lifeline.
To pre-order a ‘Protect the Dolls’ shirt, head to Connor Ives’ official website.