Charity 'dog tags' to be this year's fashion icon

Charity dog tags are to replace wristbands as this year's fashionable way to support good causes.

The Samaritans has been the first to launch fundraising dog tags - in the style of the metal identification chains worn by soldiers - to promote its awareness day and its 24-hour phone service.

The charity decided on its latest campaign after consulting with fashion industry insiders, who predicted that this summer's "hot item" would be dog tags.

Growing competition in the voluntary sector has led to many charities adopting high-street sales tactics in order to boost their incomes.

The Samaritans' £2 dog tags are engraved with the figures 24/7 to mark the charity's awareness day on 24 July, the existence of its round the clock helpline, and the slogan "life matters".

A spokesman for the charity admitted that children and teenagers had "tired" of the fad for wristbands and organisations were desperate for a new craze.

Rebecca Seedhouse, the deputy fundraising director at the charity, said: "This is where fashion meets commitment; fashion is ephemeral so we have come up with something new. We hope these will be as successful as wristbands."

Other charities are also said to be looking at dog tags as a way of linking fashion with fundraising after last's year's huge success in selling cheap coloured bracelets. More than eight million people in the UK - including Tony Blair - bought a white Make Poverty History wristband in 2005.

The American cyclist Lance Armstrong's campaign supporting cancer research and awareness has sold more than 50 million yellow wristbands worldwide, while different coloured bracelets have been used to promote everything from anti-racism in football and religious tolerance to diabetes and cystic fibrosis.

Cathy Pharoah, the research director at the Charities Aid Foundation, said: "Charities are having to find new ways of fundraising and in particular of bringing young people into the area.

"We have to accept that we live in a consumerist world and charities have to think more about how they can harness that consumption and align themselves with it.

"The challenge is to translate those short term acts of buying a wristband or a dogtag into longer term support for good causes," she said.

"One problem is ensuring that people buy a product and think about the issue or cause it represents rather than just seeing it as a fashion item. The other, which is one we saw with the wristbands last year, is making sure that they are sold ethically and the money from them does go to the charity concerned."

Some Make Poverty History bands were made in Chinese sweatshops while others sold on eBay for up to £10.