15 Below Project

http://15belowproject.org/

The 15 below project is an ongoing project that was started by the Taxi Design agency in Toronto and addresses an issue that is extremely evident in our city. Homelessness. The creative team there, along with a fashion designer who graduated from Ryerson teamed up to create a water proof jacket that has pockets lining all of the inside so that the homeless are able to fill the pockets with any kind of paper because it acts as a very strong insulator for heat.

The design team also took in to account the practicality of the jacket and how one would actually go about using it. When the jacket is not in use, the wearer is able to fold it up into a small back pack because of the attached straps on the back, or it can also double as a pillow when the jacket itself is not needed. Because there obviously is a cost to the production of these jackets, all employees at the company sacrificed their bonuses last year so that they could manufacture 3000 jackets that were handed out to homeless both in Canada and the U.S.

If you go to the site listed above, there is all kinds of information regarding the actual product itself.

I feel this product is such a well thought out, well executed design just because of the dire need for a product like this one. This is one of the few examples I can think of off the top of my head where the worlds of advertising, fashion, sustainable design and social justice have come together into such a strong, rewarding outcome that has been able to help so many people who are hardly ever offered help on our streets.