Sleeping Bag Coats
We all thought it was a bit of a joke when the sleeping bag coat hit the market, who would be seen in such a thing? Yes, it’s practical for those off on a camping expedition in the middle of winter, or if the electricity went down and you were stuck in a cold house, but other than that it’s not highly fashionable, but sometimes it’s not all about fashion.
A 21 year old design student from Detroit USA has created a sleeping bag coat which could break the cycle of homelessness. Veronika Scott was upset by the increased number of homeless people, which have to suffer deadly cold winters on the streets so Scott created Element S, acoatwhich is self-heating, waterproof and easily turns into a sleeping bag at night. His idea was to empower these people. During the production of the coat, he employed homeless people, fed them, housed them and empowered them to help create a product, which would help thousands of others.
As part of the project, Scott spent a lot of time at homeless shelters helping out and getting feedback from homeless people about what they would need from this particular project. Initially the idea was all about the coat, but Scott needed to get the feedback about this product and get it out to some of the 20,000 homeless people in Detroit. The way he solved this problem was to take homeless women, pay them to learn new skills and create the coat and as previously mentioned this empowers them, so they can if they wish use the skills they learn to reach out to others in the homeless community and better themselves.
The empowerment plan hopes to break the cycle of homelessness, by giving jobs to those who want to help with this project and support them in their lives.