In New York City alone, there are thousands of unsheltered homeless people in the city’s streets, subway systems, and among other public spaces, yet most people are oblivious to the reality of homelessness. The problem of homelessness has been documented to result in serious impacts on a person’s health and well-being, especially with the most recent effects of climate change including extreme heat, cold, and much more. We often take for granted two of the most basic necessities in life, clothing and shelter, with no regards to the environmental costs. Nowadays, clothing is projected to be two things, fast and cheap to produce, which results in added pressure on companies to take some not so environmentally friendly actions. This includes the use of toxic chemicals and increasing levels of textile waste. Clothes these days are made to be worn a few times before being disposed of, resembling a cradle to grave system. Meanwhile, there are refugees from World War II and the Syrian War who were forced to flee their homes and to live without the luxury of having readily available clothes, which was actually playing a key role in the difference between life and death for them. Homelessness and the refugee crisis go hand-in-hand when it comes to illustrating the importance of the role of clothes in people’s everyday lives.
The problem of homelessness stems from various different factors in life. A constantly changing economy is one of the biggest reasons that some can find themselves faced with homelessness. Workers without certain skills will find it harder to find certain jobs to pay the bills and as a result, the competition for jobs increases. Another cause of homelessness is very easily personal risk factors such as family violence, incarceration, substance abuse, and various more. Personal risk factors are less in the context of the changes going in society and more related to the circumstances of the individual. A person living without a home can have immense impacts on the individuals and local communities. It was actually documented that living without a home can have a serious impact on a person’s health and cause problems such as sleep=deprivation, lack of nutrition and drugs. Especially in most recent years, climate change has created a lot more potential problems for the homeless. In local communities, homelessness develops a “us vs. them” mentality, which manifests into social division. Social harmony is often disrupted when conflict arises between public and community spaces. In the light of the necessities that homeless people need, clothing is among the most important. The act of giving the homeless clothing is more than just providing them with a materialistic item; you are giving them basic protection from the cold. Believe it or not, donating to the clothes to the homeless actually gives them a sense of social equality too and allows homeless people to feel like they can socialize with other people and express themselves.
Just as important as the problem of homelessness is the refugee crisis around the world. According to the Global Refugee Crisis, “every minute 24 people around the world are forced to flee their homes.” That statistic is alarming and shows just how problematic the refugee crisis really is. As I did more research on the refugee crisis, specifically form the Syrian War, I came to learn more about who exactly refugees are and what their lives are like from day to day. The crisis in Syria derived from multiple anti-government demonstrations, opposition groups, and division between ethnic groups. The involvement of other parties made the conflict worse and caused more families to flee the country in hopes of finding safety for their families. The Syrian conflict has been titled as the worst humanitarian crisis of our time- with more than 12 million people who were either killed or forced to flee. Based on studies conducted by the Mercy Corps, clothes are of one of the most needed items after fleeing their homes and leaving behind their belongings. This is due to the fact that most refugees leave with only the clothes that they are wearing, so there is a constant need for clothing, especially to acclimate with extreme temperatures and for young children who will eventually grow out of their clothes. Especially, as they try to recover their lives and get back on the right track, clothes are essential in making sure that they can focus on such things. It’s easy to overlook how a simple thing such as clothing can be so necessary to people who are dealing with serious and unfortunate conflicts.
The challenge stood before me: how could I alleviate the homelessness and refugee problems, while staying within the environmental boundaries of sustainable design? I thought about a way to provide for the clothing needs of homeless people and refugees all over without creating this cradle-to-grave mentality where clothing only has one purpose with a short wear-and-tear life. After much thought and working off of my design problem/solution presentation idea, I decided to create a stylish jacket like poncho with the capabilities of turning into a tent. This solution seemed to create a solution to the scarcity of clothing and shelter for the homeless and the refugees. Of course, this invention is not new to the industry as companies like Adiff, founded by former Parsons alumni Angela Luna, have created gear to help the refugee crisis including jackets that turn into tents, sleeping bags, and that can also camouflage with the environment. Deciding that I wanted to pursue this design solution to alleviate the problems faced by homeless people and by refugees alike, I knew that I had to somehow alter this solution to my own design. Doing research on how other companies have been able to create clothing that can be turned into shelter, I found one thing that all of them had in common: complexity. The complexity and the elaborateness of the designs I was seeing made it hard for me to believe that these products would be easy to utilize for homeless people and refugees. So, for my product, I wanted to simplify my design as much as possible so that it would not be an added challenge for these people to put together.
In terms of the materiality of my product, I knew that in keeping with sustainability, I wanted to create something that was helpful to the homeless and refugees, but not harmful to the environment. When researching material types and processes that would reduce the use of unsustainable materials and carbon emissions, I came upon different systematic methods that stuck to ethical practices. The process humorously titled as “fashion bucatini”, was introduced by the brand Everlane. The process of making fashion bucatini starts with cubes packed with plastic bottles that are sorted by machines and then washed to get rid of any labels. Before the plastic can be melted, it needs to be cut into little plastic flakes to make the process a lot easier and smoother. Following, the melted plastic is pushed into machines similar to pasta-maker machines. This is where the term bucatini comes in because the plastic is turned into long strands that look similar to bucatini pasta. This whole process is then repeated to make the fibers even finer and the end result is a finished mix of nylon and polyester. I thought of also using a rubber coating technique to make the nylon more durable and weather-resistant. I decided to use nylon and polyester because both are flame retardant, waterproof, and breathable. I loved the idea of turning plastic bottles into a product that could be worn and provide shelter as well, so I decided to have my product made by the same fashion bucatini process.
My design solves the problem of the lack of clothing and shelter provided for homeless people and refugees. Clothing and shelter should be basic necessities in every person’s life, but especially in the lives of people living this way. For both homeless people and refugees, having something that is easily transportable and lightweight is of great importance because these people are always on the move, traveling from one place to another. So I knew creating anything too heavy or obnoxious would defeat the whole purpose of making a two-in-one item for such people. Another aspect of my redesign challenge was educating people how to put together their jacket-tents. I thought of the idea of creating communal outlets that would be in charge of donating and educating the homeless and refugees how to put together these simple jacket-tents.
It’s easy to forget how important small things can be in life such as clothing and shelter. But when we take a step back and realize that these are necessities that are being deprived of people who are homeless and on the run, then we suddenly learn to appreciate how necessary they are in our lives. Design is not all about creating something beautiful and functional, it’s also about the kind of impact it has on us and our environment. Something as simple as using sustainable materials can mean a big difference on the effect on our ecosystem. Something that Angela Luna, Parsons 16’, stated in a response to her mission as a designer, “Form should follow function. Crisis should be sizeless and seasonless.”
