The Challenge
SOS Children’s Villages is an international NGO with a mission to safeguard children’s rights around the world. As long as child labor exists, their work continues. But how do you raise awareness around suich a huge issue? We decided to hijack a fasion trend to spotlight the horrors of child labor.
The Solution
We created a tiny collection of workwear in children's sizes to spotlight the horrors of child labor in three different industries; mining, tobacco and brick making. The Miner’s Pants came with reinforced knee-padding to crawl through cobalt mines. The Tobacco Shirt has a reinforced underarm section to prevent lacerations from machetes. The Brick Jacket has armpit ventilation to cool down the child when close to the searing hot furnaces. Each design choice told the story of the hazardous conditions that the children face every day. A film captured the process of creating the clothes. The items were then put on display at a showroom, just around the corner from premium kids’ clothing stores. People could learn more, donate and even shop the collection at a website that looked just like high end workwear webshops. The price of each item represented the annual income of the child workers in their respective industries.