We took the idea of ‘wearable wellness’ and turned it on its head. Creating a groundbreaking partnership between CALM and Topshop / Topman we took the notion of the ‘care label’ and made it about people, not product. We literally put something that is normally on the inside, on the outside, and launched a new clothing range to raise awareness of the importance of talking about problems.

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among 15-29-year olds. The problem? Young people aren’t talking. But talking can save lives. Founded in 1997, the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) leads a campaign to combat suicide. CALM prevents suicide by getting people to open up about their problems on confidential helpline and webchat services, something the young people of today struggle deeply with.

This struggle to talk kills 112 men and women every week.

Our task was simple, we needed to get young people talking.

We couldn’t just have a one-off message that tells people to talk, after all starting the conversation is often the hardest bit. So we set out two objectives:

1) Get people talking in a way that felt natural

Minimising the gravity that comes with a conversation

2) Create something long-lasting

Embedding the message into their world after the campaign period had finished.

We found a way to physically embody the act of taking the things you normally keep hidden away inside and bringing them out into the open.

The idea was this: take clothing care labels - usually ignored and hidden away inside clothing - and prominently stitch them on the outside of clothing, for all to see. But they weren’t just any care labels. They were CALM self-care labels, describing how to care for your mental health, by exhorting young people to #LetWhatsInsideOut.

Partnering with high-street fashion retailer Topshop/Topman, a favourite among the younger generation, we created a clothing line with care sewn in. For every garment sold, £5 went directly to CALM, helping save more lives.

The care label is permanent & mobile influence media: its impact will continue to spread with every wear. Wash in and wash out.

The younger generation are caught in a continuous battle, presenting a perfect version of themselves on the outside, but dealing with a vortex of insecurity and self-blame on the inside.

With over 75% of people admitting to making their lives seem more exciting on social media than they actually are, it makes sense that the younger generation don’t feel like they can talk openly about their anxieties. How can anyone understand when everyone’s seemingly having a great time, all the time? So, they keep those anxieties locked away inside.

Fashion, we identified, forms part of this self-image problem. Previously fashion would have been promoted by models who drove us to aspire to one kind of body: but they were literally on a catwalk - on a pedestal detached from reality. 21st century fashion is more dangerous: Promoted by influencers who feel relatable, but present an unrealistic reality as attainable.

We took the notion of the care label and made it about people, not product. We worked with Topshop and Topman to launch a new fashion range with ‘Care labels’, usually sewn on the inside, sewn on the outside. Care labels that gave ‘instructions’ on how to care for yourself or others by opening up and talking. Using the universally recognised icons (hand wash, iron, bleach) we created three steps to self care. These labels were stitched boldly on the outside of 13 garments, ranging from t-shirts to hoodies for both men and women. But we cared about this cause too much to stop there, so we secured over £100k worth of free media to amplify this message with cinema, OOH and PR. And while using only traditional media meant our message came and went, our use of labels meant the conversation of care will stick around for good.

We reached over 75 million people with our message to ‘Let what’s inside, out.’

It became a news item:

Generating over 200 pieces of earned media, even Lorainne featured the collection on her TV show. This led to our collection trending on launch day selling over 2.3k garments.

Then we got teenagers talking to each other:

21k men and women engaged with the campaign - a huge success for a charity usually associated with just men.

But crucially, those who really needed to talk, felt encouraged to contact CALM, and talk:

The number of searches for CALM doubled on launch day, then young people contacted the charity in the ways they know-how. Some talked via direct message on social, in fact, 25% more people did. While CALM’s online chat received 30% more requests to talk.