We needed to make people aware of The Haven, but the challenge was breaking through deep-set social stereotypes. The “haves” fear the homeless; and the “have-nots” think the “haves” are blind to their plight.

People want to donate but aren’t always sure how or where. And for the homeless, begging is degrading.We needed to bridge the gap to bring them together – making it safe and easy to donate, and dignified to receive.

Introducing The Street Store - the world’s first rent-free, premises-free, free interactive “pop-up clothing store” for the homeless, made entirely from posters and curated by the public.

Our client, The Haven Night Shelter, helps reintegrate the homeless into society by offering clothing, temporary shelter, rehabilitation and support.

The Haven gave us the simple task of helping them drive awareness to bring in clothing donations, off just a limited budget.

We didn’t want a sterile clothing drive, but an interactive way for people to donate and receive, and come together to learn about one another.

As The Night Haven is a charity, there wasn’t budget for a costly store or exhibit.We needed an affordable and easily replicated way to communicate and activate in any community in need.

In public spaces we created interactive stores on cost-effective materials the homeless use daily – cardboard.

The public create the store by hanging donations through the die-cut gap, and drop shoes on folded poster shoeboxes. Then the homeless browse and shop with assistants.

We called for donations on social media and found ourselves on local and international blogs, news, TV and radio.

Thousands of donators and homeless interacted with the store and each other. Our shop assistants were Haven residents who gained work experience, and fieldworkers who educated the homeless, sent some to rehabilitation, and helped people off the street.

In South Africa we’ve clothed 3500 homeless, we generated PR in excess of R27million off a R5000 budget, and donated van-loads of excess clothing to The Haven.

Since going open-source, we’ve had 121+ requests to host stores, and they’ve begun popping up globally.