Some Art Students Designed a Jacket That Turns Into a Shelter for Europe's Refugees

Calling REI: The waterproof garment easily morphs into a sleeping bag or a tent.

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They’re thousands of miles from home, braving cold temperatures many have never before experienced, often wearing clothing better suited to a summer day.

With Europe firmly in the grip of Old Man Winter, that’s the situation thousands ofSyrian refugees seeking asylum on the continent are facing. Conditions are so bad, particularly for children, that in January a UNICEF spokesperson said the risk of kids freezing to death “is clearly very, very high."

That’s where a project launched by a group of graduate students and their mentors at the Royal College of Art in London could help. The team of interior design and textile students arecrowdfunding a prototype of the Syrian Refugee Wearable Shelter, a three-in-one garment that easily morphs from a jacket to a sleeping bag to a tent.

“These three aspects adapt to the conditions a refugee would experience through their two- to five-week journey," Harriet Harriss, a professor at the college and one of the team’s mentors, told Dezeen. Harriss said the garment’s design is based on feedback from aid workers. “We spoke with Médecins Sans Frontières to get an idea of what arefugee's journey truly was," said Harriss.

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