Veronika Scott waterproof and windproof coat and sleeping bag

Veronika Scott was a fashion student at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit when her teacher, Stephen Schock, challenged her class to create a product that filled a need, rather than satisfying or creating a fad. Veronika's design was a coat for homeless people that could transform into a sleeping bag, since in her city, she says, “you are constantly faced with the homeless epidemic."

Not only did her design win a International Design Excellence Award from the Industrial Designers Society of America, it’s become the core of Veronika's nonprofit organization, The Empowerment Plan, which hires people from homeless shelters and transition homes to help her make the coats. Now, three years later, the 24-year-old social entrepreneur expects that her team of 15 seamstresses will produce over 6,000 coats in 2014 -- all of which will be distributed free of charge to people living on the streets.


Veronika originally designed the coats seeking input from people at a homeless shelter. After receiving feedback from people who used the prototype over a Detroit winter, she refined the design to create her final version which, in addition to being a waterproof and windproof coat and sleeping bag, also transforms into an over-the-shoulder bag with storage in the arm sockets.

When she started out, Veronika states, “Everybody told me that my business was going to fail -- not because of who I was giving my product to but because of who I was hiring. They said that these homeless women will never make more than a peanut butter and jelly sandwich -- you cannot rely on them for anything. And I know my ladies enjoy proving everybody wrong."

And, their impact is growing -- according to CNN, which recently honored Veronika as one of their 10 Visionary Women of 2014, "The Empowerment Plan expects to launch a 'buy one, give one' program that will make it sustainable beyond the donations and sponsorships that keep it running now. Hunters and backpackers who’ve asked to buy the coat will be able to do so, and the Empowerment Plan will still create coats for homeless people who need them."

Veronika is also excited to show other clothing producers that local manufacturing is possible: “I think we're going to show a lot of people: you think it's outdated to do manufacturing in your neighborhood, but I think it's something that we have to do in the future, where it's sustainable, where you invest in people, where they're not interchangeable parts.”

Kudos to this Veronika for her impressive ingenuity and compassionate spirit!