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ARC'TERYX employees produce capes for the homeless

Press Release / 18.01.2011

Working on three separate Saturdays at the Arc'teryx manufacturing facility in Burnaby, BC, volunteers cut and sewed 560 specially-designed capes for Vancouver's homeless that will repel wind and rain during the city's often dreary winter weather. On Saturday, November 26, over 300 capes were produced in one day. Project coordinator Tara Latham says, "Spirits were high and it was quite difficult to pull people off their sewing machines at the end of the day."

These simple capes re-purpose end-of-roll and discontinued fabrics that the company utilizes in its premium quality GORE-TEX® garments. What started as an effort to find other uses for fabrics destined for the trash has turned into a product to clothe those in need and provides an opportunity to create social awareness of homelessness in the midst of one of Canada's most affluent cities.

This is the second year in a row that employees have volunteered for this grassroots "Bird's Nest" initiative. Last year, 300 capes were distributed to the Salvation Army shelter in Vancouver's Downtown East Side. Employees distributed the capes to the Harvest House in North Vancouver on Tuesday, December 21 and at the Harbour Lights on the afternoon of December 24.

http://www.salvationarmy.ca/2011/01/07/arcteryx/