Salvation Army - "Truly Destroyed 3"

Cloudfactory

Cloudfactory Amsterdam, Niederlande

Awards

1148

Diese Werbung ist Teil der Kollektion ACT Responsable

Marke: Salvation Army
Länder: Niederlande

Werbende: The Salvation Army

Titel	Truly Destroyed 3
Agentur	Cloudfactory
Kampagne	Truly Destroyed
Werbende	The Salvation Army
Marke	Salvation Army
Datum der ersten Ausstrahlung/Veröffentlichung	2022 / 5
Produkt	Truly Destroyed collection
Geschäftsbereich	Schuhe
Story	In May 2022, Balenciaga launched a limited edition collection of “fully-destroyed sneakers”. These were literally run-down shoes, with battered rubber and severe rippings all over the fabric, selling for 1450€. The collection made the headlines of the fashion world and, without surprise, the internet had thoughts. Soon enough, it drew all kinds of reactions and criticism on social media. Comments such as “I can find those in the garbage can for free”, “paying thousands to look poor” or “how far can fashion go in the quest for luxury?” reflected the outrage with the brand’s aesthetic choice. With the debate this collection started, we saw an opportunity to shift the conversation to the reality of those who have no other option but to wear destroyed shoes: the homeless. To raise awareness for the problem of homelessness, we decided to launch our own limited edition. In partnership with Leger des Heils, the Dutch arm of the Salvation Army, we created “Truly Destroyed”, a collection of truly worn-out shoes, by real people living on the streets. Each pair of shoes is named after the person who wore them and the product details give context to the hardships they’ve been exposed to, such as “not waterproof”, “freezing winter worn-out effect”, “painful fit” or ”unsuitable for all weather types”. But the key aspect of our idea is that we would make our collection look exactly like the Balenciaga one. To emphasize the contrast of our message, we wanted our limited edition to completely mimick the Balenciaga one, using the same colours, style and photography as the fashion brand. In collaboration with Dutch fashion photographer Carli Hermés, we shot the homeless shoes like truly coveted fashion items. We created trulydestroyed.com, the antagonist version of Balenciaga’s “fully destroyed” website, where we displayed our collection for a good cause. Finally, we hijacked Sneakerness, a sneakers global event in Amsterdam, where we created a stand for our worn-out sneakers, extending our important message to all sneaker lovers. https://trulydestroyed.com
Philosophie	Luxury fashion house Balenciaga recently launched its Paris Sneaker collection, which featured 100 pairs of limited-edition ‘fully destroyed’ sneakers that cost $1,850. The release of these sneakers – the less-destroyed, prêt-à-porter version cost $625 – caused quite a stir on social media. The essence, as someone wrote: ‘These sneakers are simultaneously insulting the rich while mocking the poor.’ Fairly or unfairly, it did lead to trulydestroyed.com: a website inspired by Balenciaga’s campaign, but in their case, the limited edition shoes have been worn out for years by people living on the streets, giving them a worn out aspect that is not treated, but as real as their life conditions. Each pair of truly lived-in shoes is unique and comes in the shoe size of the homeless person who wore them, together with a product description that gives insight on how the shoes got to their truly destroyed state. Attention towards the homeless Thamar Keuning, Marketing & Communications at The Salvation Army ReShare, Leger des Heils ReShare in The Netherlands (The Salvation Army has been collecting clothes and textile for over 135 years for reuse and has ten outlets in The Netherlands to sell them) spoke about the Truly Destroyed initiative: ‘Of course, the fashion world is all about how clothes and shoes look. The creativity and variety that comes with it can be wonderful, as is high fashion, or Balenciaga for that matter. However, it is also sometimes at odds with what clothing means to most of the people we deal with, and that is purely functional. The destroyed shoes of a homeless person opposite the high-fashion products of this fashion industry literally and symbolically reflect the inequality in the world. It is a good thing that the conversation is shifted in this way from a fashion stunt and fuss to a real social problem, such as the large number of homeless people in the Netherlands: at the moment, there are 32,000! We have been advocating for years for housing homeless people and the prevention of homelessness. It is nice to see that through actions like this, the subject is finally getting the international attention it deserves.’ The stories behind the shoes Well known Dutch fashion photographer Carli Hermès shot the real destroyed shoes of the homeless: ‘I’m not against Balenciaga’s destroyed sneakers at all. They did a great job grabbing everyone’s attention. But when I can help the homeless – the number seems to be rising again – with such a wonderful idea, I’m in. I like the story behind it. For me this is not only about photography, but also about art direction. The idea is strong and therefore I could develop the idea further in photography. It would be (very) nice if we can make consumers and people in the fashion industry aware with this “activist” campaign. And hopefully more than that: have them act on it, spend a little less on clothes, shoes and living and, instead, donate to The Salvation Army.’ Shifting the conversation The original idea to use this big fashion drop to steer the conversation is from Amsterdam based creative agency Cloudfactory. Creative director Julio Álvarez: ‘We have a lot of respect for Demna Gvasalia’s vision, the creative director of Balenciaga, and what he is doing with the Balenciaga brand – they often tap brilliantly into (pop) culture. We understand the fashion world has its codes, and we are not here to judge them. If anything, we’re thankful they decided to come up with the limited-edition sneakers described as “totally destroyed”, because that’s what sparked our idea: selling used sneakers worn by people living in the streets. Not treated to look destroyed, but truly destroyed, due to their tough life conditions. It gives us a nice springboard to bring a tougher reality to the news.’
Medientyp	Interaktiv
Mehr Informationen	trulydestroyed.com
Client Partner	The Salvation Army
Produktion	Unit C.M.A
Produktion	Carli Hermès
Client Partner	Leger des Heils
Client Partner	ReShare
Creative Director	César García
Creative Director	Julio Álvarez
Client Partner	Dutch Salvation Army ReShare
Production	Cloudfactory / Unit C.M.A
Photography	Carli Hermès
Creative Director	César García
Creative Director	Julio Álvarez