Aditi Vardhan

Open Loop

Every disaster produces the same overlooked crisis: clothing. Survivors leave with what they are wearing. Donation centers flood within 48 hours, then go quiet. What arrives is rarely what is needed, items that reflect what donors wanted to give, not what survivors can use. The gap between good intention and functional aid is a design problem.

Open Loop is a circular garment system designed for post-disaster recovery. It begins with textile donations, sorted, cut, and transformed by local seamstresses using an open-source pattern library, and ends with a modular vest built for the real conditions survivors face: evacuation, temporary shelter, debris clearance, and the slow work of rebuilding a life.

The core garment is a structured jacket with nine precision snap connection points. Four modules, a hood, face mask, utility panel, and crossbody bag, attach and detach without tools, allowing the wearer to reconfigure the garment as their situation changes. Every feature traces back to documented survivor accounts: tab closures operable with injured hands, an on-body document pocket for passport and medication, a sling carry bag.

Open Loop treats clothing as infrastructure. Not a donation, not a gesture. A system. One that can be replicated anywhere, adapted to any climate, and made by any community with a sewing machine and the will to respond.

This is a garment for what happens after everything else is gone.

Project done in collaboration with Veronica Cargay MA 26 DE.

The OpenLoop disaster jacket, fully constructed and worn.  

Made from a repurposed IKEA sofa cover, the grey herringbone twill is the first proof that the circular material system works. Silver snap connection points are visible across the chest panel, lower utility pocket, side seams, and sleeve cuffs.

The snap system in use. A carabiner clips to the chest snap point, holding a set of keys. Pliers rest in the open chest pocket slot. A second carabiner with rope attaches at the right shoulder snap. It holds your tools, your keys, and whatever else you cannot afford to lose.

The back of the Open Loop disaster jacket, showing the rear document slot pocket and the modular crossbody bag attached via the snap system. The bag is made from reclaimed sail fabric a second donated material folded into the system. The blue rope strap anchors across the back, distributing weight and keeping both hands free.