Veronica Cargay

MA Design Engineering

Open Loop: An open source jacket for post-disaster recovery

In 2024 alone, the United States experienced 27 billion-dollar disasters. When disaster strikes, the world responds with food, water, and shelter. Clothing is an afterthought, yet its absence is one of the most destabilizing experiences a survivor faces. It is identity. Dignity. Protection.

Clothing is the most overlooked category of humanitarian aid. When disaster strikes, survivors lose more than possessions: they lose identity, dignity, and the basic infrastructure of daily life. Open Loop is a response to this oversight, utilizing an open-sourced, seven-point snap system for modular connections– reworking donations into functional, dignified garments that shift with the realities of recovery.

Veronica is also working on:

Fleck, an automated mixing device for bettering the consistency of ceramic glaze.
A carbon fiber-flax suspension system for the RISD Rover.
Exhibit Designs, including Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic Expedition.
Compostable and recyclable alternatives for paper lamination.
Foldable solar shading systems.

Project done in collaboration with Aditi Vardhan MA 26 DE.

The Open Loop Jacket. A girl wearing a gray, long-sleeve carpenter's jacket with many pockets that hold utilitarian tools. The sleeves of the jacket snap off, and pockets act as the upper and lower closures.

The Open Loop Jacket.
Made from donated rain coats, a couch cover, recycled sails, and retired climbing rope.

Local communities can create their own add-ons, snapping into the sleeve holes, front closure panels, and collar snaps. Closures can be worn in multiple ways to cover or expose the utilitarian nature.

A close up shot of front upper pockets on a gray canvas jacket. These pockets house ID's, keys, yellow tools, and snap closed.

The Upper Pockets.

Places to store a pocket knife, IDs, keys, and other important documentation. Loops to make any found bag into a built-in crossbody. Cover the entire panel for non-utilitarian contexts.