make-good
Solutions Through Creative Collaborations
make-good is a non-profit company built around identifying societal needs and through the skills, support and know-how of artisans and makers, we use design thinking to develop and create innovative solutions to make people’s lives better whilst simultaneously supporting small South African businesses in the creative sector.
Creative Collaborations for Social Innovation.
NPO Registration Number: 262-748
how we started to make-good
As the first COVID-19 lockdown in South Africa began, Carlo Gibson, a South African designer & fashion innovator, began making facemasks; which we now know are an essential personal protection item in our arsenal against the virus. He made some for purchase and for the rest, he travelled across South Africa handing them out (look at the mask up campaign below).
Through this initiative, Carlo collaborated with Doctors at the Infectious Disease ward at one of South Africa's Government Hospitals, and befriended some of the nurses and embarked on an initiative to redesign scrubs to protect the nurses working on these wards; making a few changes to the traditional scrubs, offering them a more African aesthetic, and from a practical point of view, accommodating nurse-specific requirements. His inspiration was to create an outfit that didn’t look and feel like an overall, but instead, made the nurses feel dignified and comfortable.
Through a simple crowdsourcing initiative, Carlo was able to raise enough money to make over 200 scrubs - cool, fashionable, Afrocentric and tailored to the nurses’ needs – simultaneously keeping his CMT (cut, make, trim) factory actively producing, as essential workers, enabling the 15 strong CMT workers to stay employed.
This initiative started to ignite more ideas and in February 2021,
Carlo and Toni met up and make-good became a reality:
Acknowledging the great needs that face our society, combined with the exceptional skills and capabilities of innovative and creative South African artisans and makers, and the factories they run and jobs they provide – and to be able to match the two, by raising funds to help us conceptualise and find the best way to produce items that can contribute to changing and bettering lives.
making good
current projects and collaborations
homeless home
helping the community
make-good are honoured to have been awarded the Innovative Design and Materials Award (presented by adidas) at the 2021 Twyg Sustainable Fashion Awards for The Homeless Home Project.
make-good are honoured to have awarded a seed grant by the SAB Foundation for the SABF Social Innovation Awards 2022 for our on-going collaboration with COPESSA.
As winter approaches, and the nights get cold, the homeless men and women on our streets are much more vulnerable to the harsh weather.
With this initiative, we have developed a unique item of bedding that doubles as a lightweight jacket; A Homeless Home.
In collaboration with Klipa Denim – the item has been designed to be easy to use, lightweight and weather proof – where the wearer can keep it as jacket for the day and zip themselves into it as a sleeping bag at night.
The design has pouches which can be stuffed with newspaper to help insulate the jacket when needed.
It also has some pockets allowing the wearer to carry their most important possessions with them.
The garment has been created with a durable and strong fabric that can withstand the elements – it is wind- and water-proof
We prototyped the item extensively, interviewing and collaborating too with the people who will benefit the most from it, and through this design thinking we were able to craft something much more functional and suited to the harsh elements than we could manufacture on our own.
In 2021, through your generosity and sponsorships we were humbled to get over 500 units out onto the streets of South Africa to help give some comfort and warmth to members of our homeless community and this was just the very top of the very tip of the iceberg.
Each Homeless Home is locally manufactured and distributed for R512 (cost for Johannesburg distribution) and can help provide some warmth and comfort and a practical “home” for the homeless - manufactured by South Africans for those that call our streets and parks their homes. Any amount contributed will go toward providing a little reprieve over the winter months.
Find out more:
- LISTEN: South Africans Doing Great Things: Homeless Home with Aubrey Masango (Radio702)
- READ: Nifty jacket turns into a sleeping bag to provide a 'home' for the homeless with Paula Andropoulos (The Sunday Times EDIT)
- WATCH: The smart three-in-one designer blanket helping homeless South Africans with Deepa Kesa (Times LIVE)
how to get involved
donate on our backabuddy site
donate directly through snapscan or direct EFT - scroll down for details
contact us to partner with us and let's make-good together
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make-good, in collaboration with COPESSA, were recognised and awarded in the SAB foundation social innovation awards 2022 for the potential of our partnership to move the homeless home project into upliftment, skills development and job creation.
Business Arts South Africa have started a pressing and much-needed conversation about how the Creative and Cultural Industries (CCI) are responding to climate emergency, by offering a platform for deeper discussion and dissemination, whilst supporting practitioners within the South African CCI.
Take a look at The Climate/Culture Programme (CCP) microsite and other contributors and thought leaders here: https://climateculture.basa.co.za/
curious sprout planter
Recycling Billboard Materials into Planters for Permaculture Education Projects
The Curious Sprout Planter is a tyre-sized bag made from recycled branding material that can be used in creches, and schools (either indoors or outdoors) as raised compost, germination and planting beds. Making use of the planter, aids education around food gardens and contributes to a sustainable fresh food source.
Garden-based Learning Programme
Our collaboration partner is Food & Trees for Africa (FTFA) is a leading Section 21 Non-Profit Organisation addressing food security, environmental sustainability, and greening.
This initiative partners with FTFA’s Garden-based learning programme. The programme utilises school food gardens, based on permaculture principles, as a teaching tool for curriculum integration and holistic learning. FTFA facilitators provide knowledge on how to grow, compost, plant and cultivate fresh produce in a natural, sustainable way, and will distribute the planters by integrating them into this long-standing programme.
Billboards previously used in advertising or live events activations
Transforming waste to aboveground tyre-sized planters
There is a surplus of single-use branding material created for conferences, events and as used in the advertising industry. We have tasked ourselves with trying to find a way to repurpose these materials into something that could benefit communities instead of clogging up our landfills.
protect the nurses
one scrub at a time
To show healthcare workers how much we appreciate and value them; especially as they tackle the front-lines - of not just the COVID-19 pandemic, but in so many healthcare emergencies - We are continuing our Protect The Nurses COVID-19 ICU Scrubs Campaign.
make-good scrubs offer a few changes to the conventional scrubs:
a more African aesthetic, &
redesign and tailor to accommodate nurse-specific requirements, as scrubs are designed solely for doctors (like a cross between a uniform and a scrub)
something that doesn’t look and feel like an overall, but instead, make the nurses feel dignified and comfortable.
this initiative also helps to support the local manufacturing industry as opposed to importing scrubs from abroad; manufactured by South Africans for South Africans can be sponsored.
dizzy bivvy
poncho-bivouac
This initiative started out with a way to redefine event conference bags! They usually get used for the conference and then get thrown away...
The dizzy bivvy is a light weight and waterproof conference bag that converts into a poncho to protect the wearer from the rain. When unrolled, the poncho is designed to be tied up at the corners to create a temporary shelter; a bivouac (or bivvy).
A bivouac (or bivvy) is a temporary camp without tents or cover, used especially by soldiers or mountaineers.
The dizzy bivvy can be branded with your conference CI.
how to get involved
After the conference - we encourage the attendees to donate their bag which converts into the dizzy bivvy to someone who will benefit from it in the rainy summer months ahead and to send us some images of them wearing and/or donating the item! #dizzybivvy
If you would like to rethink the conference bag and purchase some of these for your next event - or even just get some made up to donate to people in need – then give us a shout!
contact us to partner with us and let's make-good together
donate
please indicate in your payment reference which initiative you are donating to with (H) for Homeless or (N) for Nurses
or donate directly
Make Good Collab SA
Standard Bank Rosebank
Account number - 10146487573
Branch Code - 000205
SWIFT Code - SBZA ZA JJ
get in touch & make-good
get in touch with make-good to learn more about our work and how you can get involved.