interview with angela luna: president of ADIFF

Angela Luna, creator of ADIFF, has begun a movement in fashion. Her senior thesis turned brand has revolutionized the way the fashion industry responds to serious global issues. The garments in her collection are transformable pieces of clothing that are functional and useful for survival for people facing displacement worldwide. Specifically, her first initiative is to provide aid to those effected by the refugee crisis in Syria, Greece, and around the world.

I had an opportunity to interview Angela and discuss everything from the expansion of her brand, to the impact she's having on the industry as a whole.

Jenna: You have created a brand that is revolutionary, in my opinion, especially in the fashion industry. Can you explain a little bit more in depth about how these garments actually get to the refugees and other people in need?

Angela: Sure! So I was in Greece this past fall testing the products. I went with a small non-profit called Carry the Future. So while I was working on their distribution, I was also doing my own work. From those connections that I made at refugee camps during that trip, I have some pretty good contacts with the people who run the camps in Greece. For our first plan of distribution, it's going to be kind of independently organized. It's going to be me along with some ADIFF volunteers who are going to be going to the camps that I visited, because those are the ones that we already have contacts with. So, that's predominantly dealing with refugees, and we also are partnering with a small non-profit that is based in the UK, that goes to refugee camps in Europe and also provides nutritious meals to other displaced people. We'll be distributing to them, and the tent jackets will go directly to the refugees who are under the radar in those camps who really need them. As we expand and start to offer the tent jackets, we are interested in distributing them to homeless people in the U.S., homeless people in Australia, and homeless people in France. I'm hoping to roll thee out with partnerships with local organizations and homeless shelters in the area. We're addressing global displacement as a whole, but for the refugee crisis specifically we're going to be doing our own distribution at the beginning but we do have contacts with UNHCR and IRC and larger corporations going forward.

Jenna: Wow, well you definitely have a great start!

Angela: Yeah I know! I'm lucky that I was able to actually get to the camps and meet the people and figure out how to create sustainable relationships. It took like months to get to that point though!

Jenna: I can imagine it would! I saw all of your pictures of when you were actually there, and that's wonderful. So, you've mentioned that ADIFF is a humanitarian brand that is rooted in activism in the fashion industry. What do you think are the next steps for this brand, and what does your next collection look like and how do you want to expand the reach of people that you are helping? So kind of addressing what you just talked about, basically.

Angela: So we're starting with the reflective jacket, which is probably our easiest one to sell to general consumers because it's practical enough to be worn in the city or suburbs or while hiking; we're starting off with the really simple, easy to market jackets. The tent jacket is going to be the one that comes out next, just because we've gotten like 2,000 online orders for them and we don't even have it ready for production yet. From there, I think we're just going to focus on getting our market, and getting our reach as far as possible and really building that customer base, so that's the goal for 2017. And then in 2018, I feel like every season we're going to roll out a jacket that is kind of based on the thesis that I had done before, or possibly expanding into new products, as well. I would say consider it less of like "fashion collections", and more of like a key product every season that addresses global displacement and is also useful for the consumer. That's a little bit about that, and then expansion for the future of the brand, it's really my goal to hire refugees within all areas of the brand, so I'm trying to make the connections so we can look into hiring these people and giving them actual work, and helping them resettle their lives so they can develop a new life in a new country. That is something I want to work towards in the next few years, also creating a non-profit along the side to carry out some other projects that we want to do within refugee camps or homeless areas, things like that. So, big goals for the brand! It's starting out with fashion, but I think that we can do so much more.

Jenna: Right! I mean, there's definitely a lot of room for growth, and this is an area where it's necessary, so I think that's great. So are there any specific designers that you looked to for inspiration as far as like the transformable clothing goes and if so, who? What specific pieces were a source of inspiration for the first collection?

Angela: In terms of transformable or really innovative clothing, I did look at Hussein Chalayan, you may have seen this, he had this dress that turned from a table to a dress, and he had these chair covers that would turn into dresses, as well. So, that was really cool to me. I mean, when I thought about it I was like "oh yeah that's really cool but what's the practical application, that doesn't really do much, but it's a very interesting idea." So that was kind of where my head was at, like how cool having multi-purpose products could be, but my criticism with that was that it wasn't really practical and it didn't have any actual substance in the world. It was super cool, but that was about it. I've always been interested in transformable or customizable products. My prom dress that I made when I was back in high school had a detachable skirt, so it was like a short dress and a long dress. So that's always where my head has kind of been at, but in terms of creating human centered and humanitarian centered designs, there really isn't anyone in the world who was doing that. Actually, when I was working on the project, I was about 7 months in, there were some students at the Royal College of Art in London that had done a similar project. They made a jacket that turned into a tent that was designed to help refugees, but they had a lot of design flaws. The second I was like "How could - like oh my god! I was working on this project for months and now these students beat me to the punch!" But yeah, there's was super cool, and it was nice to see that other people around the world are thinking of the same issue. But I feel like what I'm trying to do with mine is a little bit more than just donating it, it's about galvanizing the fashion industry and getting people to be aware of what's going on.

Jenna: Exactly, you're raising awareness on another level.

Angela: Yeah, exactly, there isn't really anyone that's doing what I'm doing which is kind of cool.

Jenna: I know! Like, you are one of a kind, the first of your kind hopefully. Do you see any sort of crossover with the outdoor sect of the fashion industry like hikers and campers, for example, who would want to buy your clothes for their own use, while still maintaining the fact that the profits would go to refugees or people in need?

Angela: Absolutely, that's like our entire business model, selling these towards the outdoor market, people who need quality outerwear or even the casual camper. While our garments are very functional and very beautiful as well, we're not necessarily marketing this towards the person who's concerned about peak performance, like that person who needs to climb a mountain in a day. So that's not really our market. Our clothing is highly functional, but it does have an attention to design and style, as well. The reason why we're doing this as a for-profit business structure is because we want to be able to use the money that does come into the fashion industry, because the fashion industry is insanely profitable, and we want to redirect that towards assisting refugees. That's why we're kind of organizing a buy-one-give-one model right now for the jackets that we're releasing. As we introduce more products that aren't necessarily going to be jackets, we'll be looking into taking a percentage of that and donating it directly to the refugees. We definitely see this as a way to 1) spread awareness by selling to the average person, if you have something that is directly related to the refugee crisis or related to homelessness hanging in your closet everyday, you're going to be a lot less likely to forget that it's a major issue.

Jenna: You'll feel more connected.

Angela: Exactly! Also, by showing your solidarity with this issue, like, you see the pink hats are taking a rise now because of resistance against Trump. The same could be applied to tent jackets, or reflective jackets to stand in solidarity with refugees. We definitely see this as a movement, starting with clothing, but ending with the people that are wearing it.

Jenna: So kind of on a broader scale, what do you want to see from more well-known, international, major fashion brands as a response to what you're doing with ADIFF, and would you like to see them develop their own take on transformable clothing that can benefit these groups of people?

Angela: You know, from a humanitarian standpoint, I would like to see them develop their own things, but from a business standpoint, I would not want them to develop their own things. It would be nice to see these larger companies taking a less selfish approach to the fashion industry and kind of redirect their businesses to assisting other people, rather than just earning money for themselves. If I could just see some social responsibility initiatives taking part, it doesn't even have to be about refugees, it could be about literally any cause. But I think that's the future of business and commerce, and what we're going to see going forward, there's going to be a lot more attention focused on social causes than just helping people just purchase anything they want. I mean, if they want to try to do tent jackets, it took me forever to figure out how to do it. But it would be good to see more designers being more responsive to what's going on in the world. You know, I think Chanel just did a collection this week about space, and I'm like "okay, well it'd be nice to see you guys talk more about actual problems." So that's what I'm hoping for.

Jenna: Right, because I mean on one hand it's like, that would be a great thing to do because you're raising more awareness and people are actually receiving the help that they need. But at the same time, it's like, it's your idea, you created it, you deserve credit for that.

Angela: At the end of the day, I am running a business. And we're only going to be able to help people if the business does well. The better we do, the more people we can help. So that's kind of how I'm looking at it, it's important to keep that in mind. We are very focused on our humanitarian projects, but at the end of the day, fashion is a business.

Jenna: Exactly, and I like what you said about social responsibility in general because often there's this stigma about the fashion industry, like it's superficial, it's detached.

Angela: It's because it's true! It is, like at New York Fashion Week it's like "this person was inspired by clouds" - like okay, what does that have to do with anything?

Jenna: It's totally and completely in another world. Like most recently what we saw at New York Fashion Week, with a few different designers, with the different sayings on the t-shirts, like okay that's nice, but at the same time you ask, what are you doing to help?

Angela: Yeah, sometimes it's not enough. I think it was Missoni that did the pink hats on their models. Like that's a nice way to tie that in, but it would be nice to see a percentage of those sales go to Planned Parenthood or something like that, or a similar cause. Activism, with a way to help.

Jenna: I just want to say that I think that what you have created is pretty much a call to action with basically the whole fashion industry, because at some point they'll come to the realization of like, "hey we have to be responsible for what we're doing", not even just with benefitting people in general, you could even go into the whole topic of sustainability...

Angela: ...And global supply chain, and ethical production, and all of that. It's not even just the fashion industry. I would say that I'm trying to get everyone in any industry whatsoever to think about how they could actually make a positive impact. Because fashion is one of those industries where helping others isn't really the number one concern, and there's thousands of other jobs that have a similar path. So I'm just saying, no matter what position you're in, no matter where you work, you do have the ability to help people and actually make a change.

Jenna: Yeah, like you're not helpless you can still do anything.

Angela: Yeah! There's no excuses, go out and help people!

Follow ADIFF on Instagram and Twitter, and share this to spread their mission worldwide. What an amazing concept am I right? Helping others survive through innovative fashion design. It was an incredible honor to be able to interview the President of ADIFF herself, Angela Luna.

Donate if you can to their kickstarter campaign! They have already raised enough money to donate 400 jackets to refugees in need, which covers between 4-5 camps! Keep on working hard and doing amazing things Angela, the world needs more people like you.