Sheltersuit makes warm and weatherproof survival garments for rough sleepers. For our workforce we employ former refugees who need that vital first job to make a breakthrough into the labour market, and for materials we use waste and surplus from the outdoor equipment industries. These are mainly nylons and polyesters that would otherwise go to landfill, where they would never biodegrade.

Rough sleepers become paralysed by permanent cold and lack of sleep, and consequently are generally unable to communicate well with those agencies that are trying to help. Their immune systems also deteriorate, causing their health to fail, and generally increasing the downward spiralling of all these issues. Our insulated and waterproof Shelterbags help stop this decline, enabling them to sleep warm and dry in almost any location, and allowing their immune systems to repair and improve. Once this happens, the individual can start to think more clearly and to engage properly with agencies and organisations that are there to help.

So the Shelterbag is not a sticking plaster, it is a stepping stone to bringing the individual back inside, where hopefully they can begin to rebuild their lives. 

Of course some rough sleepers cannot come back inside to shelters or hostels, and simply need protection to stay alive. They may have drug or alcohol problems that make their behaviour so antisocial that hostels will not tolerate them. Or if they are a couple, they have to separate to come off the streets, because almost all shelters are for single people, and are segregated by sex. Or they may have a dog, which most shelters will not accept. So we protect them, because if not, who else will?