Feed: Using Fashion and Design to Feed the Poor

There are many factors that motivate an individual to act. Lauren Bush (former president Bush's niece) was influenced by her family's interest in public service, and became a social entrepreneur to create Feed, a company that sells tote bags and other apparel to fund school lunches in the developing world. 

Feed mixes emotion, design, and quantified impact to allow consumers to participate in feeding the poor. According to Lauren, 870 million people in the world go hungry everyday, and the world has enough food for everyone; it’s just a distribution problem. Feed's business model stands in that a single bag covers the cost to feed a child in school for a year, allowing people to participate in meaningful endeavors with their purchases. The concept took off and they are now available in Target and Whole Foods. What made them succeed while others failed? 

What motivates an individual to take action? An emotional appeal is sometimes effective, but not always reliable. In order to modify behavior, 2 things have to be implemented: quantify the activity and provide a framework for the individual to track progress. Feed does the first part by displaying a number in their bags to let consumers see exactly how many children they are feeding if they chose to buy a specific product. The second part, a tracking framework, when done will give further transparency to the organization. Feed's top priority is to give ~10% of each product’s retail price to hunger organizations. The concept furthers appeals to consumers in that its social goal is built directly into their product and business model, not just a side marketing strategy that many companies employ to entice consumers.

We also recommend watching:  "TOMS Shoes: Don't Cry for Me Argentina" and "Entrepreneur Story: Quenching Thirst with Philantrophy".

FEED Projects was started in 2007 by Lauren Bush, an honorary spokesperson for the United Nations World Food Program, and Ellen Gustafson, a former United Nations Communications Officer. FEED Projects sells FEED bags and a portion of each bag is donated to the United Nations World Food Programm to feed children around the world.

Feed: Using Fashion and Design to Feed the Poor