Good design can translate complex messages efficiently and beautifully. Great design can demand and arrest attention, and in some cases even spark a conversation. With this work, we translated a very important piece of information into great design: Perpetrators of a sexual crime leave behind DNA on the survivors clothing. It is therefore crucial to not wash the clothes worn during the assault, to preserve evidence for the investigation.

With this piece of work, we achieved just that: spark a conversation.

The product is available for purchase. The design was shown at the New York Fashion Week and is available at https://www.maisonblanche.swiss/collections/nyfw-dna-collection

International statics state that 97% of all rapists walk away without a conviction. 1 in 5 women state that they’ve experienced sexualized crime in their lifetime. Members of the queer community are even more at risk. Amnesty International states that in Switzerland, a full 58% of survivors do not come forward to report the crime. One of the many complicated reasons why this is the case? Lack of evidence.

Zero to low awareness on how to react, act and where to get help after being sexually assaulted and a systemic lack of survivor justice are the realities that people need to be made more aware of. This work aims to do exactly that: inform potential survivors how to preserve evidence and to push the conversation around survivor justice forward.

• Situation

Most survivors of a sexual assault shower and wash their clothes immediately after the assault, thereby unwittingly destroying crucial DNA-traces left behind by the perpetrator.

• Brief

The brief was to translate feminist fashion label’s maison blanche’s brand purpose into a strong and tangible message that would spark a conversation.

• Objectives

The objective was to create maximum impact with almost zero budget. To inform as many people as possible on how to preserve DNA evidence after a sexual assault and spark a conversation around the lack of survivor justice all around the globe.

• Budget

The budget was less than 10k.

• Project scale and volume

The project was created in Zurich by a small team, then launched at the New York Fashion to international audience, where it was captured and shared by press from all around the world.

Sexual predators leave behind their DNA on the clothes of their victims. This is why it’s crucial that clothes don’t get washed after the assault, so that no DNA gets destroyed. To ensure that this information would reach as many people as possible, we created a whole collection around DNA: the DNA-Collection. A collection that showed the power of your DNA. The collection contained an anti-laundry-tag instructing: «Do not wash if you’ve just been sexually assaulted.» The whole collection was launched at the New York Fashion Week. The press was eager to capture and cover the story internationally. Most importantly: We made the anti-laundry-tag available for free for other designers so that they, too, could include it in their DNA-inspired collections, creating real momentum in the fashion industry.

The design world and elements we created were translated into a fashion collection, a social media campaign and printed materials.

The pattern of a gel electrophoresis, a laboratory method used to separate DNA, was used as the leitmotif for the print of the fabric.

The double helix lent some of the pieces of the collection their form and shape.

And lastly, the Tags Against Crime were sewn into every single piece of the DNA-collection: Anti-Laundry-Tags instructing: «Do not wash if you’ve just been sexually assaulted.»

To start the design process, we visited a DNA lab and accompanied the whole DNA-sequecing process. Together with fashion designer Yannik Zamboni, scientists and NGOs, we then designed the collection to ensure all elements were scientifically sound and politically sensible.

The Tags were made available for free to other fashion designers so that they could include the design and tag in their collections.

The brand turned their brand purpose into a strong message and tangible piece of work. With each piece of the collection the consumer was turned into an ally of survivor justice.

Since the launch, the DNA-collection and anti-laundry-tags gained 14M impressions in Switzerland alone, which is an equivalent of 1.5M US Dollars in earned media, proving how design can spark a big conversation.

But more importantly: to this day, more and more fashion designers still continue to include the Tags and other design elements in their collections, creating even more reach, pushing the conversation even further.