Crack + Cider: Swapping Extra Change for Socks

At first, “Crack + Cider” might seem a crass name for an e-commerce site intended to help the homeless. But that’s just the point. Before the company’s launch, a British panhandler told its founding duo, “People don’t give me money because they just think I’ll spend it on crack and cider.” That’s exactly the impression founders Charlotte Cramer and Scarlett Montanaro want to target: the perception that “giving to rough sleepers contributes to their early death.” While the two understood offering money was an unproductive behavior, they couldn’t stand the alternative decision to do nothing. So instead of advocating fiscal donations, Charlotte and Scarlett created an extremely efficient and pragmatic solution: donating clothes to keep the homeless dry and warm throughout the winter.

By exchanging spare change for warm socks, umbrellas, and winter jackets, Crack + Cider delivers something traditional panhandling fails to ensure. By facilitating the exchange of winter necessities, Crack + Cider provides both physical comfort for the homeless and mental comfort for those making the donation. For those who walk past “London’s 7,581 rough sleepers every day” without stopping, Crack + Cider provides an alternative solution. Through discussions with shelters, Charlotte and Scarlett chose five items to distribute to these individuals at price points easily met by most Londoners. For just seven pounds you can give someone a warm hat, set of gloves, and socks. For another five you can throw in an umbrella.

Giving clothing and organizing clothing drives has been done before. However, Crack + Cider bolsters this tactic with a modern e-commerce website, framing itself as a retailer instead of an outdated philanthropy. Donating clothing to the homeless in this manner even recalls the online shopping behaviors that many individuals already demonstrate. This subtle difference will make Crack + Cider both newsworthy and successful. The user-interaction is streamlined, the user experience intuitive and the website, dare I say, attractive. Yet the solemn black, grey, and white color scheme and overall tone of the copy ensure the dignity of the project. Both Charlotte and Scarlett have backgrounds in advertising, branding, and entrepreneurship and their strengths in storytelling and brand cultivation translate across Crack + Cider’s presence. Even the tagline of the company, “World’s First Shop for the Homeless” differentiates their strategy from traditional philanthropic endeavors. Highly shareable and straightforward, I believe Crack + Cider has immense appeal to a younger generation—a demographic conventional charities struggle to reach.

Created as a non profit, Crack + Cider’s merchandise is marked up just enough to cover expenses, and a brick and mortar pop up store will be open in November. Currently all purchases target the London homeless population, however with a goal of 10,000 pounds in sales, Crack + Cider demonstrates the power of a grassroots effort to mitigate a social problem in an alternative manner. Additionally, the founders’ methodology in creating Crack + Cider illustrates how an enduring problem can be given new form, and target a new audience through the proper cultivation of brand. The company’s name highlights the issue, but the company itself innovates to solve the problem.