During New York Fashion Week—when style dominates the streets and fashion takes centre stage—Six+One and its nonprofit arm, For The Greater Hood (FTGH), made clothing insecurity impossible to ignore.
In a citywide takeover called ‘Empty Hangers’, 17,000 empty hangers appeared overnight across SoHo, the Meatpacking District, Chelsea, Flatiron, and the Garment District. Installed in clusters throughout high-traffic, fashion-forward corridors, the hangers transformed one of fashion’s most universal symbols into a stark public reminder of what’s missing.
Timed to Fashion Week, the activation reframed the moment—while the industry celebrated what’s new and next, Empty Hangers spotlighted the thousands of New Yorkers still without warm, reliable clothing. Each hanger’s QR code linked to a personal story and a frictionless donation flow, with clear giving tiers: $20 helps clothe one person, $40 helps clothe two, and $100 helps clothe five.
“Fashion Week celebrates what we wear. ‘Empty Hangers’ is about the people who don’t have that luxury,” said Eric Rojas, founder of Six+One and For The Greater Hood. “We’re using absence to spark action—right when the world is paying attention to fashion.”
To amplify the takeover, FTGH partnered with creators across each neighbourhood and documented the rollout with a dedicated production crew, capturing installation moments, pedestrian reactions and the real-time ripple effect as New Yorkers scanned, shared and donated throughout the week.
Demonstrating how a physical, street-level idea can drive measurable digital engagement when the message resonates, social performance rose sharply during the activation period, with views up 285%, likes up 358%, and interactions up 425%, extending the impact well beyond the street.