How a black t-shirt is traveling the world on behalf of those who cannot

What happens when a young man who has just started his dream career is sent back home amidst a pandemic? HOPE is born.

During the first wave of the deadly corona virus pandemic Siddhant Agarwal, a young man from Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh, sent out a symbol of hope into the universe — a black t-shirt. The shirt has since traveled 26,318 kilometers across 7 cities and 2 continents spreading hope in times of despair. Anubhuti Krishna talks to Siddhant Aggarwal to understand more about project HOPE and where he hopes to take it - no pun intended!

Tell us a bit about Project HOPE: The traveling t-shirt?

Initially, when Covid-19 struck, the repercussions looked temporary, but soon I realized the gravity of the situation. I also anticipated losing my job — and it did happen in June 2020. While it was a hard time marred by anxiety attacks, by July I decided that I had had enough of the negativity. It is then that I started planning Project HOPE: The traveling t-shirt. I spoke to my friends and figured that the one thing everyone was missing was travel. And so, I decided to set out a t-shirt to the world that would travel on our behalf, until we could. By August 2020, I had chalked the outline, made an itinerary, finalized the logo, and had started talking to content creators across the world. My sister meanwhile helped me name the project and create the essence of the whole thing. “Hope,” she said, “is what everyone was clinging to and so the name Hope: the traveling t-shirt collectively represented the sentiments of everyone who wants to travel and has a HOPE of a better, happy and carefree tomorrow."

How did the journey of the t-shirt begin?

The traveling t-shirt reached its first location, Singapore, in September 2020, where we shot a travel video with our associate vlogger, Gabriel, who is an amazing drone pilot. Post this, it went to Hong Kong in October, Tokyo in November, Los Angeles in December, and New York City in January of 2021. Then came the first hurdle: Gustavo, our collaborator in NYC vlog got COVID-19, and we had to wait. We finally got to shoot the NYC vlog in April-May 2021 and by end of May, the T shirt had reached Canada. Currently, it is in a small village in Canada called Canmore which stays snow capped almost throughout the year and we are looking at capturing the snow and aurora borealis there.

What was the thought behind the cities chosen?

Honestly, I chose cities that have always fascinated me and I have wanted to visit. The idea was to send this ordinary piece of clothing—also universal in a way—to culturally contrasting cities while also circling the globe. The itinerary, however, evolved given the present circumstances and continues to do so. We want to bring out peculiar aspects of the cities that the t-shirt is traveling to, so we have Olympics from Japan, Tourism from Singapore, hip-hop from New York, Alpine sports from Canada.

Who are the people associated with the project; how do they bring their individuality to it?

Since the beginning I reached out to a diverse set of people and each of them has added to the project. Gabriel Seow, from Singapore, for example is a great drone pilot and so we have the video showing the cityscape of Singapore. Mally, or Malakai, from New York, is a skateboarder, living one ollie at a time and showcases the hip hop culture of the city. Our vlogger in Canada is into snow sports and that’s what we want to bring in to the Canada video. Similarly everyone on board has a niche that combines the city’s and its representative’s individuality.

And once this is done, what do you plan to do with it?

My plan is to send the t-shirt to Europe next: London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Barcelona, Istanbul. Then it moves to Cape Town and Dubai before coming back to India. Mumbai is supposed to be the second last destination and after that, it comes back to New Delhi, the city where it all started. Once we have the t-shirt back, we'll either auction it or we might send the t-shirt on the top of Mt. Everest with an expedition next year. Nothing seems unrealistic anymore.

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