For the third year, Vancouver-based Arc’teryx Equipment Inc. will give capes made of waterproof Gore-Tex fabric to the city’s homeless. Called the Birds Nest Project, the annual charity leans on end-of-roll fabric remnants and Arc’teryx employees who volunteer their time to design and sew the capes in-house at the company’s North Vancouver factory.

About 70 Arc’teryx employee volunteers will run the project this year, which includes professional sewers who regularly work on high-end outerwear. The company hopes to distribute more than 700 windproof, waterproof capes to people in need via area homeless organizations.

Essentially an old-school rain poncho design, the Birds Nest capes provide a waterproof covering and a hood. They fit loose and have minimal adjustments. Thanks to the Gore-Tex fabric the capes should be breathable, comfortable, wind-proof and waterproof when the city’s cold winter rains begin to pour.

Cape distribution in Vancouver begins this month. We applaud Arc’teryx for its grass-roots effort and the tangible benefits the capes will have on people in the community in need of some help and basic protection this winter from the elements above.

—Stephen Regenold is founder and editor of www.gearjunkie.com.