Product design and innovation consultancy firm Stuart Karten Design (SKD; Los Angeles) has created a program to fight the childhood obesity epidemic by motivating young people to make healthy choices. While obesity, and childhood obesity in particular, is a national problem, SKD cites local data that puts the problem in perspective: one in five students in 5th, 7th, and 9th grades in Los Angeles County is obese.

Acknowledging that information regarding health and diet is prevalent, SKD has observed that children lack intrinsic motivation to adopt healthy behaviors. The company’s solution is DownWithDenim.org, a program that uses fashion and visualization as catalysts for lasting behavioral changes. Currently searching for partnerships to help get the program rolling, SKD senior designer Jonathan Abarbanel and design strategist and researcher Erin Mays presented DownWithDenim.org to the public in April as part of GOOD Magazine’s LA launch weekend. The program seeks to improve the health of young people while also tackling the issues that cause obesity in youth, such as low self-esteem and a lack of understanding or motivation.

Motivation for young people, from tweens to teens in high school and into college, is inextricably linked to improving self-esteem. Young people typically consider weight a critical part of their self-image first, and a matter of health second. “Self-image is the elephant in the room when people talk about obesity,” says Stuart Karten, SKD principal. “People refer to health, but they skirt around the topic of appearance. But for a young person who is overweight, appearance has a huge emotional impact. We wanted to open up that part of the conversation in a positive way.”

The DownWithDenim program helps kids take control of their bodies and develop healthy, positive body images through five components: the jeans, the truck, the Web site, the mobile app, and the coaches and trainers. When they sign up for the program, the overweight participants receive a free pair of denim jeans…in the next size down. This proverbial carrot-on-a-stick incentive is used in conjunction with support from virtual trainers and nutritionists to help participants fit into the new jeans—a universal fashion staple for young people—by developing healthier lifestyles. According to SKD, healthcare professionals and dieticians emphasize that losing just 5–10% of one’s body weight, which generally corresponds with one jean size, can have a tremendous impact on his or her health. As participants’ waistlines shrink, their self-esteem increases, and the jeans become a concrete representation of a healthy goal and real progress. Because the goal of the program is to teach all kids how to maintain a healthy lifestyle by being aware of what they eat and how much they exercise, the program is open to participants of any weight, and kids with a healthy BMI receive same-size jeans.

Taking advantage of the widespread use of social media among young people, DownWithDenim.org provides online information and interaction through the online community. Each participant creates a profile page, logs their food intake and exercise time, and interacts with peers who have similar goals and self image issues. The Web site also incorporates pre-existing mobile device apps, such as “Eat This, Not That” and location-based services to help kids find healthy food easily and keep them engaged.

To further ease access to healthy food and weight loss support, the program employs a mobile truck to interact with potential participants at their schools and in their neighborhoods. Modeled after the successful food trucks that have brought variety and healthy food to every corner of Los Angeles, the DownWithDenim truck brings the tools and options to young people and steers them toward a healthier lifestyle. The truck is staffed with a community dietician and a stylist who help inspire kids to make an initial commitment to improve their health and physical activity. Staffers also employ a “magic mirror” visualization software tool that shows kids how they would look at their healthy body mass index (BMI) in order to help motivate them. By providing these services and staffing in a mobile unit, the program makes professional support available free of charge to kids of all income levels. Even as the participants are engaged through daily text messages and weekly calls or Web chats that offer targeted advice and encouragement, the truck remains a physical point of interaction between the kids and the health professionals.

When the jeans fit, participants can consult with a dietician and make an appointment to select another pair of jeans in the next size down, until they reach a healthy BMI. Those who maintain a healthy BMI are eligible to claim another pair of jeans after six months of participation in the program. Follow-up consultations and monitoring are not only essential to achieving  weight loss goals, but also are crucial to ensuring that weight is lost as a healthy rate, not exceeding one to two pounds per week. Participants who show any signs of being at risk for eating disorders are connected to professional resources.

For more information and to follow the program’s progress on Facebook, go to www.facebook.com/downwithdenim.org.