Another Case For Mainstreaming Adaptive Clothing

Another Case For Mainstreaming Adaptive Clothing By Marsha Walker Eastwood, MSHS, HS The first case for adaptive clothing was made when attire for “stout” women could not be found in the revered Godey’s Catalog. Local seamstresses were not always willing to take on a client whose ample measurements made the task of dressmaking a financially unrewarding chore. As a result unattractive, loose fitting shifts found their way into many a closet. Those were the days when women had to learn how to sew.

In 1904 when fashion visionary Lena Bryant opened her small store known as Lane Bryant’s in New York, she realized that the market for plus sized clothing had increased substantially and set out to create at least one retail establishment that sold “adaptive” clothing. But it wasn’t until the day a pregnant woman entered her store on 5th Avenue and in very soft tones asked if Lena could make a fashionable maternity garment. It was then when she began to fully appreciate the need for a particular type of apparel. Bryant capitalized on the new niche market and began commercially manufacturing maternity wear in addition to the attire for stout women.

Fast forward to 2012 where many of the consumers in need of adaptive clothing cannot just walk into a major fashion house and whisper into the ear of the owner requesting a special type of garment, or into a retail outlet and find adaptive clothing among the selections gracing the display racks and rounders.

Recently a guest on my blogtalkradio show ‘What’s Your Dilemma’, Ruth J. Clark discussed the fashion industry’s outdated stance on the quality and availability of adaptive clothing. Clark, owner of Fashion Moves Inclusive Designs brought the issue front and center by posing the questions: “When is the last time you saw a businessman who uses a wheelchair, look tidy and stylish with a Professional suit that 'fits him like a glove'? How easy is it for an arm amputee to do up Fashion Jackets that have zippers? Have you seen many Wedding Dresses designed specifically for a woman in a wheelchair?” Of course the larger question is why is the fashion industry ignoring 15%-18% of consumers who have physical disabilities that require adaptive clothing?

Representing that 15-18% are parents, grandparents, doctors, lawyers, high school teachers, college professors and athletes such as Matt Stutzman, an archer born without arms and a participant in the Paralympics. Using his feet to hold the bow, Stutzman broke the world record by firing an arrow and hitting a target 230 yards away. The demographic also includes pediatric orthopedic surgeon Michael Ain, who stands 4 feet, 3 inches tall and is one of only a handful of physicians who

are dwarfs, and mom and house manager Katy Hayes who lost both arms and legs due to developing the flesh-eating virus shortly after giving birth to her daughter.

Clark is quick to point out that these individuals all have their own full lives and substantial accommodations have been made for them in every area of their lives save for the garment industry.

The fashion retail business is like a child at the dinner table who is told to eat what has been placed before it. Stores cannot sell merchandise that has not been presented to them in a manner palatable enough for them to swallow the hook and this holds especially true for adaptive clothing. Clark’s rant is with the garment industry that somehow seems to feel that they are immune from the legislative mandate outlined in the Americans With Disabilities Act and the Human Rights legislation in Canada. The language contained in both acts demands the reduction and/or elimination of barriers for people with disabilities and in today’s society clothing is a huge barrier.

The lack of readily available adaptive clothing does not just impact the self esteem of the challenged individual but the health and well being of caregivers and therapists. According to the Family Caregiver Alliance 65.7 million caregivers make up 29% of the adult population in the United States and that number continues to rise as more elderly people require assistance with dressing and other personal care needs. These caretakers also represent many of the new neck, shoulder and back injury cases. If you do the math you can quickly discern that there is a need for readily available mainstream adaptive clothing lines.

Fashion design houses of today should take a page from Lena Bryant’s book.

She seized the opportunity to create adaptive clothing and “after measuring 4,500 of her own customers, as well as gathering information from about 200,000 other women, it was obvious that a new challenge had to be met.” (source: Wikipedia) With a little over 30% of the American population in need of adaptive clothing, surely there has to be a visionary like Lena Bryant inside each fashion house who is ready to meet today’s challenge by removing yet another barrier for the physically challenged and the people who care for them, and in the process create jobs and fuel our lagging economy. That seems pretty darn palatable to me. ©2012Marsha Walker Eastwood All rights reserved http://www.blogtalkradio.com/lwl-radio