Addressing inadequacies in adaptive fashion for young people with disabilities, designed through collaborative engagement with the disabled community; developing novel design approaches and innovative solutions.

This project is looking to solve the problems caused by inadequate or unavailable clothing for the disabled community, using adaptive childrenswear as a basis for clothing innovation. According to the ONS, in 2021/2022 11% of children in the UK have a disability. Adaptive Fashion has started to gain traction in the fashion industry; however, the progress being made is still incremental. Our solution is to develop new garments and functionalities that will accommodate and support children and parents of those with disabilities, through a process of user-centred design. Through research and development, working closely with the disabled community, we will create new adaptivewear that can accommodate a range of disabilities, previously uncatered for. We will create a design toolkit for adaptive clothing that can be employed in future and shared with clothing retailers to grow the UK adaptive industry.