Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren Bolgebaum here with a classic from the
Speaker 1: podcast archives. We touch on the fashion industry occasionally on
Speaker 1: this show. After all, it touches on art, material science, history,
Speaker 1: and lots more of the subjects that we cover, but
Speaker 1: today's classic focuses in on a specific issue, the representation,
Speaker 1: or the lack thereof, of the interests of people with
Speaker 1: disabilities within the industry. Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogebam Here,
Speaker 1: The fashion industry has some catching up to do when
Speaker 1: it comes to considering people with disabilities. That's according to
Speaker 1: the results of a recent study which surveyed thirteen people
Speaker 1: with mobility impairments. The findings showed that about half of
Speaker 1: the respondents were unable to attend events like weddings, school dances,
Speaker 1: and job interviews, or even to work out because they
Speaker 1: couldn't find appropriate clothing. Alison Cable, lead study author and
Speaker 1: assistant professor of Health side in the University of Missouri's
Speaker 1: School of Health Professions, set in a press release, the
Speaker 1: clothing industry continues to exclusively cater to able bodied individuals,
Speaker 1: despite the fact that people with disabilities often miss out
Speaker 1: on important life events due to clothing related problems. The
Speaker 1: study authors call on the fashion industry to take the
Speaker 1: millions of Americans living with disabilities into consideration when creating clothes.
Speaker 1: They wrote, the design fields and apparel industry could play
Speaker 1: a vital role in helping people with mobility disabilities navigate
Speaker 1: these barriers. Some fashion designers have already heated the call.
Speaker 1: Stephanie Alvez is the founder, CEO, and designer of a
Speaker 1: b L Denim, which provides quality denom genes for people
Speaker 1: with limited dexterity and mobility or with sensory processing issues
Speaker 1: like autism. She made the leap into the world of
Speaker 1: adaptive fashion after her step sister became a wheelchair user
Speaker 1: eight years ago. Elvis explains she wasn't getting dressed much.
Speaker 1: She looked on the web and all she could find
Speaker 1: was geriatric clothing. So I started a Janes line because
Speaker 1: or one said jeans were what they wanted most. Elves
Speaker 1: modifies designs to meet the various needs of people with disabilities.
Speaker 1: She said. Someone who sits in a wheelchair all day
Speaker 1: can be prone to pressure sores. Seems can push and hurt,
Speaker 1: and pressure sores can land you in the hospital for
Speaker 1: three months, so she strategically places seems to prevent pressure sores,
Speaker 1: and offers pants that are cut higher in the back
Speaker 1: to prevent them from slipping too low, a common complaint
Speaker 1: of wheelchair users. She offers one style with a zipper
Speaker 1: from the waist to the hips, so the whole front
Speaker 1: of the pants can come down. That makes it easier
Speaker 1: for people with catheters, feeding tubes, or clostby bags to use.
Speaker 1: Best of all, anyone can wear her designs, which is
Speaker 1: an important distinction for those who find traditional clothing for
Speaker 1: people with disabilities to be stigmatizing. Alvis said, when I
Speaker 1: wear the jeans, people don't know I'm wearing an adaptive gene.
Speaker 1: Magdalena trout Chon, who lives in have her Straw, New York,
Speaker 1: has used a wheelchair for twenty years. She blogs at
Speaker 1: Pretty Cripple and knows well the challenges of finding fashionable
Speaker 1: items that are also wheelchair friendly. One of her pet
Speaker 1: peeves is shirts with cups that are too long. These
Speaker 1: can get dirty when they rub against the wheelchairs tires.
Speaker 1: Another problem is coats, something also singled out by many
Speaker 1: respondents in the survey. We mentioned earlier. Coats can get
Speaker 1: stuck in the wheelchair wheels because they're so bulky. True
Speaker 1: Chan said, it's really hard to tuck it under your butt,
Speaker 1: so you look like a cocoon shape. What would be
Speaker 1: great is if designers could create two slits up the
Speaker 1: back like a guys business jacket. Truchon is hopeful that
Speaker 1: the fashion industry will become more cognizant of the needs
Speaker 1: of the disabled community. She said, I think people think
Speaker 1: that maybe disabled people don't care about their appearance, but
Speaker 1: I feel like because I take the effort to look good,
Speaker 1: I make people smile. She reports taking a lot of
Speaker 1: care with choosing her shoes because people always notice them,
Speaker 1: and her hats because quote, your face is the first
Speaker 1: thing a person sees. Another route for customers with disabilities
Speaker 1: who can afford it might be made to order clothing.
Speaker 1: S E n E is a custom made men's wear
Speaker 1: line that serves and of all body types, including those
Speaker 1: with limbs, of various sizes. Founder and CEO Ray Lee
Speaker 1: said in an email interview, it's a very tiny subset
Speaker 1: of our customer base, but it's definitely a meaningful one
Speaker 1: for us. Others make do with options in stores. Chris
Speaker 1: en Selmo who lives in West Hartford, Connecticut, has a
Speaker 1: form of muscular distrophy called Miyoshi myopathy. He looks for
Speaker 1: pants that are wide enough to accommodate his leg braces,
Speaker 1: and four shirts or jackets he can button up rather
Speaker 1: than pulling over his head because he has lost arm strength.
Speaker 1: He said via email, I see things heading in the
Speaker 1: right direction now that people are starting to realize that
Speaker 1: this is a need and an underserved population. Advocates for
Speaker 1: adaptive and inclusive fashion are starting to make more noise
Speaker 1: on behalf of the disabled population, and some retailers are
Speaker 1: taking note. For example, Walmart dot com carries a b
Speaker 1: L Denom items and the Inclusive Fashion Design Collective was
Speaker 1: formed to improve accessibility to attractive and functional fashion items
Speaker 1: in diverse communities. Tommy Hilfiger also has a line of
Speaker 1: a apt of clothing for kids. In addition to the
Speaker 1: efforts of individual designers, there is the Open Style Lab,
Speaker 1: a nonprofit public service project founded at the Massachusetts Institute
Speaker 1: of Technology. It runs a ten week summer program where designers, engineers,
Speaker 1: and therapists get together to create clothes for people with disabilities.
Speaker 1: It also offers an accredited course at Parsons School of
Speaker 1: Design in New York City, and the lab was part
Speaker 1: of the White House Fashion Show celebrating inclusive design, assist
Speaker 1: of Technology and prosthetics, as was a b L Denum
Speaker 1: Open Style Lab. Executive director Grace June said via email,
Speaker 1: our mission is to make style accessible to people of
Speaker 1: all abilities. While there is a growing number of companies
Speaker 1: in this market, it's still a niche selection of available
Speaker 1: clothing that is specifically aimed at people with disabilities. Any
Speaker 1: individual with or without a disability should have the ability
Speaker 1: to express themselves. Today's episode is based on the article
Speaker 1: Clothing industries narrow focus sidelines people with disabilities on how
Speaker 1: stuff Works dot Com, written by Leo Hoyt. Brain Stuff
Speaker 1: is production of I Heart Radio and partnership with how
Speaker 1: stuff works dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang.
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