Slow To Adapt
Fashion + Disability 2021
For our final campaign of 2021 we're returning to Fashion + Disability, in partnership with Unhidden and IZ ADAPTIVE to amplify the need for functional and stylish fashion that cater's for different disabilities.
When it comes to diversity within fashion we often hear about things like gender, body
size and ethnicity, but what about disability? For people with a disability finding even
basic clothes that fit, let alone being ‘fashionable’, can be an insurmountable challenge.
There are 14.1 million disabled people in the UK alone and yet the fashion industry
by-and-large has not adapted to accommodate the needs of those with different
disabilities. ‘Disabled people want to be able to have freedom of self-expression
through fashion rather than accepting scraps from an industry that has been very
slow to embrace’ them.
Furthermore, the conversation around embracing and celebrating neurodiversity has
been brought to the forefront in recent years, to challenge ableist and neurotypical
constructs as the ‘norm’ of fashion access, participation and expression.
Our Fashion + Disability campaign aims to explore the fashion needs, wants and
experiences of people with disabilities and truly hear them out. In investigating this
topic, we want to really uncover things that we ourselves may never have thought
about before; putting ourselves in the shoes of others, listening to their stories and
sharing them with others. We want to open minds and see the world through new perspectives.