This week Tommy Hilfiger have announced that they have created a line of adaptive clothing for children, created in partnership with the organisation, Runway of Dreams. Adaptive clothing sounds like a buzzword created by technology companies in order to promote their new product, but it’s actually more straightforward, and more important than that. Adaptive clothing is clothing designed for people with disabilities.
With a line that’s classically Tommy Hilfiger, with lots of red, white and blue, the adaptive clothing range replaces buttons and zippers with magnet closures, adjustable waistbands, trouser and sleeve length. These designs come courtesy of the parents who have spent years trying to help their children wear ‘normal’ clothing. New Jersey-based fashion designer Mindy Scheier is one of those parents, and decided something had to be done after her son, Oliver asked to wear jeans to school like his friends. Oliver has a rare form of muscular dystrophy that limits his movement and requires him to wear leg braces, which means wearing jeans is a challenge. Scheier founded Runway of Dreams in 2013, a non-profit that works with fashion companies to create adaptive clothing and Tommy Hilfiger is the first major brand to create an adaptive version of an existing line.
The line includes 22 pieces for boys and girls, and costs exactly the same as the current line for kids. Scheier wrote an editorial for Time and said “this collaboration is a huge step forward and is the first of many future Runway of Dreams initiatives to bring adaptive clothing to the market and make fashion truly inclusive…Tommy Hilfiger is the first of what I believe will be many brands to do this, it’s time for the industry to come together to make change happen – to see this consumer market as an exciting chance to engage new shoppers, but more importantly, to make an impact.”. This line is part of the growing movement within the fashion world to recongise those with disabilities. The impact of this innovation is shown in a video made by Runway of Dreams that features parents of kids with disabilities, of which you can see below.
Holly Martin
all images belong to Tommy Hilfiger
