Disability news and archive

F&F Clothing teams up with Thomas & Friends to create autistic friendly collection

Mattel has renewed its partnership with the National Autistic Society for a second year to develop a range of autism-friendly clothing using the Thomas & Friends brand with supermarket brand F&F Clothing. Some autistic people are highly sensitive to the feel and colour of certain materials, which means that some clothing can be unpleasant or...

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Primark launches its first adaptive lingerie collection

Value retailer Primark has unveiled its first adaptive lingerie collection in a commitment to make fashion and everyday essentials more accessible and affordable to as many people as possible. The new four-piece lingerie collection coincides with new research from Primark and the Research Institute for Disabled Consumers that states three in...

BusinessFeatured

Parsons teams up with Tilting the Lens to support disabled students

The School of Fashion at The New School’s Parsons School in New York has announced a partnership with Tilting the Lens, an accessibility consultancy led by Sinéad Burke, to support disabled students in fashion. The partnership will launch the Parsons Disabled Fashion Student Programme, a new four-year pilot combining recruitment, scholarship and...

Fashion Featured

Victoria's Secret and Pink launch debut inclusive intimate collections

Lingerie brands Victoria’s Secret and Victoria's Secret Pink, part of VS&Co, have unveiled their first-ever collection of intimates specially designed for women with disabilities. Working with GAMUT Management, the consulting and talent management company that works with and for people with disabilities, the ‘VS and Pink Adaptive’ collection was...

Fashion Featured

When clothes cause harm, innovation in adaptive fashion is the future of design

As admiration for British Vogue’s powerful May 2023 cover featuring prominent figures from the disability community continues to reverberate widely, we are reminded of the importance of visibility and representation. Vogue’s creative director Edward Enninful lives with a disability himself. People within our industry have a habit of dismissing...

Fashion Featured

QVC to boost accessible product offering and teams up with Selma Blair

Live video commerce giant QVC is expanding its commitment to adaptive clothing and accessible products and named actor, author, and disability advocate Selma Blair as its brand ambassador for accessibility. In a statement, QVC said it was looking to grow its accessible and adaptive offering by streamlining how customers find and explore them and...

Retail

Retailers could soon be forced to disclose disability pay

UK listed businesses may soon have to expand their diversity reporting to include disability pay. While the gender pay gap is officially addressed by many companies now that regulations requires the information to be disclosed, the same could soon hold for disability pay gaps. Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show a pay gap of...

Retail

Disability-led high-end shopping platform Adaptista launches

Adaptista, the UK’s first disability-led high-end shopping platform, which aims to shift the narrative of what accessible and adaptive clothing should look like has launched. The online platform features carefully curated adaptive fashion, beauty and lifestyle brands, including Constant & Zoé, BP3 Underwear and Free Form Style, which offer...

RetailFeatured

Retailers ‘go purple’ in support of disabled customers

Retailers and shopping destinations including Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury’s and centres owned and managed by Intu and The Crown Estate are looking to improve the customer experience for disabled people by supporting Purple Tuesday, taking place today, November 12. The accessible shopping day is encouraging businesses to improve customer...

Fashion

Made by foot: Mexican designer overcomes disability in style

When Adriana Macias graduated from law school, she found no firm was interested in hiring an attorney without arms. So Macias, a 41-year-old Mexican woman who was born without them, began working as a writer, playwright, motivational speaker and now a fashion designer who has just launched a new clothing line. She designed it -- as she does...

Fashion

Ukraine celebrates first disable model Alexandra Kutas

When Alexandra Kutas headlined a recent fashion show in Kiev it was not just a personal dream come true but also a victory for disabled people in her homeland Ukraine. Wearing a long, black dress, she wowed the crowd as she was carried across the catwalk on a wooden throne by four trim men, becoming the first model with a disability to take the...

Fashion

Study shows: disabled people are an emerging market for fashion

People who have a disability are generally thought of as a niche market within the fashion industry. Yet, a study which was led by Nottingham Trent University (NTU) lecturer Julian Wing has proven that this market holds a lot of potential for growth. “Disabled people are not accepted in many areas of mainstream fashion,” believes Wing, who is...