Why Adaptive Fashion Matters
Introducing Primark’s New Adaptive Fashion Range
What’s the price to pay for getting dressed in the morning?
I have been disabled my whole life - and getting dressed is the one thing I particularly still detest. An intersection of access needs plays a part - which is all the more frustrating. How do you compensate for the sensory overwhelm, as well as brushing or hospital procedures? We shouldn’t have to struggle past or compensate overly to our own detriment.
Victoria Jenkins is the founder and CEO of Unhidden, the adaptive fashion label. Primark and Jenkins worked on the world’s first mainstream adaptive fashion range that launches officially today. The new collection compromises 49 pieces of bestsellers across the womenswear and menswear categories. In stores from the 28th of this month, there will be over 96 stores stocking the range, including 31 UK stores and those with the click and collect option.
“This was always the brand our community needed” said Jenkins, while a spokesperson for the company simply said “We’re far from finished, there’s so much more work to do”.
AccessAble were also in attendance, having partnered with Primark to launch detailed access guides of access information for U.K. stores. (Founder Dr Gregory Burke can be seen in the top left hand corner, with some preview photos of the range to come.)
Almost a quarter of the UK’s population is disabled, with that number now on the rise due to the legacy of Covid 19. While the Purple Pound documents that the High Street looses £2 billion a month by ignoring basic access requirements by disabled folk, can we afford to ignore adaptive fashion any longer?
I’ve never felt at home, truly, when shopping - a disabled body is made too often to feel like a problem, in not cooperating. To have a wrap dress with ports for hospital testing and serious limits on seams - this is a revelation.
My child self has been dancing for all of today..
In Case You Missed It
over at was interviewed by debut author from over at at the Common Press bookshop last night. The very erudite commentary points to how feminism has left behind disability - but we fight the same fight. Reproductive rights access has never been equitable when it comes to disability, especially from the point of infantilisation. Jones’ book Outrage is out at the end of this month.“Ableism is fucking hard and bad for your mental health!”