A growing, multibillion-dollar market
Carly Kusy, the program director at Jefferson, said this class is part of their philosophy that “fashion can’t just be about designing pretty clothes anymore,” that they hope to improve the industry.
She explained that this is a required course for students in their senior year, and that this will prepare them for the job market.
“The adaptive wear market is huge and it’s continuing to grow year after year exponentially,” Kusy said.
Well-known brands like Anthropologie, Target and Tommy Hilfiger already make clothes that fit people with disabilities and chronic illnesses. That market is worth billions of dollars, and continues to grow.
The fashion industry has not designed for these underserved populations in the past largely because of ignorance, said Domenica Vinci, assistant professor in fashion design, an instructor for the course and a longtime fashion designer.
“There was an ignorance of thinking, ‘Oh, someone in a wheelchair doesn’t care to be fashionable. They’re okay just wearing sweatpants.’ But when you do talk to them, they do like fashion,” she said. “Just because you have crutches doesn’t mean that when you go to a concert with your friend, you don’t want to wear the same leather jacket as your friend is wearing.”