People rarely think of clothes as items in need of innovation. We live in a world designed for people with full mobility, who take ‘getting dressed’ for granted.

However, one in five people globally have disabilities that deny them the human right to self-expression through clothes because they struggle with outdated technologies - like buttons.

With the partnership and help of a small, skunk works team of product designers and marketers at Tommy Hilfiger, we would develop, design and launch an entirely new “adaptive” product range to make independent dressing possible.

It would be a first in the fashion world. Fear of failure and lack of know-how had kept mainstream brands from even trying. The stakes were high: we could be triumphant, or pilloried.

So, to serve an audience that was rarely consulted about fashion, we went directly to the source- people with disabilities - and asked for their help.

We learned and applied the principles of inclusive design to both product development and marketing.

Our work was rooted in the idea that by including more people, a team becomes significantly more innovative. It’s an added benefit when innovations result in greater appeal beyond the ‘edge case’ needs they were designed to serve (Siri is a result of inclusive design). However, fashion is a notoriously exclusive industry.

So we established a mantra for our work: “Nothing about us, without us.”

If we were truly going to change how the fashion industry serves people with disabilities, we’d have to look beyond mere representation in advertising. We’d need to include people with disabilities in every stage of our design process.

This meant learning not just how to design better clothes, but how to improve product descriptions and web pages, retraining customer service, making ads more accessible and assistive devices easier to use.

We wanted to ensure we were designing with our consumers, not just for them.

To create seven totally new clothing innovations, we established a proprietary online research platform, connecting our team with 150 people with disabilities and their caregivers.

Their input helped us develop seven product innovations:

? Adjustable hems to accommodate limb differences

? Double plackets in pants to assist a seated wearer with opening and closing

? Easy open necklines for pulling shirts over the head - especially important for caregivers

? Magnetic buttons that replace traditional buttons

? One-handed magnetic zipper with pulley

? Seated wear back openings ease of dressing by caregivers

? Wide leg openings that accommodate leg braces

These innovations can be found in almost 1,500 items for men, women and children: dresses, shirts, tees, trousers and skirts. These items are virtually identical to the main line and set at the same price point.

Results are confidential.