Disability rights organisations ‘welcome’ Tommy Hilfiger new clothing collection for disabled adults
Tommy Hilfiger has announced plans to expand his fashion collections and offer sartorial solutions for disabled adults – a proposal that has received a great response from leading disability rights organisations in the UK.
The pieces are also designed to help carers – anyone helping a disabled person to get dressed in the morning could find it easier to pull on the garments.
Hilfiger’s new ‘Adaptive’ offering, which is available now on the US website and is intended to eventually roll out worldwide, consists of 37 men’s and 34 women’s styles with features like velcro and magnetic fastenings to eliminate any difficulties users may have faced with buttons or zips, as well as adjustable openings and seams on legs and necklines to accommodate different body shapes and prosthetic limbs.
“Fashion is to be enjoyed by everyone, though,” he says. “This is progress because it allows clothes to be demonstrated on the actual different types of people who wear them. We might not fit the fashion model, but then, most of us don’t.”
Hilfiger has led the charge to ‘democratise’ fashion in recent years, turning his biannual catwalk shows into concert-like events for the public and making his collections immediately available to buy.
This collection utilises learnings from a collaboration Hilfiger undertook with charity Runway Of Dreams last year, creating pieces for differently-abled children.
Connolly hopes that, in using his position and platform, Hilfiger will start a conversation and a subsequent ripple effect in the fashion industry.
“There are other, smaller designers out there who are working on ways to cater for us, but what this offers is a mainstream recognition,” he says. “He offers the opportunity to move the debate from being on the peripheral of fashion to being at the very centre of the industry.”
The only way Hilfiger could take it a step further, in Connolly’s opinion? “To ensure that the people who get job opportunities through this market are themselves disabled people. Both in retail, assisting customers in the shops, but also at the design development stage.” Surely their insight would be invaluable.