Adaptive Fashion - A Shape Fitter

By Kewal Raja 

Should fashion brands change their mindset in order to bring millions of smiles and dollars into their accounts?

Life on planet Earth began about 4.5 billion years ago, and now this planet is a habitat for nearly 20 quintillion living beings altogether. The evolution of life went through numerous phases over millions of years, but the only thing that remained constant throughout this evolution was the nature of adaptivity in living beings. The initial beings had no idea about the circle of life; hence, their only priority was survival. Therefore, the requirement to cover the body with any piece of material came at a very later stage in human evolution during the preceding Ice Age, which was approximately 180,000 years ago. The basic preference for this piece of clothing was only to tackle extreme weather conditions; hence, fit and fashion were irrelevant to these beings. In simple terms, this was the origin of adaptive fashion clothing, which changed over the centuries as the fashion industry evolved.

Transition of Fashion

The evolution of fashion after humans discovered clothing proceeded in a parallel manner with their evolution. This piece of clothing then became a piece of gender identification as well, which differentiated men from women. Nonetheless, there were no gender mandates on the preference of clothing. With the passage of time, a significant difference in clothing was created, namely comfortable, fashionable, and adaptive clothing, the latter of which was only associated with people with disabilities. 

Negligence for Adaptive Fashion

Fashion brands today assume that people with disabilities don’t or shouldn’t have a preference in fashion because they aren't watchful about their appearance. Many communities in the fashion industry possess a regressive mindset where their designs fit only on a certain body type; hence, this kind of apparel is neither inclusive for people with different body types or shapes nor is it an adaptive product for consumers with disabilities. The world would be a better place if there were no separate brands for adaptive fashion clothing in the world and all kinds of clothing were available under one umbrella brand.

The urge for awakening

Adaptive fashion clothing does not require any special design requirements; hence, companies do not have to spend any additional capital on creating different types of adaptive clothing since their designs are already being used to manufacture regular clothing. The products might only need some alterations during manufacturing to serve their customers. This small initiative can bring big smiles to many people's faces, as they can proudly wear brands they love. Such garments can bring physical comfort and mental peace to an individual who wants to keep up with the latest fashion trends.

In conclusion, if the fashion brands agree to the initiative of making those small tweaks in the design of their products, which will facilitate the production of adaptive fashion clothing under their roof, then this will not only bring happiness into the innocent lives of hundreds of people but also help them in maximizing their profits by catering to a new section of customers.