Adaptive clothing

Adaptive clothing is clothing designed around the needs and abilities of people with varying degrees of disability, including congenital disabilities, acquired disabilities (such as the result of an injury, illness or accident), age (elderly people may have trouble with opening and closing buttons) and temporary disabilities, as well as physical disabilities. Adaptive clothing is influenced by factors such as age, disability type, level of independence, mobility and dexterity, as well as whether a person requires help when dressing, such as from a caregiver. People who struggle with zippers, shoelaces, buttons or even fabrics and texture due to a type of disability may need adaptive clothing. Most adaptive clothing designs are taken from general-market clothing, the comfort of which began to increase in the 1950s, with new technologies such as elastic waistbands and stretchy fabrics.

Adaptive clothing is utilized by people with a wide range of disabilities, from wheelchair users and people with visible disabilities to those whose disabilities are not as visible, but still find themselves limited by the construction of typical clothing. Those with autism may experience sensory sensitivities to certain fabrics, which is not a visible ailment. There is also use of adaptive clothing by the elderly and children with and without disabilities, to make it easier to operate their clothing without assistance or to assist caregivers in dressing the user. Adaptive design, a core component of adaptive clothing design and construction, proactively addresses these foreseen limitations by adapting clothing to the user, benefitting both them and caregivers or healthcare professionals to be more efficient, increasing independence, as well as preventing potential back and shoulder injuries. If both functional and fashionable, adaptive clothing can increase an individual's quality of life and confidence.