As with any online store, there are lots of different ways in which you can explore the products that we have on offer. With clothing brands, often the products are divided into categories like ‘tops’ and ‘bottoms’ or ‘by season’ or even ‘by occasion’. Whilst at JAM, we have these traditional shopping categories on our website, you may have noticed we also have some not-so-traditional categories under the heading ‘shop by dressing need’. So why do we have this feature on our website and what does it mean?
A lot of our customers are looking for Adaptive Clothing that meets their specific functional needs. As we design our Adaptive Clothing with subtle design features, at times this can make it harder for shoppers to know exactly which products could be helpful for them. So we decided the best way to clarify this is by categorising our products according to different dressing needs our customers commonly experience. These cover sensory friendly clothing, clothing that suits those in the seated position, easy closures, access to prosthetics and medical devices, assisted dressing and energy conservation. Some of these categories may seem self explanatory, but we’re going to explain in greater detail just what they mean.
Sensory Friendly: We’ve discussed sensory friendly clothing quite a bit in the past and who may benefit from it. This is one of our most requested categories of clothing as it can be so helpful for so many different people. For those that can become dysregulated from traditional clothing features such as tags, seams and scratchy fabrics, knowing that the design of a clothing item has been specifically created with these challenges in mind can be a game-changer. Similarly, for individuals who may not have the mobility or communication to be able to adjust their clothing or ask someone else to adjust their clothing when it is uncomfortable for them, or when a seam or tag is digging in, if they or their loved ones know they don’t even have to worry about that with the clothing they’re wearing, it can make life so much easier.
Seated Position: Our ‘seated position’ category is another area of design we frequently get asked about. When designing for those in the seated position, this doesn’t just mean full-time wheelchair users. This can relate to ambulatory wheelchair users that may use their wheelchair part-time, those that use other mobility aids that rely on them sitting for prolonged periods, or those that need to conserve their energy by sitting or lying down for a significant amount of time. These design features can include things like no pockets on the backs of pants to reduce the risk of pressure sores (and what’s the point in having pockets at the back if you can’t access them), drop crotches to be able to pull pants higher and cropped waistlines so the fabric isn’t bunching.
Easy Closures: Our Easy Closures category is probably the easiest to understand. We use a lot of different easy closures throughout our products such as magnets in place of buttons, velcro, magnetic zips, zip pullers, magnetic buckles and at times, no closures at all! Understandably, these closures make dressing a lot physically easier than traditional closures which could be useful for those with physical disability, however what a lot of people don’t consider is the positive impact these features can have on those who don’t have a diagnosis of physical disability. For example, someone who has undergone chemotherapy may now have impacted feeling or sensation in their fingertips which makes using things like buttons really difficult, or an individual with intellectual disability may find connecting zip-ends to be tricky and time-consuming. This category of clothing can benefit so many more people than just those who physically struggle with closures.
Access to Prosthetics or Medical Devices: A big consideration when designing our products is the easy access the wearer may require to things like medical devices and prosthetics. With non-Adaptive Clothing, getting quick and easy access in a discrete and comfortable way can be really challenging. For example, someone who self-catheterises will often have to take off their whole pants to access their catheter, similarly someone with a leg prosthetic who wants to make adjustments. For those that have long hospital stays or frequent hospital admissions/medical treatments, not having to constantly take their jumpers off or be cold whilst their chest port is accessed, or whilst they have an IV inserted, makes the world of difference for their comfort and overall wellbeing. These additional access points can be provided in our clothing through thoughtfully placed zips and other easy and discrete closures in places like the calves, hips, chest and arms.
Assisted Dressing: One category that often requires a bit more explaining is our ‘Assisted Dressing’ category. For a lot of people with disability or dressing needs, they require the assistance of someone else to get dressed. Often this requires full physical assistance whilst the individual getting dressed is lying down and a significant amount of manual handling support. Because of this, getting clothes onto someone can be physically difficult and exhausting and lead to a lengthy and undignified process for both parties. We utilise design features such as easy closures, stretchy fabric and easy access that allows the task of dressing to be so much faster and easier for both the wearer and person assisting. Some examples of this with our products are our Block Jacket, Bamboo Tops and Chino Pants. Our Jackets have magnetic zips down the sides so that it can be fully opened up like a poncho and then easily attached via the magnetic zip ends at the wrists and simply zip-shut. They also have a cropped back so the person assisting isn’t having to try stuff fabric down the back of the person in a seated position. Our Bamboo Tops have a great amount of stretch in them which makes it so much easier to get the top on and off someone else without worrying about the top losing it’s shape or ripping at the seams. With the additional access points in the Chino Pants, if someone assisting needs quick and easy access to things like continence aids or AFOs, they don’t have to go through the whole process of taking the pants off completely, thus reducing the amount of manual handling required significantly.
Energy Conservation: Last but definitely not least, we have our ‘Energy Conservation’ category. This is one we love to provide education on, because again a lot of people overlook this dressing need when it comes to Adaptive Clothing. Whilst someone who may need to conserve their energy due to things like Chronic Fatigue/Pain, may physically be able to get dressed and use mainstream clothing options, the amount of time and effort this takes could completely deplete their energy stores, causing them to reach their energy and/or pain thresholds, just from getting dressed. This then impacts the ability to do more important things like leaving the house to access the community, attend work and socialise. If an individual that is needing to conserve their energy can use a piece of Adaptive Clothing like our Magnetic Linen Shirts, that does up in one quick flick together of the magnets, that individual could then have the capacity to participate in what they want to as putting a shirt on hasn’t just taken away from the limited energy they have. The design features we have that assist with this are a combination of the above categories, with easy closures, additional access and sensory-friendly clothing all reducing the load for those needing to conserve their energy.
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As you can see, our shopping by dressing need categories have been deeply considered and categorised to make the shopping experience more meaningful and seamless for those searching for Adaptive Clothing solutions. Would you like to see any other dressing categories or do you have any other questions? Reach out to us at hello@jamthelabel.com
