From Skims to Anthro: 9 Brands You Might Not Know Make Adaptive Clothing

An Anthropologie model sits next to the wheel of her wheelchair posing with one arm up by her head while wearing a striped blue-and-white vest.

(Image credit: Courtesy of Anthropologie)

Of the roughly 340 million people in America, about 42.5 million live with some type of disability, making up about 13% of the total population. According to the American Institutes for Research, or AIR, this group has an estimated spending power of $490 billion, or nearly half a trillion dollars, and many in it are willing to use a portion of that to invest in fashion. That is, as long as there are brands to design pieces that fit their wants and needs.

Understanding the financial and societal benefits of catering to the sartorial wishes of people with disabilities, some of the biggest names in retail have entered the adaptive-fashion market in the last few years, designing everything from bralettes and thongs with magnetic or hook-and-eye front closures for comfort and accessibility (thank you, Victoria's Secret and Skims) to hands-free sneakers courtesy of Nike and Kizik that use a variety of advanced, patented technologies to make putting shoes on and taking them off an easy, one-and-done movement. But those are just a few of the highlights. Ahead, check out the functional fashion offerings of nine brands, all of which are putting in the work to push the fashion industry into a more inclusive future where everyone has access to clothing, shoes, and more that work for them, both practically and aesthetically.

Anthropologie

Tommy Hilfiger

Skims

Kizik

JAM

Slick Chicks

No Limbits

Nike

Victoria's Secret

Senior Fashion Editor

Eliza Huber is a New York City–based fashion editor who specializes in trend reporting, brand discovery, and celebrity style. She joined Who What Wear in 2021 after almost four years on the fashion editorial team at Refinery29, the job she took after graduating with a marketing degree from the University of Iowa. She has since launched two monthly columns, Let's Get a Room and Ways to Wear; profiled the likes of Dakota Fanning, Diane Kruger, Katie Holmes, and Sabrina Carpenter for WWW's monthly cover features; and reported on everything from the relationship between Formula One and fashion to the top trends from fashion month, season after season. Eliza now lives on the Upper West Side and spends her free time researching F1 fashion imagery for her side Instagram accounts @thepinnacleoffashion and @f1paddockfits, running in Central Park, and scouring eBay for '90s Prada and '80s Yves Saint Laurent.