Adaptive fashion brand, Unhidden, founded by Victoria Jenkins and part of POC’s Retail Ambassador, Damian Hopkins’s The Brand Group, has collaborated with Primark to launch a 49-piece men and women’s adaptive fashion clothing range, based on wardrobe staples and Primark’s bestsellers, all with features to accommodate the needs of individuals with disabilities.
The new collection will be sold in 31 Primark stores, and via Click & Collect in 113 stores, which is rolling out to encompass all Primarks in Great Britain by the end of the year. The range is part of Primark’s plans to improve accessibility for customers and colleagues, from accessible products, inclusive store environments, a culture of accessibility, and diverse representation across its campaigns.
New research from Primark, in partnership with the Research Institute for Disabled Customers (RiDC), showed that while 24% of people in the UK live with a disability, 75% find it difficult to get accessible clothing. Of those surveyed, 70% say they spend more on clothing to meet their needs, and 80% feel excluded from buying fashionable clothes.
To address this, Primark’s range strives to make dressing simpler, including features such as magnetic zips, snap fastenings, waist loops, NaviLens signage information to support the visually impaired or non-domestic language speakers, and hidden openings for tube, stoma or catheter access. To ensure the range was as functional in practice, Primark and Victoria Jenkins consulted members of the disabled community through focus groups and fitting sessions. Primark has also partnered with a number of organisations and consultants including the Business Disability Forum, Dr. Shani Dhanda, Purple Tuesday and AccessAble, who have developed Detailed Access Guides for all Primark stores in the UK and Republic of Ireland to help customers plan their visits with confidence.
As part of Primark’s ongoing action to prolong the lifespan of its clothes, this new range has been tested against the Primark Durability Framework, which tests the garments against extended real-life washing and wearing habits and industry best practices.
Charlie Magadah-Williams, head of diversity & inclusion at Primark, said, “Since the launch of our accessibility commitments, we have been working to make Primark more accessible for our customers and colleagues and the last twelve months have seen us accelerate this, introducing wider changes right across our business. At each stage of the journey in developing this adaptive collection we’ve challenged ourselves to make every element of it more accessible – from the labelling used through to how a customer will experience the product when shopping in store.”
Ann-Marie Cregan, trading director, Primark, added, “Primark has always stood for making affordable fashion accessible for everybody and everybody. There are millions of people in the UK today whose needs aren’t being met on the high street. This collection is an important step in ensuring that more people can find clothes that help them to look and feel their best without the high price tag that often comes with more specialist items or having to invest in expensive alterations. We’ve developed a range that focuses on timeless wardrobe staples that are carefully designed to be versatile and affordable.”
Victoria Jenkins, adaptive fashion designer and founder of Unhidden, said, “It’s an incredibly proud moment to see this collection go live and see adaptive fashion come to the high street on this scale for the first time. Disabled people face lots of barriers in their lives and clothing shouldn’t be one of them. We don’t want to live in a uniform of jogging bottoms and t-shirts but often don’t have a choice. I hope this launch is a step in changing that narrative, bringing more choice to the high street. We’ve created pieces that are not only functional but fashionable and affordable, because everyone deserves to feel confident and stylish in what they wear. I hope this inspires the industry to continue moving toward greater accessibility and inclusivity for all.”
Nick Lambert, head of circularity for Primark, spoke at the POC Conference last year. Read the write up here and find out more about this year’s Conference here.
