Author: RCGD Team

Maintaining the sanctity of critical biodiverse spaces grows increasingly important, with industries worldwide doing real damage to our waters and air. Whenever large stretches of land go through tragedies, like Australia’s Black Summer (namely, the bonfire season of 2019-2020), the damage doesn’t stop at that specific part of the world and its indigenous cultures; it’s a tragedy for the planet as a whole. We are very dependent on biodiverse places and the indigenous cultures that take care of them and have done so for hundreds or thousands of years. But where exactly are those biodiverse places?

The term “megadiverse country” is applied to several nations that host the grand majority of the Earth’s species of flora and fauna. There are 17 megadiverse countries, most of which are in tropical and subtropical regions; in all, about 70% of the Earth’s biodiversity is located in 10% of the planet’s surface. Below, you can find an alphabetical list of megadiverse countries. Much of the data below comes from the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity website.

Australia

Seeing as it’s an actual continent, it’s no surprise to see Australia on this list. Between 7 and 10% of all species on Earth occur in the country. It hosts over 50% of the world’s marsupials and about 54% of stingrays and sharks.

Brazil

Occupying about half the total land of South America, Brazil is the most biodiverse country on Earth. It hosts the most significant chunk of the Amazon rainforest, plus the Mata Atlantica forest and a vast inland swamp called the Pantanal, all of which house multiple species of flora and fauna.

China

Besides being one of the largest and most densely populated nations on Earth, China is also highly biodiverse. Around 20% of the country is forest cover, and its forest plantations may be the largest in the world, with very diverse wildlife.

Colombia

Another country with a piece of the Amazon rainforest, Colombia hosts almost 10% of the world’s biodiversity. It has a particularly large number of bird and orchid species, as well as butterflies, plants, amphibians, and freshwater fishes.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo

The DRC is one of Africa’s most biodiverse nations, and it hosts over 50% of the continent’s tropical forests, which cover more than half of the country’s total land area. It also has many endemic species, such as the beloved bonobo.

Ecuador

Although one of the smallest countries in South America, Ecuador has been famous for its biodiversity since the days of Charles Darwin, who studied Galapagos Island species. Ecuador hosts about 6.1% of taxonomic species of animals and plants reported worldwide. 

India

The second most-populated country on Earth is also among the most diverse, containing many biomes like highlands, tropical and temperate forests, plains, grasslands, desert, high mountains, and more. In 2020, it was reported that India had 1,02,718 species of fauna.

Indonesia

Indonesia is the second most biodiverse country on Earth, hosting about 10% of the world’s flower species, 12% of its mammals, and 16% of its reptiles.

Madagascar

Over 80% of flora and fauna of Madagascar can only be found on the island, making it a truly unique place with ecosystems including forests, steppes, rivers, wetlands, mangroves, reefs, and more.

Malaysia

Approximately 60% of Malaysia is forested, and the country has vowed to maintain at least 50% of forest and tree cover in perpetuity. It has around 306 species of mammals, 242 types of amphibians, over 500 species of marine fish, and more.

Mexico

Mexico hosts 707 known reptile species, 438 mammal species, 290 species of amphibians, and an impressive flora of over 26,000 species.

Papua New Guinea

Occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea, Papua New Guinea has over 5,000 lakes, wetlands, and extensive river systems, totaling vibrant biodiversity.

Peru

One of the most biodiverse countries in Latin America, Peru hosts around 10% of the world’s species of flora, plus about 2,000 species of fish, 365 species of reptiles, and 460 species of mammals.

Philippines

The Philippines has two-thirds of the planet’s biodiversity and between 70 and 80% of the planet’s flora and fauna species. It also hosts around 5% of the world’s total flora.

South Africa

South Africa houses about 10% of the world’s plant species and 7% of its reptile, mammal, and bird species. Many of these are endemic: 56% of all amphibians, 65% of plants, and around 70% of invertebrates.

United States

With its many climates and biomes, the United States hosts over 200,000 native species, about 13% of the worldwide total recognised by taxonomists. 

Venezuela

Hosting part of the Amazon rainforest, tropical Venezuela has around 21,000 plant species, about 38% of them endemic. The country also hosts about 8,000 animal species, including an incredible 1,417 bird species, many endemic.

In the current westernised approach to fashion, which tends towards the standardisation of trends and unified aesthetics, it’s easy to think the traditional ways of making clothes are a rarity, and disconnected from consumers. However, fashion has historically been a representation of the culture and traditions of peoples all over the world – a vision that continues to this very day in many places. 

In July 2021, Indian American sustainability fashion activist Nina Elety was on the Conscious Style Podcast talking about cultural sustainability in fashion, in the context of  fashion as a regional and individual thing. She discussed her experience as someone who spent her first years in the U.S. and then moved to India at a young age: she drew the parallel whereby American fashion comes from big shops with many options of the same piece, Indian garments are almost individual treasures. 

Elety explains that, in parts of India, it’s normal to have a relationship with clothes: women will choose the fabrics, talk to weavers about what they want or even weave themselves, dye, and tailor saris to achieve the fit they desire. In all, each garment has a history and a meaning, and, as such, people will cherish them more, even passing down pieces of clothing as heirlooms. These series of practises are inherent to the culture, and can even tell the story of a time and place; fashion is a personal and individual experience in the region, as people consciously engage in what they wear, and simply don’t see clothes as disposable.

India is hardly the only country where people have relationships with their clothes. Every culture on Earth has created its garments, from the loincloth in the Amazon to the Ghanaian smock, each using the materials available to them and styling them in a way that’s most appropriate for their particular climates, symbols, and customs. Another example is how the Kuba people from the Democratic Republic of Congo have designed and handcrafted Kuba textiles for hundreds of years; weaving these fabrics is a skill that passes down through generations and forms the basis of royal ceremonial dress, which ultimately means using Kuba textiles expresses hierarchy and wealth status. It’s much more than a fabric: it’s a way to connect with culture.

Meanwhile, the Tai Lue ethnic groups (found in southern China, Laos, Myanmar and specially Thailand) have spun locally grown cotton into thread for centuries. Their intricate designs don’t just dress up the people within their communities: they tell the story of women’s connection to the household. Traditionally, Tai Lue women would weave a number of beautifully crafted items to showcase that they’d be good wives ahead of their marriages. It’s now a way for many women in rural communities to support their families.

Traditional clothes making, that is, the process of making one’s clothes or having a local tailor or seamstress make them for us is inherently sustainable, and it has been for hundreds or thousands of years. Originally, this meant a “green” approach to every step of making clothes, such as regenerative agriculture and using natural pesticides; in many places, including India, there has been a shift towards more westernised ways of planting.

Eurocentric culture has made clothing styles from countries like France or Italy the standard of luxury, while there are still rich textiles and garments in more marginalised regions, particularly in the Global South. Countries like Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and South Sudan are refusing to accept limitless second-hand clothes, demonstrating how the southern hemisphere is disproportionately affected by textile waste from the north, as is visible in places like the Atacama desert in Chile. 

There isn’t a single solution to giving its fair place to garments of cultural importance: there will be variations from region to region, depending on the local conditions. It’s important to note the processes and traditions of each place, the western influence on them (from farming to clothing aesthetics), and any other factors worth considering in how they look at both fashion and sustainability. Understanding what goes into every step of supply chains is also essential, as is giving local BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of colour) communities their place at the table, and respecting what they’ve built themselves throughout the years.

Sustainable fashion goes beyond using organic materials and providing fair working conditions across supply chains. While these are essential pillars of sustainability, for our industry to be truly sustainable it also has to have a diverse output. And that also means creating spaces for the so-called “non-traditional” bodies. This goes from extending sizes of clothing to include larger bodies or catering to children and adults with a spectrum of disabilities and special needs.

Disabled people have different needs and what constitutes the “norm” in fashion may not work for them. For example, some may have motor issues that make it difficult to use industry standards like buttons or shoelaces. Others may find it impossible to put on garments over their heads, or end up in discomfort over pants that will bulk up in a wheelchair.

According to the CDC, 26% of adults in the United States have some type of disability, whether it’s related to mobility, cognition, hearing or vision; that’s 1 in 4 people altogether. Among those, many have difficulties dressing themselves, so it also becomes a priority to have an array of garments that makes it easier for caregivers to dress them. And, of course, fashion remains a way of self-expression, and people with disabilities do also require options to simply present themselves to the world the way they feel best showcases their style and personality.

Disabled people are the largest minority in the world, with about 1 billion on the planet, 20% of whom live with great functional difficulties. It’s hardly a small crowd, yet it’s one that is widely underrepresented in the media and the fashion industry. Since there are few options, it presents a huge opportunity business-wise. In fact, Vogue Business estimates that the global market for adaptive fashion will be valued at $400 billion by 2026.

Taking into account the needs of people with disabilities, we’ve prepared a short guide to the world of fashion and disability. We hope that it can serve as an introduction for abled people with less awareness of the challenges disabled folk have when it comes to getting dressed, plus the steps brands and stores are taking to make things easier for them. 

Adaptive Fashion

Adaptive clothes are specially designed for people who have difficulty getting dressed by themselves. Usually, these garments have small yet key differences in build. Some practices in adaptive fashion include adding flap openings to put on garments, trading buttons for velcro or magnet fastenings, creating clothes with room to accommodate incontinence aids, or adding pieces of fabric that stretch in one or both directions depending on the user’s needs.

While we often think of adaptive clothes as those made for people with mobility issues, there’s also something to be said about textures for neurodivergent people. Autistic people are often very sensitive to how certain fabrics feel on their skin. Luckily, brands are catching up, although there may be more options for autistic children than adults within the spectrum. Some large brands that have stepped up to the plate with sensory-friendly clothes include American Eagle with its Ne(X)t Level Stretch denim and Aerie seamless underwear, Target’s lines of sensory-friendly clothes for children and adults and Uniqlo’s comfort garments (even though they’re not marketed as sensory-friendly). 

Current Challenges of Adaptive Fashion

As a whole, disabled people are often left out of fashion campaigns. Disabled bodies have traditionally been “hidden” from the public conversation, and certainly from high fashion. A lack of representation in campaigns and in the decision-making table has led to fewer options in shelves, but there’s a growing awareness of the need to include disability in the conversation.

Fewer off-the-rack options also means that people with disabilities spend more money on clothes in general. They may have to adapt garments themselves or spend more money on tailoring, or get shoemakers to make extra tinkering on their footwear. For example, if someone has a limp on one leg, their shoes on that foot are bound to be torn quicker. That’ll require either constantly purchasing new shoes or having them fixed far more often; either choice can be costly.

When there are options directly made for disabled people, they’re often not marketed as such, once again leaving them out of the conversation. In early 2021, Nike released its first adaptive shoe, Go FlyEase, which was made specifically with the brand’s disabled athletes in mind. The ad campaign was poorly received due to its focus on the Go FlyEase being for “everyone”, shifting the conversation away from those that would truly benefit from this shoe. As a plus, these were limited-edition trainers, so it’ll be difficult for people with disabilities to find them later on, and the prices will surely be steeper due to the reselling market of novelty sports shoes.

Generally speaking, there’s now a trend of cordless shoes in sportswear, which aren’t necessarily marketed to disabled people but can still make a world of difference to them. Just the same, velcro fastenings, often used in toddlers’ shoes, could also prove to be a great solution for adult people with motor disabilities.

Stores & Brands Stepping Up for Adaptive Fashion

Luckily, things aren’t all grim. Brands big and small have started to see the importance of stepping up to the plate and offering options for people with reduced mobility or sensory issues. Here are some of the best-known brands with available adaptive collections:

Tommy Hilfiger is one of the biggest brands to dip its toe into adaptive clothes. They’ve partnered with disability fashionistas and consultants to create lines for men, women, and children, all within the casual and laidback style the American brand is known for. They have options with easy closures, prosthetic fits, seated wear, and sensory-friendly clothing.

Target also offers adaptive clothing for kids, women, and men. Some features include side fasteners for women’s bras, flat seams, wide waistbands for a comfortable fit and side zippers.

Zappos has a wide line of adaptive products, including easy on/off shoes, AFO-friendly, easy dressing, seated clothing, orthotic friendly and sensory-friendly. They offer options for boys, girls, men and women, with a section of their available adaptive brands, including Converse Kids and Ugg.

JCPenney offers adaptive clothes, mostly for children, with adjustable features, hidden access opening for medical devices, and easy-on, easy off. Kohl’s has a similarly children-focused line that includes easy dressing, seated comfort, and sensory friendly.

There are also smaller and startup brands making strides towards a more fashionable future for disabled people. Chinese brand YVMIN partnered with Xiao Yang, a fashion influencer with a prosthetic leg, to create a beautiful collection of fashionable prosthetics. Abilitee Adaptive Wear offers many adaptive accessories, including water-resistant ostomy bag covers. Rebound Wear specialises in comfortable and easy-to-wear clothes, particularly for post-op bodies.

These are mostly available in regions like western Europe and North America, so they’re not yet fully universal solutions. However, seeing brands of different sizes create a space for different fashion needs is a major step in the right direction.

People Making a Difference

While many of the traditional issues of lack of representation persist, adaptive fashion has come a long way – and it’s because of amazing people fighting for a more inclusive industry. 

One of the great trailblazers of adaptive fashion is Stephanie Thomas, a stylist specialising in creating comfortable and attractive solutions for disabled people. Thomas, a congenital amputee, has been fighting fashion industry ableism for over 30 years, and she’s often quoted as saying it’s easier to find clothing options for pets than for people with disabilities. She’s the founder of Cur8able, a service of fashion styling, content creation, coaching and consulting for disabled people and companies who are looking to include them in their products. Thomas also developed the Disability Fashion Styling System, a 3-step criteria for clothes, accessories and footwear. As a reference in the field of adaptive fashion, Thomas has served as a consultant in fashion campaigns for brands like Nike, Zappos, and Kohl’s. She also has a TED Talk about her work as a disability stylist.

Mindy Scheier worked as a designer and stylist for years. Her son, Oliver, was born with muscular dystrophy, and as a young boy asked her for jeans and other clothes that looked like those of his abled-bodied friends. Realising there weren’t many options in stores, she modified garments herself, and later set out to make adaptive clothes more commonplace. Scheier then founded the Runway of Dreams Foundation, an organisation that works towards the inclusion of adaptive options in brands and stores. She’s consulted with major adaptive fashion collections for brands like Tommy Hilfiger and Target. Scheier also has her own TED Talk.

There are also models participating in breakthrough campaigns for brands small and large. British model with Down syndrome Ellie Goldstein works extensively with Gucci, and has been on the cover of magazines like Allure, Glamour and ELLE. Jillian Mercado, a wheelchair user with muscular dystrophy, has had a fascinating career as a model, appearing in campaigns from Diesel Jeans and Target to merchandise ads for Beyoncé’s Formation tour. Multi-talented Aimee Mullins, who had both her legs amputated from fibular hemimelia, began her stay in the public eye as a Paralympic athlete in 100-meter sprint and long-jump; since, she’s turned to activism and modelling for brands like Alexander McQueen, Kenneth Cole and L’Oréal Paris.

One name worth noting is Selma Blair’s. In 2018, the Cruel Intentions actress shared with the world that she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and in the time since she has become very vocal about living with disability. Blair has spoken at length about how hard it has been to find clothes that fit her current needs, particularly for galas and events. Having someone that notorious speak about the difficulties of navigating adaptive attire has helped open a new conversation about fashion and disability, bringing awareness to abled people outside the industry.

In Conclusion

There are certainly more adaptive clothing options now than ever before, but there’s still so much more to be done. Catering to a market of about a billion people worldwide makes sense financially and it’s essential when it comes to creating a more inclusive industry. 

We need more campaigns with disabled models normalizing different bodies, and above all, we need fashion-knowledgeable people from the disabled community in the room where decisions are made. It’s essential to empower disability activists and fashionistas so they can help us pinpoint the precise issues the community faces, and how the fashion industry can solve and circumvent them. 

While the terminology for carbon offsetting has been around for a while, with the growing concern for climate change it’s also become more commonplace. Still, some of the terms can be confusing because they’re not fully universal just yet. As more companies and even countries move towards creating solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it becomes essential to understand how to speak of greenhouse gas emissions and the way to offset them. In 2019, the global average atmospheric carbon dioxide was 409.8 parts per million. This number only keeps growing, and they’re the highest levels of carbon dioxide our atmosphere has seen for at least 800,000 years. The effects of growing greenhouse gases in our atmosphere are well-known, from acid rain to worse air for living things to breathe – and, of course, climate change. Below, you’ll find some of the most essential terms and practises environmentalists are using to fight greenhouse gas emissions. 

The first term to understand, basic though it may be, is that of the carbon footprint. This is what we call the amount of carbon dioxide produced by a single person, company, locality or even country. Don’t be fooled by the word before footprint, because most definitions of this won’t stop at carbon, as they also include other greenhouse gases like methane. We all have a carbon footprint by way of simply existing in the modern world: we contribute to emissions through our food consumption, using gasoline-based transportation, and many other things. Having an awareness of what the carbon footprint entails, and how it speaks of individual or group responsibility on the emissions in the atmosphere, can help us understand our own impact and every other subsequent concept.

The second essential term to understand is carbon offsetting. Offsetting is a conscious reduction of emissions of carbon and other greenhouse houses, and it is designed to compensate for excesses already in the atmosphere. As such, efforts towards carbon offsetting focus on reducing the “regular” emissions a single action would take, neutralising emissions through compensating actions that help the atmosphere heal or, at least, suffer no further damage. It’s also possible to take offsetting one step further and, instead of simply neutralising the usual carbon footprint of an action, also getting rid of some of the greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere. You’ll find a great guide to what carbon offsetting entails here.

In all, the idea is to balance out our carbon footprint by investing in programmes that will “right our wrong.” Still, there’s a major difference between the carbon footprint of a single person and that of a company or country, which is why there are two different ways to classify offsets: voluntary and mandatory. The mandatory offset market is regulated by carbon reduction regimes set up by local or national governments, as well as international agreements and offsetting guides. Meanwhile, the voluntary market is moved by individuals who are looking to leave a smaller carbon footprint altogether by engaging in emissions-free practices in their everyday lives.

There are various CO2 emission calculators available online, including this one. The United Nations also has its own platform for voluntary cancellation of emissions by supporting green projects, but there’s a lot of variety out there for individuals looking to engage in offsetting.

Carbon neutral was the New Oxford American Dictionary’s word of the year all the way back in 2006, and it means an activity or product that releases absolutely no greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.

 Meanwhile, climate positive is when an individual, company or country takes a step further from carbon neutrality to not just avoid releasing gases, but also directly reduce emissions already in the atmosphere. This can also be called carbon or net positive, and, confusingly enough, carbon negative. Climate positive is a more common and accepted term, but whenever you see any of those words around, remember they all pretty much mean the same thing.

We invite you to use the sources we’ve liked above to read more about the wide and fascinating universe of climate offsetting. There are many interesting projects around the planet you can support while also leaving your mark for a cleaner atmosphere!

Sustainable fashion goes beyond using organic materials and provideing fair working conditions across supply chains. While these are essential pillars of sustainability, for our industry to be truly sustainable it also has to have a diverse output. And that also means creating spaces for the so-called “non-traditional” bodies. This goes from extending sizes of clothes to larger bodies to catering to disabled ones. Disabled people have different needs and what constitutes the “norm” in fashion may not work for them. For example, some may have motor issues that make it difficult to use industry standards like buttons or shoelaces. Others may find it impossible to put on garments over their heads, or end up in discomfort over pants that will bulk up in a wheelchair.

According to the CDC, 26% of adults in the United States have some type of disability, whether it’s related to mobility, cognition, hearing or vision; that’s 1 in 4 people altogether. Among those, many have difficulties dressing themselves, so it also becomes a priority to have an array of garments that makes it easier for caregivers to dress them. And, of course, fashion remains a way of self-expression, and people with disabilities do also require options to simply present themselves to the world the way they feel best showcases their style and personality. Disabled people are the largest minority in the world, with about 1 billion on the planet, 20% of whom live with great functional difficulties. It’s hardly a small crowd, yet it’s one that is widely underrepresented in the media and the fashion industry. Since there are few options, it presents a huge opportunity business-wise. In fact, Vogue Business estimates that the global market for adaptive fashion will be valued at $400 billion by 2026. Taking into account the needs of people with disabilities, we’ve prepared a short guide to the world of fashion and disability. We hope that it can serve as an introduction for abled people with less awareness of the challenges disabled folk have when it comes to getting dressed, plus the steps brands and stores are taking to make things easier for them. 

Adaptive Fashion

Adaptive clothes are specially designed for people who have difficulty getting dressed by themselves. Usually, these garments have small yet key differences in build. Some practices in adaptive fashion include adding flap openings to put on garments, trading buttons for velcro or magnet fastenings, creating clothes with room to accommodate incontinence aids, or adding pieces of fabric that stretch in one or both directions depending on the user’s needs. While we often think of adaptive clothes as those made for people with mobility issues, there’s also something to be said about textures for neurodivergent people. Autistic people are often very sensitive to how certain fabrics feel on their skin. Luckily, brands are catching up, although there may be more options for autistic children than adults within the spectrum. Some large brands that have stepped up to the plate with sensory-friendly clothes include American Eagle with its Ne(X)t Level Stretch denim and Aerie seamless underwear, Target’s lines of sensory-friendly clothes for children and adults and Uniqlo’s comfort garments (even though they’re not marketed as sensory-friendly). 

Current Challenges of Adaptive Fashion

As a whole, disabled people are often left out of fashion campaigns. Disabled bodies have traditionally been “hidden” from the public conversation, and certainly from high fashion. A lack of representation in campaigns and in the decision-making table has led to fewer options in shelves, but there’s a growing awareness of the need to include disability in the conversation. Fewer off-the-rack options also means that people with disabilities spend more money on clothes in general. They may have to adapt garments themselves or spend more money on tailoring, or get shoemakers to make extra tinkering on their footwear. For example, if someone has a limp on one leg, their shoes on that foot are bound to be torn quicker. That’ll require either constantly purchasing new shoes or having them fixed far more often; either choice can be costly.

When there are options directly made for disabled people, they’re often not marketed as such, once again leaving them out of the conversation. In early 2021, Nike released its first adaptive shoe, Go FlyEase, which was made specifically with the brand’s disabled athletes in mind. The ad campaign was poorly received due to its focus on the Go FlyEase being for “everyone”, shifting the conversation away from those that would truly benefit from this shoe. As a plus, these were limited-edition trainers, so it’ll be difficult for people with disabilities to find them later on, and the prices will surely be steeper due to the reselling market of novelty sports shoes. Generally speaking, there’s now a trend of cordless shoes in sportswear, which aren’t necessarily marketed to disabled people but can still make a world of difference to them. Just the same, velcro fastenings, often used in toddlers’ shoes, could also prove to be a great solution for adult people with motor disabilities.

Stores & Brands Stepping Up for Adaptive Fashion

Luckily, things aren’t all grim. Brands big and small have started to see the importance of stepping up to the plate and offering options for people with reduced mobility or sensory issues. Here are some of the best-known brands with available adaptive collections:

Tommy Hilfiger is one of the biggest brands to dip its toe into adaptive clothes. They’ve partnered with disability fashionistas and consultants to create lines for men, women, and children, all within the casual and laidback style the American brand is known for. They have options with easy closures, prosthetic fits, seated wear, and sensory-friendly clothing.

Target also offers adaptive clothing for kids, women, and men. Some features include side fasteners for women’s bras, flat seams, wide waistbands for a comfortable fit and side zippers.

Zappos has a wide line of adaptive products, including easy on/off shoes, AFO-friendly, easy dressing, seated clothing, orthotic friendly and sensory-friendly. They offer options for boys, girls, men and women, with a section of their available adaptive brands, including Converse Kids and Ugg.

JCPenney offers adaptive clothes, mostly for children, with adjustable features, hidden access opening for medical devices, and easy-on, easy off. Kohl’s has a similarly children-focused line that includes easy dressing, seated comfort, and sensory friendly.

There are also smaller and startup brands making strides towards a more fashionable future for disabled people. Chinese brand YVMIN partnered with Xiao Yang, a fashion influencer with a prosthetic leg, to create a beautiful collection of fashionable prosthetics. Abilitee Adaptive Wear offers many adaptive accessories, including water-resistant ostomy bag covers. Rebound Wear specialises in comfortable and easy-to-wear clothes, particularly for post-op bodies.

These are mostly available in regions like western Europe and North America, so they’re not yet fully universal solutions. However, seeing brands of different sizes create a space for different fashion needs is a major step in the right direction.

People Making a Difference

While many of the traditional issues of lack of representation persist, adaptive fashion has come a long way – and it’s because of amazing people fighting for a more inclusive industry. 

One of the great trailblazers of adaptive fashion is Stephanie Thomas, a stylist specialising in creating comfortable and attractive solutions for disabled people. Thomas, a congenital amputee, has been fighting fashion industry ableism for over 30 years, and she’s often quoted as saying it’s easier to find clothing options for pets than for people with disabilities. She’s the founder of Cur8able, a service of fashion styling, content creation, coaching and consulting for disabled people and companies who are looking to include them in their products. Thomas also developed the Disability Fashion Styling System, a 3-step criteria for clothes, accessories and footwear. As a reference in the field of adaptive fashion, Thomas has served as a consultant in fashion campaigns for brands like Nike, Zappos, and Kohl’s. She also has a TED Talk about her work as a disability stylist.

Mindy Scheier worked as a designer and stylist for years. Her son, Oliver, was born with muscular dystrophy, and as a young boy asked her for jeans and other clothes that looked like those of his abled-bodied friends. Realising there weren’t many options in stores, she modified garments herself, and later set out to make adaptive clothes more commonplace. Scheier then founded the Runway of Dreams Foundation, an organisation that works towards the inclusion of adaptive options in brands and stores. She’s consulted with major adaptive fashion collections for brands like Tommy Hilfiger and Target. Scheier also has her own TED Talk.

There are also models participating in breakthrough campaigns for brands small and large. British model with Down syndrome Ellie Goldstein works extensively with Gucci, and has been on the cover of magazines like Allure, Glamour and ELLE. Jillian Mercado, a wheelchair user with muscular dystrophy, has had a fascinating career as a model, appearing in campaigns from Diesel Jeans and Target to merchandise ads for Beyoncé’s Formation tour. Multi-talented Aimee Mullins, who had both her legs amputated from fibular hemimelia, began her stay in the public eye as a Paralympic athlete in 100-meter sprint and long-jump; since, she’s turned to activism and modelling for brands like Alexander McQueen, Kenneth Cole and L’Oréal Paris.

One name worth noting is Selma Blair’s. In 2018, the Cruel Intentions actress shared with the world that she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and in the time since she has become very vocal about living with disability. Blair has spoken at length about how hard it has been to find clothes that fit her current needs, particularly for galas and events. Having someone that notorious speak about the difficulties of navigating adaptive attire has helped open a new conversation about fashion and disability, bringing awareness to abled people outside the industry.

In Conclusion

There are certainly more adaptive clothing options now than ever before, but there’s still so much more to be done. Catering to a market of about a billion people worldwide makes sense financially and it’s essential when it comes to creating a more inclusive industry. We need more campaigns with disabled models normalizing different bodies, and above all, we need fashion-knowledgeable people from the disabled community in the room where decisions are made. It’s essential to empower disability activists and fashionistas so they can help us pinpoint the precise issues the community faces, and how the fashion industry can solve and circumvent them. 

The worldwide fashion industry has a serious waste problem due to various factors, such as the excessive production of garments in fast fashion. One of the worst scourges of clothing waste is related to synthetic fabrics: garments are often made with at least a percentage of plastic-based fabrics, which means these items won’t naturally decompose for hundreds of years. Taking this into consideration, many brands are turning to natural fibres to decrease waste, using materials like cotton, silk, bamboo, wool, alpaca, and hemp; in all, fabrics that can easily biodegrade within days or months through simple bacterial decomposition. With this in mind, we wanted to speak a little about biodegradable clothes and the interesting things going on in this field.

What Do We Mean by Biodegradable Clothes?

For a clothing item to be considered biodegradable, it has to naturally blend into the environment in a year or less. That means that microorganisms should be able to break down a garment so it blends back into nature without issue, which cannot happen if there’s any form of synthetic material in the piece. Even small details can halt the quick biodegradation of an entire garment. Adds-ons like zippers, buttons, and traditional sequins are usually made from plastic-based materials that take hundreds of years to degrade naturally. Some manufacturers have taken steps toward making garment details more environmentally friendly, creating options like buttons made from coconut shells, buffalo horns, bones, and mother of pearl.

However, details like buttons and zippers are not the only way for clothes to include synthetic materials. All plastic-based materials can inhibit biodegradation, and that includes fast fashion staples like polyester, spandex, and nylon. Other materials and practices that halt quick biodegradation include petroleum-derived dyes and threads based on acrylics or nylon. Plus, fabrics are often coated with chemical treatment finishes that are resistant to quick biodegradation. Even commonly used natural fibres like cotton can easily become difficult to degrade through the simple act of mixing them with synthetic materials, even if the percentage of plastics is very low. As it stands right now, most fashion isn’t biodegradable although there are many brands that center their designs on compostable materials with natural dye technologies.

New Fibres Making the Cut

The realisation of our need for biodegradable clothes has given space for people with great ideas to thrive. There has been a return to natural and traditional fabrics like untreated cotton, hemp, and even bamboo, namely, materials that have been used for hundreds or thousands of years to make clothes and we’ve also seen a surge of truly interesting and new alternatives.
One thing that is super exciting to see is the new scientific approach to fashion, as material experts jump at the chance of creating new fabrics based on nature, with fibres being made from algae, soybeans, and citrus fruit.

For example, students and faculty at New York City’s Fashion Institute of Technology have created a yarn-like fibre based on algae that can be dyed with non-chemical pigments like crushed insect shells; these, in turn, can then be knitted into apparel. Theanne Schiros, one of the F.I.T. assistant professors involved in the project, then went on to co-found AlgiKnit, a company aimed at producing algae-based apparel commercially. Algalife also produces biodegradable dyes and fibres from algae, through a closed-loop and zero-waste system.

In Italy, Sicilian startup Orange Fiber uses cellulose fibre from citrus fruit peels to make biodegradable yarn, which in turn can be spun into a fabric with a very similar texture to silk. California-based company Bolt Threads specialises in creating new and nature-based fabrics, such as mushroom-based vegan leather and a fibre resembling spider silk that’s produced from fermented yeast.
There’s a growing number of brands looking to become more sustainable in every step of their manufacturing process, and diving into biodegradable clothes is one of the most environmentally friendly ways to do it. We hope we’ve shed a little bit of light on what biodegradable clothing entails and how to start your journey into this fascinating and growing world!