What Does It Take to Make Clothes for Kids with Special Needs?
This is part of “Dinner table conversations”, a series by Xyza: News for Kids that hopes to inspire great conversations at the table about news around the world. Xyza’s goal is to bring news to kids in a way that is relatable, interesting and easy to understand.
Getting dressed for school is probably fairly easy for some people, but it’s not quite as easy for many kids with disabilities. Imagine fastening buttons without fine motor skills or cutting a hole in your clothes to allow for special tubes to pass through. The team behind Target’s Cat & Jack label decided to help out.
They conducted hundreds of hours of interviews with families of kids with disabilities to understand what some of the challenges are with everyday clothing. They asked questions about how kids usually dress and what features on clothes are the most problematic (zippers!). Then the team, led by Julie Guggemos, the Senior Vice President of Product Design & Development, designed and tested the new set of adaptive clothing for kids with disabilities. The clothes included features such as pull-off sleeves and velcro side seams that make things easier to remove for kids who aren’t able to move easily. The best part? The clothing is affordable and looks just like the regular trendy wear from the brand. Nice job, team!
Sapna Satagopan and Joann Suen began building out Xyza: News for kids with the goal of bringing the world of news to kids. Available in print (yes! a kid’s newspaper!) web, and mobile, Xyza is becoming a favorite go-to source for parents, educators, and kids alike because of its rich content and diverse news stories. Visit us at www.xyzanews.com
