Tommy Hilfiger Teams Up With Mom Designer to Create a Line of Adaptive Clothing for Kids With Disabilities The collection launched today.
By Laura Entis
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
A fashion designer by trade -- she's had stints at Saks Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdale's -- Mindy Scheirer knows the importance of feeling good in your clothes. A mother of three, she always worked to ensure her kids can access styles that make them feel confident.
This was harder for her middle son Oliver, who was born with a rare case of muscular dystrophy and wears leg braces. "When Oliver started caring about his style, I had to make a decision: let him wear jeans that meant he couldn't go to the bathroom on his own, or tell him he couldn't dress like the other kids," she told BuzzFeed. "Saying no was not an option."
And so Scheirer tapped into her design experience. In 2013, she launched Runway of Dreams, a nonprofit that modifies popular clothing styles to accommodate the needs of children with disabilities.
Related: Teen With Cerebral Palsy Inspires Nike to Design Zip-Around Sneakers for the Disabled
Fast forward to now: Runway of Dreams has teamed up with Tommy Hilfiger to create a designer collection of kids' adaptive clothing that launched on Tommy.com today. The style maintains the aesthetic of Tommy Hilfiger's preexisting children's line, but swaps zippers and buttons for magnetic closures and adds modifications such as the ability to open sweatshirts from the back.
"We worked with Tommy's technical designers, worked with their customer service department to ensure that they understand different functions of the clothing and that they're using the correct language, and brought in differently abled models to make sure the clothing was functional," Scheirer told the outlet.
See the Buzzfeed story for more pictures of the new clothing line.
Related: This Program Wants to Help People With Disabilities Become Entrepreneurs
