Izzy Camilleri is applying her high-fashion designer experience to a new range of accessible clothing for people living with physical disabilities. Following the brand’s closure in 2016, IZ Adaptive has re-opened its doors this month with a range of clothing that caters not only to ‘seated’ wheelchair users, but also to the ‘standing’ community--a forgotten segment in the clothing market.
The fashion industry has been notoriously slow to open it’s gilded doors to a wider consumer base. Only in recent months have we seen brands start to represent different bodies in their advertising, a welcome departure from the monotony of model physiques normally seen on billboards.
Gradually the industry is moving toward a place where everyone can see themselves represented in mass advertising. But in many senses this has just been a surface level change; the reality remains that there is still a paucity in terms of actual clothing on offer for people living with physical disabilities.
The market is clearly there. In the United States alone 40 million adults live with a disability. Meanwhile, 15 percent of the world’s population experiences some kind of disability in their lifetime. And yet this demographic, Camilleri explains, remains critically underserved.
Izzy Camilleri has been in fashion long before she became an advocate for inclusivity in the industry. Having dressed the likes of style-icons Bowie, Angelina Jolie, and Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada, Camilleri has over 30 years of designing clothing for different body types.
However, one particular woman changed the direction of Camilleri’s work drastically.
“In 2004, I started creating custom clothing for a woman who was a wheelchair user. She was quadriplegic, not able to move her body from the neck down,” she recalls. “Working with her, opened my eyes to her unique clothing needs.”
Despite Camilleri’s wealth of experience, her newest venture required her to take everything she had learned about design and pattern cutting, and reinvent it. Given that clothing is traditionally created from a standing perspective, she needed to start from scratch and find a way to create from a seated perspective instead.
“I actually had to take all that I had learned, and create a new model for this type of design. I took adaptive clothing to a level it had never seen before,” she says.
It took the brand’s closure in 2016 for Camilleri to truly realize the impact that the line had had. Along with the brand’s announcement on social media that they were closing their doors, the founder says, came an outpouring of gratitude from consumers.
“It was gut-wrenching to read the emails and social media comments that were sent at the time of our announcement,” Camilleri says.
Despite this, the founder maintains that the break was necessary. The decision to produce locally in Canada was taking its toll, with high labor costs making it harder for the brand to sell at their desired price point. The company’s growth was therefore limited, the designer explains.
“As difficult as it was, we were pioneering new ground and I was burned out. I really needed a break, and needed to find a way to build the business so that it could thrive, and serve even more people,” Camilleri says.
After an extensive restructuring of the business, including moving the majority of manufacturing offshore, in 2018, the brand was ready to relaunch. The line will be stocked online in the US and Canada as well as on Zappos, and by 2019, in Macy’s too.
Camilleri says the immense support received following the announcement made it clear how much the absence of the clothing line had been missed.
“Our past clients shared their clothing experiences, or the lack thereof, during our absence. It was refreshing to see what the brand meant to people,” she says.
The new IZ Adaptive line will continue to cater to ‘seated’ wheelchair users while also introducing a number of popular items for the ‘standing’ community who are in need of adaptive clothing that is easier to get on and off than traditional clothing, she says.
Although the relocation of manufacturing to far away factories may come as a disappointment to those looking for sustainable home-grown options, Camilleri maintains that the brand is working - in the long-term at least - towards sustainable sourcing.
“Sustainability is a large and complex ideal in the world we are currently living and operating in. We are definitely working towards it, but we have to start somewhere,” the designer says. “For us, that starts with the people we are serving, and giving as many people access to adaptive clothing as possible.”
Ultimately, she hopes, the brand will find a way to operate that way, maintaining a balance between ecological resilience, economic prosperity, political and economic justice, and cultural vibrancy. For now, though the focus is on filling this void in the clothing market, something that has been a journey and challenge in and of itself.
“Creating this line, I needed to exercise compassion, listening, learning and having an open mind to fully deliver on the designs,” she says.
