When Kolkata-based Soumita Basu started losing her mobility
gradually, she realised how inaccessible most readymade clothing is for
people with disabilities. Many designers did not even understand what
adaptive clothing meant. The struggles led her to start her own line called
Zyenika Adaptive Wear.
Do frozen shoulders or arthritic fingers deter you from wearing a saree? Or
does the thought of struggling with a bra hook come in the way of wearing a
well fitted top? When Soumita Basu started losing her upper
and lower body mobility in stages eight years ago, this is exactly what she
went through. The struggles led this former development sector professional
to start looking at the adaptive clothing scene in India.
“When I fell sick eight years ago, I started losing my mobility slowly”,
recalls Soumita who lives in Kolkata. “The disability was progressive,
starting in the jaws and spreading gradually towards my toes.” Soumita’s life
changed in fundamental ways but what affected her most was fact that she
became dependent for dressing up.
“Dressing up is a private moment and to ask people for help in this had a
strange effect on me mentally”, she recalls. “Allowing people into my
personal life was hard and I started wearing skirts and dresses more often to
avoid things like bending down”. As the disability spread, even this became
difficult. “I had arthritis, so every joint became painful and the muscles
were inflamed. Regular clothes became impossible to wear”.
Soumita took to wearing oversized clothes which would fit her badly or fall
off the shoulders. “I looked like a sack and people would stare at me
strangely and I stopped going out”. Her social life was virtually over, and
the turning point was when she stayed away from a much-loved cousin’s
wedding. “I didn’t go for my cousin’s wedding as I had nothing to wear. We
were so close and for me that was the trigger”.
Soumita started actively seeking brands that were into adaptive clothing. She
found none. The few adaptive designers she found in Chennai and Kochi were
either too expensive or hard to access. Local designers did not understand
what adaptive wear meant.
So, Soumita decided to put her interest in fabrics and design to use.
I studied fashion brands in the West that were designing adaptive wear and
I started off small and on myself. I looked at designs that I could wrap
around myself without much help and worked directly with tailors. That led
to Zyenika Adaptive Wear. We plan to launch a readymade line by June 2020
so that people can access the clothes easily. – Soumita Basu,
Founder, Zyenika Adaptive Wear
From secret openings for people who cannot raise their arms or move their
shoulders to loops with zips for better grip, Soumita’s designs have clever
techniques that help overcome mobility challenges in aesthetic ways. The
clothes have zips that have been modified for extra grip and strength. She
uses big buttons with elastic loops that help keep the top or dress in place.
Soumita is also open to co-creating designs with users so the garment is
specific to their needs, fabric an colour preferences. Given her own close
experiences with the struggles of dressing well with a disability, Soumita
has come up with many thoughtful ideas like clothes with an extra inner layer
for women who find it hard to wear a bra. “It is not an alternative to
wearing a good bra but if you are unable to wear one, this is a good option”,
adds Soumita. In the works are incontinence panties of which prototypes are
being developed.
If you want to find more about Zyenika Adaptive Wear, you can reach
out on Facebook . Email at zyenikawears@gmail.com, or WhatsApp at
+91 78900-19085.
Also Read: Some tips for how to dress your best in a
wheelchair
