At Spoonie Threads, every new season brings fresh colors, new designs—and the chance to learn directly from our community through our Adaptive Fit Consultant program. These consultants are people living with disabilities and chronic illnesses who test our apparel and share real-world feedback. Their voices help us fine-tune the details that make all the difference.
This season, here’s what we learned:
Zipper Lengths in Adaptive Tops
Turns out, a zipper that’s just a few inches shorter can be the difference between “almost there” and “ahhh, perfect!” Thanks to feedback, we adjusted lengths to make treatments and dressing smoother by having the perfect amount of access at the chest.
Pocket Placement in Adaptive Pants
Our consultants reenforced to us that pockets aren’t just for style—they’re for access. Shifting the placement helps keep feeding tubes, pumps, or personal items secure and within reach.
Direction of Zipper Pulls For Arm Access
Right side, left side, unzipping from the top or the bottom—these little details matter when you’re dealing with ports or mobility challenges. We tweaked zipper placements to match the feedback from users who tested them at infusions and hospital visits. Comfort and ease of opening are prioritized as well as selecting a current style--after all we believe medical care apparel doesn't have to be boring!
All these insights add up to adaptive clothing that feels better, functions better, and truly supports the people wearing it.
“The Adaptive Fit Consultant program is instrumental to our product development. We recruit people with disabilities or chronic illness from a wide range of ages and sizes to provide feedback on our product ideas and new apparel or accessories. We could never develop products without the input from actual users, their feedback from wear testing our prototypes allows us to make design changes to improve the fit and functionality of our new products. The position is a paid consulting position because it’s important that we compensate our testers for their lived expertise on what adaptive fashion needs to be.”
— Saba Kamaras, President of Spoonie Threads
By listening, learning, and adapting, we’re building clothes that don’t just look good—they work for the lives our community is living every day. Want to be a future Adaptive Fit Consultant? Apply here.
