Explore how clothing plays an important role in identity and how the apparel industry can support and encourage inclusive products marketed with integrity and fashionable design.
About The Book
Table of Contents
About The Author
Editorial Reviews
Teaching Resources
Customer Reviews
How can clothing better serve people with disabilities?
Drawing from research and personal interviews from industry representatives and consumers, author Susan Rothman Kolko examines the roles the fashion industry plays in supporting and encouraging inclusive products. The apparel industry has challenges but is moving towards realistic adaptive solutions in clothing. From equal rights to understanding identity in the social world, this book provides insight and inspiration for designers and a working vocabulary for diversity in clothing.
Adaptive Fashion is ideal reading for students studying fashion, disability, diversity, history, business, marketing, sociology, and technology.
Susan Rothman Kolko is a professor at Santa Monica College.
Kolko has crafted a groundbreaking, essential look at the world of adaptive fashion from the perspective of entrepreneurs and designers who clearly see the intersection and importance of inclusivity, accessibility, empathy, and mental wellbeing and how the time for fashion forward thinking is now.
— Janeane Bernstein, EdD, Founder of Outside the Box, author of Better Humans - What the Mental Health Pandemic Teaches Us About Humanity
A must read for anyone passionate about creating a truly inclusive and equitable fashion industry. This book is a call to action for designers, brands, and consumers alike, urging us to re- think how we define beauty, style, and accessibility.
— Brenda Cooper, Costume designer and Emmy Award Winner The Nanny, author of The Silhouette Solution
There is finally a book acknowledging that adaptive apparel design should be included in the vocabulary of all fashion studies. The physical and emotional benefits of stylish, well-fitting clothes should be accessible to all, and through Susan Kolko’s research, this underserved market is brought forward.
— Lorrie Ivas Professor Fashion Design & Merchandising Santa Monica College, author of Pencil to Pen Tool: Understanding & Creating the Digital Fashion Image.
This book serves as a reminder that the development of personal style is an important part of identity, and applies to everyone. Making this analysis part of a fashion curriculum will add yet another dimension to any designers understanding of the customer.
— Ilse Metchek, President of California Fashion Association
Susan Kolko has opened a new perspective for people in the fashion industry, as well as disability activists. Adaptive Fashion stimulates innovative thinking about the aesthetics, functionality, and marketing of fashion. It is well- researched and full of great information.
— Susan Nero, PhD, Professor Emerita Management Studies Antioch University Los Angeles
DOWNLOAD adaptive fashion presentation (.pdf format)
How can clothing better serve people with disabilities?
Drawing from research and personal interviews from industry representatives and consumers, author Susan Rothman Kolko examines the roles the fashion industry plays in supporting and encouraging inclusive products. The apparel industry has challenges but is moving towards realistic adaptive solutions in clothing. From equal rights to understanding identity in the social world, this book provides insight and inspiration for designers and a working vocabulary for diversity in clothing.
Adaptive Fashion is ideal reading for students studying fashion, disability, diversity, history, business, marketing, sociology, and technology.
Susan Rothman Kolko is a professor at Santa Monica College.
Kolko has crafted a groundbreaking, essential look at the world of adaptive fashion from the perspective of entrepreneurs and designers who clearly see the intersection and importance of inclusivity, accessibility, empathy, and mental wellbeing and how the time for fashion forward thinking is now.
— Janeane Bernstein, EdD, Founder of Outside the Box, author of Better Humans - What the Mental Health Pandemic Teaches Us About Humanity
A must read for anyone passionate about creating a truly inclusive and equitable fashion industry. This book is a call to action for designers, brands, and consumers alike, urging us to re- think how we define beauty, style, and accessibility.
— Brenda Cooper, Costume designer and Emmy Award Winner The Nanny, author of The Silhouette Solution
There is finally a book acknowledging that adaptive apparel design should be included in the vocabulary of all fashion studies. The physical and emotional benefits of stylish, well-fitting clothes should be accessible to all, and through Susan Kolko’s research, this underserved market is brought forward.
— Lorrie Ivas Professor Fashion Design & Merchandising Santa Monica College, author of Pencil to Pen Tool: Understanding & Creating the Digital Fashion Image.
This book serves as a reminder that the development of personal style is an important part of identity, and applies to everyone. Making this analysis part of a fashion curriculum will add yet another dimension to any designers understanding of the customer.
— Ilse Metchek, President of California Fashion Association
Susan Kolko has opened a new perspective for people in the fashion industry, as well as disability activists. Adaptive Fashion stimulates innovative thinking about the aesthetics, functionality, and marketing of fashion. It is well- researched and full of great information.
— Susan Nero, PhD, Professor Emerita Management Studies Antioch University Los Angeles
DOWNLOAD adaptive fashion presentation (.pdf format)