Seemingly invisible, yet visibly important - A brief history of accessibility... in panties.

Seemingly invisible, yet visibly important
- A brief history of accessibility... in panties.

Every day, people face challenges in their lives that can reduce their confidence and productivity. The girls at Slick Chicks believe that underpants should not be one of them.

It's hard to disagree.

We introduce you to a fashion brand that combines fashion and comfort in a spectacularly simple and beautiful way. In our free translation, let us put the name as Clever Girls, which is reflected in reality, because the brand is run by women, passionate about accessibility, indeed clever, open-minded and very creative.

The girls themselves say this about themselves: "If you don't know us yet, we are a female-led brand making an impact on society."

"Our mission is to empower people
and giving them the confidence they badly need,
to face the daily challenges of life."

"Accessibility is a necessity for so many people, yet there are so few clothing options available. It's important that we as a community (of people with disabilities) amplify our voice to let the clothing industry know. This is not right - and together we are changing it!

We believe that everyone deserves to feel supported with products that give them a sense of dignity and independence.

Let's face it. Today's fashion industry lacks products that can actually change people's lives. Most fashion brands focus solely on the latest style trends rather than the quality and functionality of the clothes. But not us. We design our products not only for style reasons, but also for functionality. Each of our products, for example, has fastenings (VELCRO® brand straps, magnetic zips, Velcro fastenings) that make the dressing process easier.

We are proud to have a community full of people wanting change. For 10 years now, Slick Chicks has served as a platform for people with disabilities and chronic illnesses to speak up. As a team, we believe it is this voice that most powerfully delivers on our brand's mission."

Why the briefs?

Helya Mohammadian, founder of Slick Chicks, talks about how a family event inspired her to create a truly revolutionary fashion brand that finally doesn't tell women what to wear but listens to what they need with limitations.

"My journey began in 2012 when my sister gave birth to my adorable nephew. As often happens, complications arose during her delivery and she had to undergo an emergency caesarean section. Recuperating from the operation left her debilitated for several weeks. Just getting out of bed was a big challenge for her. Her husband had to help her use the toilet, shower and change her clothes as she could not even bend down. Something as personal as putting on her underwear, she couldn't do on her own.

Not wanting my sister to have such difficulties in her daily life, I decided it was time to find a solution. I didn't realise what a huge and widespread problem I was touching. The product I developed served a greater purpose, impacting the lives of so many people around the world. This journey has changed my perspective on something most of us take for granted every day: getting dressed."

"The foundation of getting dressed is underwear.
It's the first thing we do to start the day. It's a necessity.
But what about when it's not as simple as putting them on one leg at a time?
For people with disabilities and physical limitations, this is a problem, that they face every morning."

Slick Chicks Achievements is not just a shop for accessible underwear and other practical clothing solutions for people with disabilities. Slick Chicks is also a platform for the exchange of ideas with a well-run blog and a brand that cares about inclusivity at all stages: not only of the result, i.e. the product, but already throughout the design and production process.

This is why the Girls have partnered with MAS Holdings. MAS is a provider of progressive design and delivery solutions for the world's top sports and fashion brands, with an impressive portfolio of innovative clothing solutions, but also with a comprehensive, non-discriminatory workforce of more than 94,000 inclusive people in 16 countries.

Since its founding in 1987, MAS has advocated for equality and inclusivity to lead ethical manufacturing in Sri Lanka. Efforts to create equal employment opportunities for people with disabilities are impressive. Based on research, MAS has identified job roles that people with disabilities can safely and comfortably perform. At MAS alone, there are more than 380 employees with physical, cognitive, hearing, speech and visual impairments.

Looking for a partner that reflected their mission of commitment to sustainable change, Slick Chicks partnered with the best. In doing so, they became part of a global movement empowering people with physical limitations by creating a product for people with disabilities by people with disabilities.

Beautiful minds think alike, so similar stories are happening in parallel.

Fashion designer Izzy Camilleri spent several years creating bespoke garments for a client who suffers from paralysis and uses a wheelchair. This experience opened her eyes to the clothing challenges and limitations faced by people with physical disabilities.

After years of creating her first custom designs, Izzy realised that if her client was struggling with all these clothing obstacles, there were surely many others who had the same issues. Izzy then decided to hold a focus group meeting to listen carefully to the voice of people with disabilities about the challenges, likes and dislikes of everyday clothing.

After conducting online market research, the designer noticed how few products there were designed specifically for this demographic. Most were designed for the elderly or those in long-term care facilities. In addition, it was very outdated clothing in terms of both design and material choice.

Seeing this huge void in the market, Izzy saw an opportunity to create a modern clothing line for people with disabilities, starting from the wardrobe basics. And so, in 2009, the IZ Adaptive brand and its first line of adaptive clothing was born.

Izzy Camilleri has been hailed as a pioneer of adaptive clothing in the form of fashionable, functional pieces. Her new and innovative work has been called revolutionary. Since then, the brand's journey has been long and difficult, but Izzy has kept it alive knowing the importance of what she creates and how many lives IZ Adaptive has positively impacted.

At the start of the pandemic, Izzy created the first 'seamless trousers' to help reduce the risk of life-threatening pressure sores. This patented technology is the most important work Izzy has done in her long career, and the trousers have become an important part of the wardrobe of many IZ Adaptive customers.

Today, Izzy is seen as a Thought Leader and IZ Adaptive continues to push the boundaries, being at the forefront of innovation and always looking to the future. The company has a global reach through their online shop, they are written about by the world's read media, museums display their work and universities teach about this exciting new category of clothing.