Adaptive Pants for Seniors: A Family Caregiver’s Journey
We’re so excited to introduce you to our newest product: The Everyday Freedom Pant. Our goal was to create adaptive pants for seniors that are versatile, beautiful, comfortable. And most important is that they're easy to put on and off. If you decide to purchase these pants, we’re certain that you’ll agree that we reached our goal! From the start, Joe & Bella’s mission has been to create beautiful adaptive apparel for seniors and those with diverse bodies and abilities. Joe & Bella’s cofounders, Jimmy & Peter, spent years as family caregivers and became so frustrated with the lack of beautiful clothes that fit well and functioned properly for aging bodies.
To that end, they set out to create adaptive clothes to look as good as they feel – and to function even better.They were driven to create clothing that their older family members would love to wear: state-of-the-art adaptations with classic and timeless aesthetics – clothing that feels new yet familiar. Clothing that works for them and looks like them. "I watched my grandmother struggle to dress, even with a caregiver. And she hated the adaptive clothing we bought her, saying it was all too ugly. I knew there had to be a better way, and I’m so proud to share The Everyday Freedom Pant, which will make dressing easier and a whole lot more stylish," said Jimmy Zollo, president and co-founder of Joe & Bella.
Adaptive Pants Make Dressing Easier
Adaptive clothing, also known as accessible clothing or inclusive fashion, are items that have been designed specifically to make dressing easier. For example, some adaptive clothing uses magnets instead of buttons. Magnets can be a great solution for those who live with arthritis, tremors, or lowered mobility or coordination with their hands. Other clothing can be designed to fit better – for example, shirts might be shorter to accommodate those who use wheelchairs.
Adaptive pants can help a lot of different people. Those who live with limited mobility, including in their lower back and knees, would benefit from pants that have side zippers. By opening up the pants on the side, it’s now possible to step into the legs and easily pull the pants up with little if any tension felt around the body. This can be done standing, seated, or even while lying down. Adaptive clothing can help those need help from a care partner when getting dressed – wide openings make assisted dressing quick and simple. And for those who use incontinence products or other medical ports, adaptive pants can provide easy access to these products without having to fully remove their pants.
Everyday Freedom Pant vs CareZips - Who Are They For and How Do They Help?
The Everyday Freedom Pant is the second original adaptive pants for seniors created by Joe & Bella. CareZips for men and CareZips for women, Joe & Bella’s first product, is ideal for those who use incontinence products. In addition to two side zippers that extend from the waist to the knee, CareZips features a third zipper that extends from the inside of one knee, up through the midsection to the inside of the other knee. This wide opening allows quick for incontinence products or medical devices like a catheter or an ostomy bag. The third zipper also allows the pants to more fully open up and make assisted dressing, with the help from a care partner, so much easier. Be it adaptive pants for men or adaptive pants for women, these accessible features make the pant worth it for all individuals.
The Everyday Freedom Pant, in contrast, has two long side zippers, making them ideal for those who need assistance when dressing and for those who dress independently. The closures are also discreet. CareZips has long zipper pulls whereas the Everyday Freedom Pant has a smaller pull and the zippers are hidden – so they look like other stylish pants except with the benefit of the side zippers.
Adaptive Pants With An Innovative Design
Joe & Bella’s designer, Cara Sumpton of Apparelmark, who’s also a family caregiver for a grandparent who has dementia, designed the Everyday Freedom Pant to ensure that it’s simply the finest adaptive pant on the market. Her personal experience of providing care for someone who struggles with dressing led to this being a passion project for her. “I happen to have a grandmother and grandfather with dementia, so I’ve personally experienced the hardships of helping them get dressed,” said Sumpton.
Cara’s experience designing for Lululemon and other top brands has inspired her to create Joe & Bella’s growing line of beautiful adaptive apparel. “I love that I can bring in all the knowledge and experience I have in developing products for modern, athletic brands, and bring a lot of those elements into this category that rarely sees things like stretch fabric and soft, easy-to-care-for garments,” said Sumpton.
Comfortable Pants for Seniors
Cara not only carefully designed innovative closures that are easy to use and that make dressing easier, but she also chose fabric best suited for those with sensitive skin, other sensory issues, or unique body types. The fabric is also durable, so it holds up over time without worry, even when using an industrial washer. “As a designer,” Sumpton continued, “fabric is the foundation, the first element we consider. Fabric dictates the fit and function, so it’s really important to find the right fabric.
To that end, we spent months searching for the perfect fabric for Joe & Bella’s adaptive pants. In fact, we tested more than 50 different types of fabric until we found the perfect one! The fabric provides plenty of comfort and movement with its 4-ways stretch. Everyday Freedom Pants feel like your favorite pair of sweats but look like a premium pair of pants that you can wear out on the town. The fabric is also super breathable. You won’t get too hot or too cold, making them ideal for indoor and outdoor use, no matter the weather. As its name suggests, these are pants you can wear everyday in almost every situation.
Everyday Freedom’s fabric is different from that CareZips’. While both are durable and provide 4-way stretch, the fabric for the Everyday Freedom Pant is a bit thicker and more luxurious, making it the more versatile option – great for lounging at home or for a night on the town. We added pleats on the front to not only provide an additional flare of style, but to ensure that these adaptive pants for seniors are flattering on all body types. The waistband is both smooth and snug, gently hugging the waist without being too tight or too loose. In fact, the waistband is so well constructed that these side-zip pants don’t even need a belt or drawstring!
Side Zip Pants for Easy Dressing
The key adaptive feature on the Everyday Freedom Pants are the two side zippers. Pants with side zippers make dressing a whole lot easier. Everyday Freedom Pants are able to fully open up from the waist to the knees with long, easy-to-grab zipper pulls. There’s a snap at the top by the hips to secure the pants; the snaps are strategically placed so as to avoid pressure points, making Everyday Freedom Pants a perfect option for all day and night use.
The side zippers will help those who experience pain or discomfort when bending down as well as those who are unable to bend down, including those who use a wheelchair. With the wide opening, they’re super easy to get on and off, whether standing, sitting, or lying down.
Hope You Love Them!
We hope you love The Everyday Freedom Pant as much as we do. We worked hard to create beautiful adaptive pants for seniors that not only make dressing easier, but look and feel so great that you’ll want to wear them again and again.
Your design team knocked it out of the park! I never thought adaptive clothes could be so fashionable.
