Hello to all,
I would like to first say that I am a graduate student currently working on a project that would help autistic individuals create clothing special to each persons needs. As I have researched the struggles people have in their daily lives that suffer from Autism, I have found very little about the need and frustration clothing is to them. Basically, my project is to create plan to eliminate the hardships of finding the specific clothing, trying on, etc. I would like to hear from any of you that would be interested in this type of service. It would be like ordering your desired outfit and picking out the materials, closures, waist bands, colors, etc to fit your needs. With this service you could order online and get different kinds of clothes that would feel the same on the inside as per your specific needs. I need to know if there is a market for this and if any of you would be interested in finding out more.
Thank you,
Shawna
Graduate Student at University of Arkansas ↓
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| Name: mondo | Date: Jan 16th, 2007 6:23 PM |
| Hi! Its nice that you are interested in this subject that is so common with autistic children, from my experience with my son however, eventhough he was very particular about clothing he wore (so many little things he didn't tolerate), I was always able to find suitable clothing as long as I shopped around, eventually getting to know where I could find this or that. Shoes on the other hand were a bit harder (he only cared for Velcro shoes and I wanted dress shoes besides just tennis shoes so that was harder to find (nice looking black velcro shoes) but again, i was still able to find a decent pair. I write because I didn't thing this would make for a good market but I could be wrong, people might go for it, personally i would just shop around unti i find what i need rather than pay more for having special things made. I wish youluck however! ↑ |
| Name: angelagarvis | Date: Jan 17th, 2007 1:20 AM |
| Yes, Dressing my child can seem like a nightmare. She can't seem to ware much of anything, one kid at school said to me "why dose she always ware the same things" i wanted to die, cuz i can't find anything different. If she'll ware something i buy 5. ↑ |
| Name: hope3650 | Date: Jan 19th, 2007 6:13 AM |
| I don't think there would be a market for the special clothing. Just being honest. Also I'm afraid that my daughter would get really stuck on the clothes being a certain way and then I would be stuck buying them for the rest of her life. Which is not good for me, but could be good for the company who is marketing the items. My daughter is also growing really fast which makes it difficult to put much into an outfit. But that is my opinion. There may be families who have such sensitive children that it is a huge blessing to them to finally have the children be comfortable. ↑ |
| Name: adolia | Date: Jan 19th, 2007 5:59 PM |
I do not think you can make a line of clothes for children who are Autistic anymore than you could make a line of foods, medications, or anything else.
Each child is different. Yes, clothing issues are very common. But the only common part is the word "clothes". out of the 5 autistic children I have been primary caregiver for, and my own son who is autistic, none of them would have worn the same things. Some hate the tags, some it is colors, and for some it is simply being "different" than what we wore yesterday. Some children will only wear green, some only yellow. The clothing line would have to be enormous to meet the needs of even half of the autistic kids that I have seen.
A better focus may be to make clothing for children who are extremely sensitive to touch. Clothes that have no tags, no inside seams, no sharp or rough edges or points. This would be an area you could specialize in. These are the children that are the hardest to shop for. It stinks when you spend hours shopping to find that "perfect" item, only to have them wear it once and realize that the back of the button is too rough because they used the wrong type of thread.
I could see an entire line made for these chlidren. You may even want to talk to a chemist about creating a special detergent to go with the line, for sensitive skin. Until my son was 5 I had to wash everything he touched with a very mild detergent, then wash it again with no detergent before I dried it. And fabric softeners were a definete no no!
Just a suggestion, hope it helps! ↑ |
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