Textile and Apparel Industries

Adaptive Intimate Apparel: Intersectionality of Scholarship and Industry in the Clothing and Textiles Discipline

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Abstract

People with disabilities (PWDs) are the largest minority group globally. In 2022, nearly1.2-1.85 billion people, or 15% of the global population, will live with a disability (Donovan, 2020; The World Bank, 2021; World Health Organization, 2021). When friends and family of PWDs are included, another 3.3 billion consumers connected to disability are added. Further, PWDs contribute $21 billion of disposable income to the marketplace (Yin et al., 2018). With such a significant portion of the population living with disabilities, the demand for apparel to accommodate PWD's needs is significant. Recently, apparel brands have begun to address the apparel needs of PWDs; however, a gap in the intimate market remains. Thus, this conceptual study examined the status of adaptive intimate apparel for PWDs, which leads to the intersectionality of adaptive intimate apparel and apparel scholarship in the clothing and textile discipline.

Keywords: adaptive apparel, intimate apparel, people with disabilities

How to Cite:

McBee-Black, K., Ipaye, H. & Lorts, A., (2022) “Adaptive Intimate Apparel: Intersectionality of Scholarship and Industry in the Clothing and Textiles Discipline”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 79(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/itaa.15821