An essential step for New Zealand to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive is to steer away from mainstream clothing and look into clothing that meets individual needs.
(Kosinski, 2018) says that the goal of the clothing industry should be to create ready-to-wear clothing with adaptive features. It allows and helps people with disabilities address their functional, expressive and aesthetic needs whilst also trying to eliminate the stigma of adaptive clothing. This relevance to New Zealand is evident because 13.51% of the population has a physical disability whilst earning $144 less weekly than the average Kiwi (Stats NZ). Therefore, there need to be platforms for people at any socio-economic level to access clothing in New Zealand that fulfils their aesthetic, expressive and functional needs.
one & all. is a platform connecting people who need an alternative to mainstream clothing (due to physical disabilities) to people who either make or sell existing adaptive clothing. There are four categories to this platform. The clothing line (pūweru) specialises in clothing with adaptive features that are transforming, making each item of clothing able to be worn in many ways. The marketplace (hokonga) allows specialised sewists to upload their handmade garments with adaptive features but also allows people to sell their secondhand adaptive clothing items. The third platform uses 'how-to' videos (pehea-ki) to teach people how to adapt their clothing and a social forum (hapori) for community discussion. The vision of one & all. is to create a community that supports clothes with adaptive features, helping people with disabilities address their functional, expressive and aesthetic needs while eliminating the stigma of adaptive clothing and (hopefully) making this the new normal.