Designing For Disability

Moderator: Keah Brown, Writer & Journalist

Panelists: Jeannine D’Onofrio, EVP Global Supply Chain & Executive Lead Adaptive, TOMMY

HILFIGER

Lucy Jones, Founder & CEO, FFORA

Jillian Mercado, Model and Disabilities Advocate

Mindy Scheier, Founder & CEO, RUNWAY OF DREAMS

Over 60 million Americans and 1 billion people globally live with a disability. For the world’s largest minority, the ubiquitous act of dressing remains a challenge both physically and aesthetically.

“Fashion is non-verbal communication. It’s the first thing that people see when they look at you,” FFORA’s Lucy Jones said responding to moderator Keah Brown’s opening question about fashion’s universal importance. ” “I first googled adaptive clothing when I was student at Parsons and I nearly passed out… it was a bunch of polar fleece and Velcro. I remember saying to my professor, ‘Are you looking at this shit? …Why is this acceptable?”

Mindy Scheier of Runway of Dreams has witnessed what the dearth of choices does for one’s self-esteem. “He communicated to me that not being able to wear what he wanted to wear made him feel like he dressing disabled,” she said of her son Oliver who was born with a rare form of Muscular Dystrophy. As a consultant to Tommy Hilfiger’s Adaptive Division, Scheier, along with Jeannine D’Onofrio (the company’s Executive Lead on Adaptive and EVP of Global Supply Chain), is challenging the notion that adaptive clothing is drab and clinical. Born of a truly consumer-centric focus which views inclusivity as social currency and the key to longevity, the American lifestyle brand’s innovative Tommy

Adaptive collection is an example for the fashion industry. “Welcoming everyone will make your brand more inspiring and feel optimistic,” D’Onofrio said, noting that the brand’s CEO Gary Sheinbaum stressed the importance of making progress over profit when Tommy Adaptive first launched. “We want people this community to have as many options as [non-disabled people] have, so we’re happy to share our learnings and tools with anyone who wants to get involved. We welcome the competition.”

The panelists concurred that involving people with disabilities in the design process is a critical first step in affecting change. “They have been hacking their lifestyles since they were born. They are the real problem solvers because nothing is designed from their viewpoint,” Jones pointed out. “Hire them.”

Speaking from a firsthand experience IMG model and disabilities advocate Jillian Mercado succinctly expounded on the lack of inclusion. “We’ve always been invited to cookout, but never had a chance to eat,” she said. “Growing up, I did not see myself reflected the fashion industry which I now consider my home away from home… Fashion should just listen, but just listen to listen and not to [counter with] answers. You can’t talk about us without us.”

Mercado, a native New Yorker and daughter of Dominican immigrants, also addressed being the only individual with a disability in ad campaigns or editorials. While it may come off as tokenism, it’s a positive first step towards inclusion for many of the brands she’s partnered with.

The conversation closed on the oft-overlooked issue of advertising that includes people with disabilities being used as “inspiration porn.” As Mercado powerfully stated, “We are not a way of feeling better [about your problems]. We are not your example of ‘it could be worse.’”

Gender Non-Conformity in Design

Moderator: Whembley Sewell, Executive Editor, THEM

Panelists: Pierre Davis, Founder & Head Designer NO SESSO

Arin Hayes, Co-Director, NO SESSO

Tyler Ford, Editor

Rob Smith, CEO & Founder, PHLUID PROJECT

The gender binary—which defines male and female as the sole expressions of gender—is one of the most powerful and prevalent social constructs around the world. Now more than ever, vocal LGBTQIA individuals are using fashion as a platform to push back on that notion.

“This is not a trend, it’s a movement,” Rob Smith of the world’s first gender-free store Phluid Project recalled, explaining to a boardroom of executives. The cited statistics in making the case for gender non-conformity in design and retail: “Sixty percent of Generation Z shops across gender lines. Almost half of Gen Z knows someone with a pronoun other than he/him or she/her.”

As former Glee Project contender, writer, editor, and public speaker Tyler Ford explained,

“Gender nonconformity when it comes to fashion is about expressing yourself in whatever way suits you. It [reaches] beyond pre-set gender roles and standards in terms of what men or women should wear.” Unfortunately, achieving that can be difficult as most ready-to-wear is designed in strict accordance with the binary.

“I started No Sesso because I would go to different retail stores and I couldn’t find clothing that related to me in terms of cuts, sizing, silhouettes,” Pierre Davis, the first trans designer to debut at New York Fashion Week, expressed to moderator Whembley Sewell. “They didn’t fit my body the way I wanted them to, so I created a collection that fits me and helps people who are experiencing the same thing.”

As opposed to erasing the binary all together, gender non-conforming design focuses on creating clothes that allow individuals to dress across gender distinctions no matter their physicality. “I’ve seen a lot of brands do gender non-conforming collections and it’s nothing but colorless, shapeless pieces,” Smith adds. In response, Ford asserted that collections labeled gender non-conforming should include a variety of colors and pieces from skirts and dresses to suiting.

The conversation soon shifted to representation and inclusion. “Our brand is about community,”

No Sesso’s Arin Hayes noted. “It’s built with our friends, for our friends, by our friends.” When queer people feel represented in the workforce, in ad campaigns, and on the runway, a genuine safe space is born. “The energy in the room and the outcome of the show was so rewarding,” Davis said, recalling No Sesso’s Fall-Winter 2019 runway show. “Seeing how everyone in that room related [to the collection] felt like being in a championship basketball game or something that we’d won. It was so beautiful.”

When Sewell inquired how the industry can make fashion a safe space for LGBTQIA people,

Hayes explained that listening to and hiring them is an important first step. Shortly after, Ford noted the importance of hiring queer people at all levels from junior roles to top level management. For those not as well versed in LGBTQIA issues, Ford explained that workshops and sensitivity training are valuable tools that lead to safe spaces where questions and feedback are welcomed.

The discussion closed on panelists sharing their ideal scenario of representation in fashion for gender non-conforming people. “I would like to see an accurate description of the world that we’re living in,” Hayes said. “There are people of different colors, body types, gender expressions, etc. We want to see the world represented the way it actually is.”

Health & Well-Being

Moderator: Carolyn Kylstra, Editor-in-Chief, SELF

Panelists: Colleen Wachob, Co-CEO, MINDBODYGREEN

Jean Godfrey-June, Executive Beauty Editor, GOOP

Liz Plosser, Editor-in-Chief, WOMEN’S HEALTH

Hannah Bronfman, Author & Founder, HBFIT

Tyler Rutstein, Style Collaborations, ADIDAS

While fashion embraces the health and wellness as an industry, it struggles to implement its values within the work environment.

“Fashion is a historically tough industry to work in,” SELF’s Carolyn Kylstra, panel moderator, noted at the onset of the discussion. “You might expect this panel to be about things like juice bars or meditation rooms that leaders can bring in to encourage health and wellness in the workplace, but the truth is, having a healthy work environment with job security, respect from peers, and so on, is what’s important for health.” This isn’t just Kylstra’s personal position; it’s a notion championed by a recent World

Health Organization report on fostering health in the workplace.

HBFIT’s Hannah Bronfman focuses on keeping her team incentivized. Unlimited vacation with advance notice, the ability to work remotely, and providing benefits like personalized health services like Forward (in lieu of costly health insurance plans) are manageable ways for Bronfman to create a healthier work environment as small business owner.

“Having an open and intimate environment in which my employees can talk about the issues they’re facing and feel supported is really important,” she added. “The perks that come with working in the wellness world, like free products or trying the latest workout class are great, but feeling safe and comfortable in the work environment should come [first].”

For a large company like Adidas, which operates on campuses replete with soccer pitches, basketball courts, weight rooms, and yoga studios, integrating wellness into daily work life is more seamless. Even then, Tyler Rutstein of Adidas noted that New York City requires additional creative thinking. “In New York, we have to leverage our partnership ecosystem,” he said, referring to resources like boutique fitness studios, instructors, and healthy food options.

The conversation soon pivoted to the unstable media landscape and the inevitable sense of insecurity that comes with it. “It’s a volatile time in this industry, but it’s also a really exciting one,” Women’s Health’s Liz Plosser acknowledged. “I am very aware of the fact that team members feel anxious at times. For the executive team at Hearst, my managers, and even myself as a manager, transparency is key.”

Plosser stressed the importance of telling team members about changes directly and keeping team morale up with an open-door policy and one-on-one meetings. Goop’s Jean Godfrey-June echoed the need for transparency, adding the need for clear communication, expressing appreciation, and having guardrails in place for difficult conversations.

“It’s about hiring the right people,” MindBodyGreen’s Colleen Wachob said in reference to keeping staff motivated. “For us that means hiring missionaries and not mercenaries. Even the women running our engineering team are passionate about what we’re doing to make wellness accessible.”

For Wachob, what keeps people engaged across departments is the ability to find value and purpose in their work. “I tend to shun the phrase work-life-balance and really strive for work life integration,” she said, citing the need to mindfully combine work with personal life.

“If my team members are having a bad day and they need to clear their head, then they should feel free to go workout on the 14th floor of Hearst Tower or run over to the park,” Plosser said in reference to the notion of work-life integration.

In closing, the discussion addressed health needs versus wants. As Wachob pointed out, wellness is often portrayed as a luxury or an achievement pursuit on one’s to-do list. “There’s never been more wellness in the world and there’s never been more of a need for it,” she said. “We’re clearly not solving everyone’s problems. One in ten people are food insecure. One in four are dealing with a serious mental health issue. This could be one of the first generations that doesn’t have the lifespan of previous generations. We’re going in the wrong direction.”

“There are so many fun, fancy things in the wellness industry,” Kylstra added. “But the unsexy truth is that getting good sleep, eating well, moving your body, having good relationships are what you need to be healthy.”

A special thank-you to Slido for providing its audience interaction platform for the Fashion Leadership Conference.