Mindy Scheier is a fashion industry veteran who began her career working as a designer and stylist. With her intimate understanding and knowledge of clothing, Scheier was inspired to start Runway of Dreams after her son Oliver was born with Muscular Dystrophy. The CFDA is proud to be collaborating with her and Runway of Dreams / Gamut Management, on an upcoming series of webinars on Adaptive Fashion. Join us for the first webinar by registering here. As an introduction, Scheier shares more about her life and work:
What was the catalyst that brought you to work in the adaptive fashion space?
I am a fashion designer by trade and worked in the industry for over 25 years. I am also the mom of a child with Muscular Dystrophy. His version of MD makes everyday tasks very challenging such as the one thing that I love more than anything …getting dressed! Oliver struggled with buttons/zippers and fitting jeans over his leg braces, so he wore sweatpants every day. When he was eight, he expressed that he felt that wearing sweatpants made him feel like he was dressing disabled. What a profound statement from an eight-year old and one that ultimately changed my whole view of the importance of clothing. Clothing has a direct correlation to confidence. The next day, I modified a pair of jeans with Velcro so that he could manage them on his own. He simply beamed with joy from being able to dress himself with something else besides sweatpants. This opened my eyes that if Oliver was struggling with clothing challenges, then how were the 1 billion people with disabilities (PWDs) on our planet managing? So, in 2014, I started Runway of Dreams with the “small” goal of changing the fashion industry to include people with disabilities…followed by Gamut Management in 2019, a talent management and consulting company exclusively with and for people with disabilities.
What were some of your early challenges?
Back in 2014, there were no mainstream brands in the Adaptive space, so when I began pitching my prototypes of modified mainstream apparel, I was constantly received with comments like “well, if no mainstream brand has ever done this before, there must be a reason.” Because this was personal to me, I was not willing to take no for an answer. I was willing to put in the time to do the necessary research, gather the data, create the business opportunity and most importantly do it all with the people with disabilities by my side. Convincing an industry that for centuries didn’t design for anyone other than “able” bodies proved to be the greatest challenge. But the challenge eventually turned in my favor and is turning more and more every year.
What were some of your early triumphs?
My greatest triumph and the “game-changing” moment came in May of 2015 when I met with the team at Tommy Hilfiger. The sole purpose of the meeting was to introduce the population of people with disabilities as consumers and how adapting mainstream clothing can do just that. This meeting marked the first time that a global brand embraced this idea as a massive opportunity. In February of 2016, we together made fashion history by launching the first ever mainstream Adaptive clothing line for kids…this has now turned into Tommy Adaptive which is currently a part of the Tommy Hilfiger portfolio. This partnership absolutely paved the way to other ground-breaking relationships around Adaptive/Inclusion with Zappos.com, Target, Kohl’s, Stride Rite, LVMH and many more on the horizon.
Why should brands consider adaptive fashion – how does it benefit their business?
People with disabilities make up the largest minority in the world that every single one of us will be a part of at some point of our life. It is estimated that 1.3 billion people globally have a disability leaving trillions of dollars on the table by not including PWDs into product offerings. Including people with disabilities is not an initiative, it’s a business opportunity. Gamut Management was born for just this reason to help companies work side by side with people with disabilities who are experts in the space and ultimately the consumer as well. Rethinking the way that PWDs are designed for, marketed to, and represented in our mainstream world is a growth strategy for any business.
How has your work in the adaptive space changed the way our industry works with People with Disabilities?
The fact that I can name six mainstream brands that have entered in the Adaptive space (with many more emerging this year) since our launch with Tommy Hilfiger in 2016 is nothing short of amazing. The industry is not only listening, but they are acting on it by putting resources and money behind this category. There is growing sense of understanding, especially with new designers, of the importance of expanding the customer base and the strong importance integrating social good. I spend a lot of time speaking to and working with the next generation of designers. It truly feels embedded in their DNA that inclusion is paramount. Because of this, I strongly believe that Adaptive will absolutely be just another category in the industry, no different than Plus size or Petite. This is such an exciting time to be a part of the change happening in the fashion business.
What is the most common misconception about adaptive fashion that you want to clear up?
I think there are two main misconceptions. I believe that the first misconception starts with understanding this population. This is NOT a small, niche community that does not care about how they look or have money to spend. People with disabilities are PEOPLE first who have hopes, dreams, and inspirations as “able” body people do. They are consumers too. Understanding this piece at its core is critical to seeing the WHY of Adaptive fashion and the very reason that Vogue Business called this “the 400 Billion adaptive opportunity.”
The second misconception is understanding the notion of “ease of dressing.” Adapting does not necessarily mean recreating…it means modifying what already exists to make it easier for everyone to wear. For example, did you know that the button and buttonhole was invented in the 13th century… the 13th Century!!! And the fact that we are still using this “technology” today that clearly excludes a huge part of the population who cannot physically manage them, just leaves room for opportunity. Let’s rethink how things are done. Let’s marry fashion and new technologies to increase the number of consumers who can wear the product. There is a reason why someone decided that a baseball hat needed to be adjustable…and that was so that it could fit ANY head…Adaptive is no different, just modifying what already exists to dress more bodies. We can do this …and do this together!
