About this episode
The episode features two women who started fashion brands to address the needs of those with restricted mobility due to health issues.
Datshiane Navanayagam talks to two women whose life changing illnesses led them to set up new businesses after they discovered high street clothes are uncomfortable and difficult to wear when you have restricted mobility or medical needs. Victoria Jenkins is one of the UK's leading adaptive fashion experts. She worked as a freelance garment technologist for fashion labels like Victoria Beckham and Jack Wills before founding the award winning universally designed fashion brand Unhidden. Victoria nearly died from an undiagnosed ulcer in 2012 and spent long periods in hospital where she met many women struggling to find clothes would accommodate their medical conditions. When she realised how hard it was to buy attractive, comfortable and practical garments she decided to design her own. Soumita Basu has an autoimmune disease called psoriatic arthritis which over time has restricted her mobility. As the condition progressed she got used to being constantly in pain but a period when she had to stay in bed proved the catalyst to setting up her clothing brand, Zyenika. The daily routine of being dressed was agonisingly painful – no matter that her mother, who was caring for her at the…
People in this episode
Host: Datshiane Navanayagam
Guests: Victoria Jenkins, Soumita Basu
Topics covered
- adaptive fashion
- disability
- entrepreneurship
- healthcare
- women's issues
Keywords
- adaptive clothing
- fashion design
- mobility issues
- women entrepreneurs
- health conditions
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Unhidden, Zyenika, BBC World Service
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