MAR 29, 2024 JLM 75°F 12:55 PM 05:55 AM EST
In Israel, fashion is for everyone – even those with disabilities

Nothing was quite the same for Shay Senior after he injured his right arm during his military service.

One of those things stared him in the face when he opened his closet following three years of treatment and rehab: He realized could no longer wear half the clothing in his wardrobe.

“I started searching online and I found either healthcare products that a fashionable person would never wear, or fashionable brands that offer adaptive products with super-high prices,” Senior said.

“So, I created a questionnaire in four languages and spread it through social media. More than 1,000 people [with disabilities] responded with information about their daily needs. The problem was obvious, and it wasn’t just mine.”

Indeed, Senior is one of several Israeli designers making fashion accessible to people with disabilities.

He founded Palta Clothes in 2018 with Netanel Yehuda Halevi, a social activist, motivational speaker and PR specialist — and lifelong wheelchair user due to muscular dystrophy.

“Palta” is an acronym for the Hebrew phrase “act for the other.”

Palta’s Carmel shortall has elastic bands for flexibility and unique block closures to ease the dressing process for individuals with limited fine motor skills. Photo: courtesy
They ran focus groups to better understand how to make styles practical for people living with wheelchairs, amputation and vision impairment, yet appealing to people without disabilities.

“Every product our company designs is based on the person with the maximum amount of limitations. From there, we build the garment to be practical also for people without disabilities. That’s inclusivity!” exclaims Senior.

“For example, my issue was buttons,” he says. “We created a solution similar to LEGO. You can press the shirt closed with an arm or a wrist.

“Twenty percent of society lives with a sort of disability, but we are sure the 80% will also enjoy these clothes. Who doesn’t want to take off a button shirt in 2 seconds instead of 15?”

Palta has 12 styles available, all made in Israel using environmentally friendly processes and mostly organic cotton. Its first funding round is aimed at financing “a wider range of solutions and deeper technology reaching a wider group of individuals,” says Senior.

Online customers are mostly in Israel and the United States; Palta has had orders from Argentina and Spain as well. Palta also has created a collection for Israeli Paralympians to wear at the opening ceremony in Tokyo this summer.

The bootstrapped company is based in the Library coworking space sponsored by the Tel Aviv-Yafo municipality for social-impact startups. The team is helping teens in a Tel Aviv school for students with disabilities to create fashion portfolios toward future careers.

Senior says Palta garments come with a tag that a blind person can scan with a smartphone to hear what the item is, its size and color, and care instructions.

“We developed this technology in house and could add it to any item of clothing for 240 million blind people in the world to be totally independent with their wardrobe,” says Senior.

 

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Comments
Rhoda Wright 08:34 31.07.2021
Very fascinating, & wonderful , congratulations! It took someone one w/ a disability to know what & how was needed ! 🧐👍
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