Women making fashion for all

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 time, was as gentle as possible. They decided there had to be a better way and set out to design clothes that could be put on in a way that didn’t cause so much pain.

Produced by Jane Thurlow

(Image: (L) Soumita Basu, credit Diganta Gogoi. (R) Victoria Jenkins, credit Deb Burrows.)