Victoria’s Secret will debut adaptive lingerie at New York Fashion Week.
Victoria’s Secret to debut new lingerie
The intimates retailer will be showcasing their collection for those with physical and sensory disabilities in September as part of the non-profit Runway of Dreams’ runway show, which helps give people with disabilities more visibility in fashion.
Mindy Scheier, who founded Runway of Dreams and helped Tommy Hilfiger work on their adaptive collection, connected with Victoria’s Secret by inviting its executives to a fashion show last year and spoke with them about how disabled women “care as much about feeling sexy as any typical woman”.
She added: “Not only did Victoria’s Secret need to understand the needs of this woman. They needed to understand this consumer at large.”
The company also teamed with the charity to develop the collection and cast the show.
Victoria’s Secret hailed the range as their “first pass” at a lucrative market.
Lydia Smith, Victoria’s Secret’s chief diversity officer said in a statement: “From a market perspective, there’s a lot of people (with disabilities) out there. That’s a lot of buying power.
“This will be our first pass at it. This is a small piece of our larger business.”
The new garments will cater to disabilities ranging from arthritis or cerebral palsy to autism and will form as part of the Victoria’s Secret and Pink collections.
And Lydia found it helpful to speak with Mindy and a focus group.
She said: “My big ‘aha’ moment was sitting on a call and in the focus group was a man who had cerebral palsy so he had dexterity issues.
“He talked about being able to take off his wife’s bra, which is something he hadn’t been able to do. That opened my mind that the couple was missing a certain level of intimacy.”