Disability: Zalando extends its adapted offer to the sports sector

By

Matthieu Guinebault

Published
Jun 3, 2024

After last year's launch of a range of clothing adapted for people with permanent or temporary disabilities, Zalando is going one step further this year with the launch of a range for sports enthusiasts. This will be followed later in the year by a range of clothing and footwear adapted for children.

This future roll-out was mentioned last March in Berlin during the presentation of Zalando's annual results. "Only a few medium-sized brands offer solutions for the disabled, and our aim is to be an inclusive destination for everyone," Jemma Garner, Business Developer Product D&I in charge of the adapted offer, explained to FashionNetwork.com at the time. Since last year, a dedicated search filter has been available on the Group's portal.

With items that are easy to put on, easy to fasten, sensory reduction and cuts adapted to prostheses, the entire range has been designed to meet the needs of different types of disability. By October 2022, some 140 adapted styles had been added to the range via Zalando's own brands, ZIGN, Pier One, Anna Field, Yourturn and Even&Odd. By 2022/23, 430 styles had been added, with brands such as Tommy Hilfiger Adaptive and Nike.

Since June 3, 14 adapted sportswear products for men and women have been added to the range via Pier One and Even&Odd. Zalando is also launching a Boss collaboration around the issue of adapted footwear, with a zip enabling a pair of shoes to be slipped on that also look like classic lacing. These pieces were designed with the help of Ottobock, a global specialist in health technologies and prostheses, through which Zalando was able to obtain precise feedback.

"There are 130 million disabled people in Europe," points out Laura Toledano, Zalando's Managing Director for France, the UK and Ireland. "And when we ask them about it, we find that, faced with a lack of supply and higher prices, they put style on the back burner. So the question is how to help these people to dress fashionably and at reasonable prices. And that's something that requires time and investment, with our own brands serving as a laboratory."

The campaign accompanying the adapted sports line is embodied by the athlete Fiona Pinar Batalla, who is an amputee. In such cases, it is often necessary to cut off one side of a pair of jogging shorts or trousers to make them compatible with a prosthesis. Richard, a French content creator known as @bionic.snearkers, is no stranger to this situation. He has been an amputee fashion fan since 2017, and takes style to the extreme of accessorising his prosthesis.

"Since my amputation, I've struggled with trousers. During a long journey or for sport, being able to unzip them and take off the prosthesis, is everything," gives as an example the influencer, on the occasion of the presentation of Zalando's adapted collection in Paris. "Just like being able to put on a shoe without bending down, because I'm not flexible. So these are adaptive collections that I'm expecting more and more. Luxury sets the tone for many categories of clothing, and it's important that a player like Zalando gives its own impetus to the subject."

Zalando is hoping that its approach will mobilise its partner brands in this area. And all of this in a market that has so far received so little attention from brands that no assessment has yet been made of the consumer base it could represent.