Last year, I found myself working my way through my wardrobe, considering what I could and couldn’t wear comfortably with a newly disabled right arm. Among other concerns, I knew a lot of my clothes would be harder to put on and take off for the foreseeable future. But in the course of my digging through drawers, I came across an old pair of pants surprisingly well-suited to my left-handed situation
I’d forgotten I even owned these pants, but here they were, seen with fresh eyes in a new light. Your own clothing collection no doubt contains (incidentally) accessible apparel as well, either wearable as-is or modifiable to suit new physical limitations.
Before seeking assistive dressing aids and adaptive design brands, it pays to closely inspect your wardrobe. Look carefully at stuff you’ve sidelined, perhaps tucked in the back of a drawer or kicked to a corner of your closet. You may well discover that you have (literally) off-the-shelf solutions already at hand. In the spirit of such fortunate finds, we’ll kick things off with a pair of pants specifically useful to people (like myself) with an injured right side (but working left hand), then consider ways to recombine or retrofit old clothes to suit new needs, before exploring the wider world of (intentionally) accessible apparel.
Starts and Fits: Discovering a Piece of Accidentally Adaptive Apparel
With only my non-dominant left hand fit for use, all of my everyday jeans were suddenly (if unsurprisingly) tough to put on – especially those that required looping in a belt to keep them in place. Also: right-side pockets (half of the total, for most pants) had become annoyingly hard to reach and access, limiting what I could comfortably carry. These newfound frustrations were front of mind when I came across a pair of Prana “Zion II” pants in my closet. After putting them on and checking them out, I found they had critical features addressing various everyday problems I was facing.
We live in a world designed for two-handed people first; right-handed people second; and left-handed people last. As my injury left me a de facto lefty, these pants were a welcome anomaly. De facto righties, however, can still derive lessons useful for their own search. In most cases, designs discussed in the series are equally useful regardless of which hand is injured and which is working. These pants are a partial exception, with some benefits that apply either way, but others that are specific to those who share my sidedness.
Unfolding a Trifecta: Left-Friendly Pants Fitted with Features for One-Handed Wearers
There are three primary features that led me to appreciate these particular pants, and to purchase more beyond that first pair.
First, these pants have a built-in fabric belt …
… that can be tightened as well as loosened single-handedly. Pulling it tight is easy, as you’d expect, but the belt also has a tension-releasing buckle that you can lift to loosen it with relative ease. In combination with the stretchy fabric used throughout each pair, this belt makes it a cinch to put on and take off these pants. There are also loops, should one also wish to wear a conventional belt for style or additional support. Both belts and loops can also be useful indirectly, for clipping on a phone case, key chain, or other out-of-pocket accessory.
Also, you may find that pain from an injury or the side effects from new medications (or both) can impact your eating. The material flexibility of these pants can thus come in handy if your appetite changes and weight fluctuates (which mine did after my accident).
Aside from the greater waist range afforded by the physical flexibility of these pants and belts, it may be wise to wait until things stabilize somewhat before stacking up a complete collection of a single size. (As you might have surmised, I was a bit too eager early on in my recovery).
Second, these pants have a single cargo pocket …
… situated along the outside of the left pant leg, which is the perfect place. Having twice as many front pockets on your good side is a great way to keep whatever you regularly carry closer to hand. The fact that this bonus pocket was on that particular side was (of course) a pleasant surprise.
This convenient cargo pocket also has two zippers – one running horizontally along the top as well as one running vertically up the front side. While seated, that second zipper serves as a de facto top-access slot, so stuff won’t fall out when you open it. I can’t speak to this from experience, but could imagine that wheelchair users in particular might benefit from this unusually located pocket opening.
Whether you’re sitting or standing, this spacious and secure extra pocket can be carefully opened and safely sealed. There’s also a rubber pull tab making the zipper easier to operate with a non-dominant hand.
Third and finally, these pants come in various colors …
… enabling me to wear a variety of pairs much less self-consciously. The relatively vast visual variety allows me to rotate the lower half of my wardrobe on a regular basis without appearing to wear the same thing out in public over and over (and over) again. Their range of colors also works well for different contexts.
Prana’s pairs come in colors including (but not limited to) a sort of oceanic gray, pleasantly neutral and casual, akin to blue jeans; forestry greens and outdoorsy browns, fit for wilderness treks or dog-walking trails; a deep burgundy, because why not, I suppose; and jet black, which (in my opinion) works just fine for (semi-)formal occasions. (When I’m wearing a visible orthosis, nobody seems to notice a bit of bagginess or a stray cargo pocket.)
As a bonus: I found that Prana also sells Zion IIs in the form of shorts in various lengths with all the same features. Add a few pairs of those to the mix and you can comfortably wear some version of this design all year round, prepared for whatever weather you may encounter.
In short order, I went from having one pair of Zion IIs to owning several, before I gave up entirely on my other pants (for now, at least). I sorted and stored all of my other pairs and became a devotee of this single brand and model, thanks in part to a thriving second-hand market on eBay. (My [deadpan] apologies in advance to anyone else seeking used men’s 36x32s, as I may have decimated that particular subset of Zions).
Retro Fit: Adapting Left-Centric Pants to Be More Broadly Accessible
Aesthetic versatility was the final piece of the puzzle, pushing me to make these pants a central fixture of my post-injury wardrobe. There are also advantages to consistently wearing structurally identical pairs of pants as well. Having the same features in the same places means you can organize around the same pocket spaces and attachment points. Thinking modularly, I can easily and reliably transfer the same things to the same places every time I switch between pairs. When adapting to new limitations and bogged down by even everyday decisions, sparing yourself choice fatigue can be a valuable act of self care.
After all of the above, you might assume I consider Zion IIs to be the perfect pants (at least for lefties), but that’s not quite the case. For people (like me) with substantial one-sided motor impairment, there remains a key detail that could really use a redesign: the button closure at the top of the zipper. Replacing that with a magnetic fastener would be really helpful. In fact, I’m considering taking my own pairs to a tailor or friend for a retrofit. On the plus side: since all of the pants are structurally identical, once I find a best-fit fastener, I can bring all of my pairs to request a straightforward, repetitive set of modifications.
All the same, it’s still safe to say I’m a big fan, if you hadn’t figured that out already. It probably doesn’t hurt that I grew up in the 90s, and thus have warm and fuzzy associations with looser pants and extra pockets.
Luckily for me, all things considered, these pants match my functional needs while also looking good (as far as my stunted fashion sense is concerned). But even if I had found them functional but had disliked the aesthetic: well: you know what they say about desperate times! Now, finally, without further ado, onward to other adaptive apparel.
Fit to Be Tried: Assistive Dressing Tools & Accessible Clothing Combinations
As established above, I’m pretty flexible about form following function when it comes to fashion, particularly in light of my post-injury physical limitations. But not everyone will share my sensibilities on this front.
Some people feel more at home in a buttoned shirt, for example, or are required to wear one at work. In turn, that can create additional challenges and perhaps call for specialized dressing tools, like a handheld button hook. And it’s not just the buttons: long sleeves on shirts in general tend to make them trickier to put on, requiring an injured wearer to guide an impaired arm down a tight tunnel. Between these issues with fasteners and fit, I find it best to avoid long-sleeved shirts and sweaters when possible.
Aside from appearance, though, there are of course climate-related considerations. Continuing with the above example of long-sleeved tops, leaving those largely out of play raises questions about heat regulation. My own solution is to layer using short sleeves and jackets, then utilize accessories that can modulate my temperature while also being easily added or removed, like: hats, scarves, and mittens.
That approach seems somewhat self-evident in hindsight, but it took me some time to wrap my head around the idea of going out on a cold winter day, wearing only a t-shirt under a heavy coat, then adding accessories as needed before (or instead of) simply putting on a sweater. Living in Minnesota, however, I have had to make one exception on the long-sleeved front: one ultra-soft, quarter-zip fleece by Kuhl that I keep handy for sub-zero days. It’s not trivial to get on and off, but still much easier than a crew neck pullover. And in icy conditions, it provides essential warmth.
Found & Refashioned: Modifying Old Forms to Follow New Functional Needs
Ultimately, I was able to find a lot of what I needed by sifting through my closet. In keeping with wintery examples, I prioritized items like a warm wool overcoat with a silken lining (helpful against my hypersensitive, nerve-damaged skin) and big, easy-to-use buttons. Some things that wouldn’t work I simply boxed up, Including most of my zippered jackets. But I made exceptions, too — I kept out one puffy Patagonia jacket, for instance, that still serves a niche need on cool fall or spring days (when zipping is optional). Nonetheless, I did still need to buy a few things, of course, like winter mittens (much easier to slip on and off than gloves). But before you go shopping for new stuff it’s worth considering what items might work if modified.
Consider the aforementioned zippered coat conundrum: adding bigger zipper pulls may not be a complete fix, but it can at least improve one-handed usability. If you’re crafty, there is a lot of helpful clothing hardware you can use to modify your stuff (or hand to a tailor with instructions). I keep rolls of sew-on and adhesive sticky-backed velcro on hand, an array of magnetic buckles, various zipper pulls, plus other odds and ends and a few pairs of left-handed scissors for DIY hacks. But I also know my limits and am happy to tap experts for mods that are beyond my meager abilities.
Apparel-centric customizations also don’t need to be strictly limited to clothing items — you can also reconfigure your home to better accommodate new dressing-related needs. I’ve found it helpful to have a shoe horn mounted on a magnetic holder inside my front door, for example. Entry hall wall hooks are also handy (and fairly easy to install), not just for normal apparel but also for hanging medical slings. The more stuff you can keep out of drawers, the better. Suspending stuff out in the open makes it easier to grab, of course, but it also reduces the need to painstakingly fold clothes with just one hand.
Fashioned for Accessibility: Assistive Clothing Lines & Adaptive Apparel Brands
I originally started this article with a broad overview of intentionally adaptive apparel, thinking it made sense to begin with the big picture. But as I thought through the order of my own experience, I realized that I had it all backward. The reality is that we start with what we have, and see what works (or can be made to work) before broadening our search as needed. But here we are at last, in the realm of explicitly assistive clothing, for that survey of brands designing inclusive apparel and accessible garment lines made with disabilities in mind.
Tommy Hilfiger, for starters, was an early adopter (or perhaps: adapter) in the inclusive clothing space. The company started by modifying some of their existing lines to include new features like magnetic closures, adjustable waistbands, and easy-access openings. Target has joined in as well, selling sensory-friendly clothing (with no tags and flat seams) as well as apparel and accessories designed for wheelchair users.
Beyond these and other mainstream brands, there are various other companies filing more specific niches as well. No Limbits, as the name suggests, creates clothing for people who are missing limbs – though they make other assistive apparel too. Seven7 Adaptive specializes in jeans for wheelchair users, some of which laudably include details like accessible cargo pockets. For those with the financial means, there are also higher-end fashion designers like IZ Adaptive.
Finally, circling back to clothing more specifically for one-handed use: I personally haven’t purchased any, but in my research I came across a few potential starting points. There are shirts with magnetic closures or side-opening sleeves, for example, as well as velcro-fastened pants or side-opening pairs.
In the end, you might find that (like me) your current wardrobe contains most of what you need, either as-is or with modifications. Or you might find yourself searching farther afield for things that work better and still suit your style. Ultimately, there are a lot of approaches to choose from, and our choices will differ. As with all things fashion, but especially when it comes to adaptive apparel: one size rarely fits all.
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