Meet the differently-abled designer who’s designing jeans for women in wheelchairs

The fashion industry is working on its inclusivity problem to be sure, but still, it so often fails to meet the needs of the differently-abled. For example, few consider what it would feel like to wear a certain pair of jeans while in a wheelchair.

Visionary Heidi McKenzie is out to change all that. As Mashable reports, McKenzie, a paraplegic woman who was paralyzed in a 2007 car accident at the age of 21, has spearheaded a line of jeans called Alter Ur Ego,  which are jeans that are tailor-made for wheelchair users.

As McKenzie explains on her Kickstarter page (the line has raised almost $12,000 of its $20,000 goal with 8 days left to go in its campaign),  “Over the past eight years, it was difficult to find fashionable and functional clothing for people in wheelchairs. There are inconveniences, health issues and discomforts that come with sitting all day, but I wasn’t ready to buy pants for grannies! I wanted to be able to wear the type of fashion I did when I could walk. I didn’t want to give up on feeling and looking good.”

So, working with designer Kristin Alexandra Tidwell, McKenzie created “the perfect pair of comfortable, functional, and fashionable blue jeans.” Here’s a diagram explaining all the awesome features these jeans will have. The line will also be sustainably made in the USA.

Currently, one can secure a pair of Alter Ur Ego jeans by donating $80 to the Kickstarter campaign. Should the campaign meet its goal, those jeans will be delivered to customers in October. Once the jeans are launched, McKenzie hopes to expand the line to include blouses, dresses, and jackets that better suit wheelchair users.

We so love how McKenzie is serving both the wheelchair community and the fashion industry, making jeans that are fashionable and functional for wheelchair users and making the world of fashion a more inclusive place.

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(Images via Alter Ur Ego Kickstarter)