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AFP-Relaxnews
Published
Mar 14, 2022
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The clothing alteration service making fashion more inclusive for people with disabilities

By
AFP-Relaxnews
Published
Mar 14, 2022

A former Uniqlo employee has launched Japan's very first online clothing repair and alteration service entirely dedicated to people with disabilities.




A Japanese employee, who long worked for the Uniqlo brand, has been working on the subject for years, culminating in the launch of an innovative service that allows anyone to get their clothes altered to fit their disability or disabilities.

It was Teppei Maeda who came up with this ingenious idea. After discussing the subject with a hearing-impaired colleague, the entrepreneur decided to work towards making fashion more inclusive. Although he first thought of creating his own brand, this former Uniqlo employee finally chose to focus on alterations after interviewing nearly 800 disabled people who told him about their daily concerns. And so, the idea came about to enable people with disabilities to move past choosing clothes because they fit, or they're easy to wear, but for aesthetic reasons, like any other consumer.

After a successful crowdfunding campaign, Tappei Maeda has officially launched Kiyasuku, the first Japanese alterations service that allows people with physical disabilities to adapt their clothes to their daily life. To take advantage of this service, all you have to do is to make an online request with the list of clothes to be altered, choose the appropriate service, and then directly discuss the desired repair/alteration with the person who will be in charge of modifying the clothes. All that remains is to send the items, then wait for them to be altered and returned to the customer's home.

Among the services offered are the possibility of integrating an opening into the front of a T-shirt or sweatshirt, removing buttons or zippers and replacing them with Velcro, or adjusting/adapting pants for people in wheelchairs.

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