ADAPT by SPF

Stylish fashion is often impractical for people with spinal cord injuries. The Swiss Paraplegic Foundation is therefore calling on fashion designers and students to come up with creative ideas to counteract this problem. 

People with a physical disability feel the need to wear clothes that are both functional and stylish. However, a lot still needs to change before they have unrestricted access to contemporary fashion. Style and functionality are rarely considered together in our society.  

ADAPT by SPF is a pioneering project from the Swiss Paraplegic Foundation with Cathérine Gasser and Ulrich Kössl, as well as Mode Suisse initiator Yannick Aellen. In 2023, the first adaptive capsule collection for wheelchair users was created in partnership with the designer Lilla Wicki as well as the Bachelor graduates Angelina Bergamin and Daniel Kaldis from the Swiss Textile College (STF). 

In 2024, the second adaptive capsule collection was developed in collaboration with Victor Prieux from the Visual (Archives™️) Society design collective, along with Clarice Pasternak, Ewen Danzeisen and Rubène Dimetto, who are students from HEAD Genève, the Geneva University of Art and Design. 

Both collections were designed in a series of workshops over several months, in close consultation with the wheelchair users Angela Fallegger, Chiara Schlatter, Florian Bickel, Mike Lackner and Nadia Dell’Oro. They also presented the two ADAPT collections alongside walking models on the iconic ramp of the Olympic Museum in Lausanne at the opening of the “Fashion and Sport” exhibition in December 2024. The wheelchair models also took to the catwalk for the labels DYL and Germanier. By doing so, they sent a powerful message: that’s inclusion in fashion!  

After two capsule collections, putting fashion for wheelchair users into the spotlight, the third ADAPT by SPF takes a thoroughly inclusive approach. This year, one or several looks are included in the collections of the labels participating in Modes Suisse & Friends: amorphose, HENDRIK VERMEULEN, JMQ – Jordan Martinez Quintana, LUNDI PISCINE and OTHMAN. From styling to pieces specially crafted for wheelchair users, the looks offer a broad spectrum organically integrated into the two runway shows.