Rabia Razzaq

Abstract

The way our clothes fit impact our capabilities to navigate the world as well as our self-expression. Unfortunately, the needs of the people who use wheelchairs daily are far from being met when it comes to fashion. One in five people in the United States identify as having some kind of disability. These numbers are expected to grow in coming years. It’s not enough to merely remedy the cycles of waste and environmental harm that fashion produces, we must create a more inclusive fashion landscape for all our needs. Re-mend is a modular service model system for co-creation of customized clothing by leveraging community skills to make clothing functional, fashionable, and accessible. Users upload their dimensions digitally and then get clothing altered to their exact specifications and fit. This approach has the potential to provide a more efficient and personalized service and improve the quality of life of people in wheelchairs.

Biography

Rabia Razzaq is a product designer who have grown up listening to the stories of diversity and inclusion as she belongs to a family who flew from India to Pakistan during partition- a time when so many people had to leave their homes behind and move to Pakistan. The stories have shaped her into a designer who creates meaningful experiences by advocating for inclusion and adaptability in the design process.