Zalando and Berlin school host a fashion design course with intellectually disabled customers, inspired by Special Olympics World Games Berlin 2023

• Collaboration between Zalando, Special Olympics World Games Berlin 2023 and Lette Verein aimed to teach young designers about the nuances of designing for the disabled community
• Outfits created by Lette Verein fashion students for four athletes with a disability as close collaborators and muses, with guidance from Zalando product developers with experience in designing adaptive wear
• Athletes sported their customs outfits at a photoshoot with fashion photographer, Mike Meyer, at Olympiapark

BERLIN, JUNE 23, 2023 // Zalando, a leading European online platform for fashion and lifestyle and a supporter of the Special Olympics World Games Berlin 2023, conducted with Lette Verein, a vocational school teaching fashion design, a pilot course called ‘Designing for disability inclusion.’ With this project they aim to inspire the next generation of fashion designers to integrate and design more inclusively through adaptive fashion.

Since the beginning of the year, 12 fashion design apprentices¹ at Lette Verein Berlin have been collaborating with four athletes with intellectual disabilities² to develop custom outfits and learn how to design with the needs of individuals from the disabled community in mind. Zalando Product Developers³ and representatives from Special Olympics World Games Berlin 2023⁴ accompanied the apprentices during the design course by providing insights on adaptive wear, tips and tricks from their own experience and expertise. Their creations were immortalised by renowned fashion photographer, Mike Meyer, during a photoshoot with the athlete-models at the Olympiapark on Tuesday.

Andrea Bury, Lead Merchandise and E-commerce at the Local Organizing Committee of the Special Olympics World Games (LOC): “It’s been an incredible journey to witness the sparks of creativity in this collaboration between all parties involved. For us as organisers, collaboration is the key to creating a more inclusive society with our athletes, for our athletes. I’m so proud of the final result, these outfits are truly empowering our athlete-models! Together, we can change the lives of people with intellectual disabilities and being able to dress in a fashionable, practical way is definitely an important aspect.”

Designing with the disabled community

Zalando launched its first adaptive collection in all 25 markets in October 2022, consisting of more than 140 styles across its private labels: Zign, Pier One, Anna Field, Yourturn and Even&Odd. Adaptive fashion is clothing, footwear and accessories catering to the needs of disabled people, intentionally designed to be accessible for people living with permanent or temporary impairments.

Sara Diez, VP Private Label & Product Supply at Zalando: “In our vision, we want to be the Starting Point for Fashion, for everyone. In order to make Zalando more accessible, we need to work with the communities and gather direct input from them, via extensive research and involvement throughout the product design process. If we want to design for them, we need to design with them. Moreover, the launch of adaptive wear in our Private Labels last autumn allowed us to test many designs and share our learnings with brand partners and, more recently, with the next generation of fashion designers in this pilot course, ‘Designing for Disability Inclusion.’”

Photoshoot at the Olympiapark

The athletes and their outfits were the centre of attention during a professional photoshoot by Mike Meyer at the Olympiapark on Tuesday 20th of June. His pictures can be downloaded in the carousel, together with some behind-the-scenes images from the designing process at Lette Verein these last months.

Martina Vogt, Head, Department for Fashion Design at Lette Verein Berlin: “It was a privilege working with these four exceptional people - their positive stance in life proved to be a true source of inspiration for our design students, who went above and beyond to get the beautiful and practical outfits ready in time for the photoshoot at the Special Olympics. Moreover, by joining forces with product developers from Zalando, we were able to incorporate some great features - experiential learning at its best. What else could I ask for as a teacher?”

Volunteering experience

In addition to the fashion design class at Lette Verein Berlin on designing for disability inclusion, Zalando gave employees the chance to connect with the world’s biggest inclusive sporting event on a more personal level; more than 100 Zalando employees are volunteering across different sports, merchandise sales, transport, maintenance and clean-up to help make the Special Olympics World Games Berlin 2023 a success. Their experiences, together with some stories of the inspirational athletes who are competing can be found on Zalando’s corporate social media channels.

¹ Students: Louise Hierholzer, Alena Keppler, Amelie König, Carlotta Manthey, Rosa Michalke, Gustav Netz, Maria Reichhard, David Sandersfeld, Lilly-Florentine Schmidt, Hilvi Schreiber, Annika Smith, Nele Widmann; Teacher: Martina Vogt

² Athletes: Juliana Rössler, Jacqueline Schiller, Dennis Mellentin,Malik Wels

³ Matthew Ruddick, Anna Karapiperidis

⁴ Andrea Bury, Zita Klimt

About Special Olympics World Games Berlin 2023
 

The mission of Special Olympics is to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community.

About Lette Verein Berlin
 

The Lette Verein, with its approximately 800 students, offers ten different vocational educations in the areas of design, health and technology, as well as many opportunities in the new Do-it-yourself | DIY College around the topics of nutrition, supply as well as sustainability. Some of the educations can be completed in two years and some in three. The Lette Verein was founded in 1866 by Wilhelm Adolf Lette as the "Verein zur Förderung der Erwerbsfähigkeit des weiblichen Geschlechts" (Association for the Promotion of the Earning Capacity of the Female Sex) and is now a well-renowned vocational training centre and a foundation under public law.