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Elderly
Want Easy-On, Fashionable Clothing
Tullahoma.net
May 07, 2003
After helping to care for her
grandmother and observing other seniors, she also understood the obstacles
that many elderly people surmount just getting dressed each day.
"I saw a real need for clothing that was not only stylish but that
senior citizens could get in and out of easily," said Wells, who
created Wishing Wells Collections, Inc., a specialty line of clothing for
the elderly and those with disabilities.
Whether you're shopping or caring for seniors, choosing both functional
and stylish fashions is important to their health and well-being. And only
a few fashion outlets like Wells and Silvert's Clothing Company are
supplying this relatively untapped market.
"Many seniors have mobility and health issues brought on by
surgeries, illnesses or senior conditions like arthritis," said
Richard E. Davis, owner of the Home Instead Senior Care franchise that
serves Coffee, Franklin, Bedford, Rutherford, Lincoln and Moore Counties.
"Traditional zippers, small buttons and snaps, for instance, don't
always work for this group. At the same time, they still want to look good
and wear stylish clothing. Each day our caregivers see seniors struggling
to dress in clothes they like."
Home Instead Senior Care is the local franchise office of the largest
non-medical home care and companionship company in the U.S.
Its caregivers provide the elderly assistance with dressing,
companionship, meal preparation, medication reminders, transportation,
errands, shopping and light housekeeping.
Wells, who now helps care for her 91-year-old mother, used her personal
experience and her professional expertise in costumes to design her
clothing line.
Some of her designs feature a wrap-around jumper with Velcro closures, a
reversible front-to-back caftan and stylish pajamas with Velcro for both
men and women.
"Society doesn't recognize the importance of clothing for the more
mature citizen," Wells said. "A lot of money is spent to produce
fashions for children, but few designers think that the elderly deserve
that."
Although older women are not likely to be convinced that they should trade
in their wardrobe every year for the latest fashions, they clearly are
interested in buying new clothes, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics
information.
Consumer expenditure research from the Bureau of Labor Statistics reveals
that people age 55 or older spend $256 per person on women's clothes
compared with $243 per person for all ages.
"Having a new dress matters a lot to a woman of any age," Wells
said. "And most older men don't want to sit around in their pajamas
all day."
Fashion designers like Wells and eldercare experts agree that senior
fashion is an issue that's as much about mental and emotional health as it
is about ease of dressing.
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