Adaptive Apparel Collection
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Competitor Research
Telfar
Brand Description
Telfar is a genderless/unisex clothing brand that was created in 2005 by Telfar Clemmons. Since the beginning they have focused on Inclusive design creating Shirts, Hoodies, Bottoms and extensive amounts of accessories. They pride themselves on accessibility and inclusivity for all people while providing new and fresh designs.
Product Categories: Shirts, Hoodies, Performance, Denim, Bags and Accessories
Location: North America
Price Point: Bridge $80-500
Target Market: Gender Neutral Men and Women, Ages 18-60
Competitive Edge: High Quality, Brand Image, Gender Neutral, Collaborations
Key Attributes: Brand image and relevancy are heavily established already, they are known for creating very high quality garments within the industry and well respected.
Riley Studio
Brand Description
Riley Studios was founded to make conscious consumerism the norm. Creating unisex essentials that are high quality. With a major focus towards sustainability and gender neutral designs. Implementing Organic designing that is completely biodegradable and life time guaranteed repairs on all garments.
Product Categories: Tops, Bottoms, Outerwear, Accessories
Location: North America
Price Point: Moderate $50-175
Target Market: Gender Neutral Men and Women, Ages 18-35
Competitive Edge: Timeless Designs, Sustainable, Unique, Gender Neutral
Key Attributes: The design aspects within the collections in Riley Studios set them apart from other brands by offering basics that are comfortable and aseptically appealing while being sustianable and offering a unique business model with eco friendly production
Rich Mnisi
Brand Description
RICH MNISI is a South African based contemporary multi-disciplinary brand founded in 2015 by Rich Mnisi. Initially, a creative outlet for Mnisi, hoping to unearth Africa’s hidden treasures while also being youthful, contemporary, and modern. Each RICH MNISI collection and offering presents a distinct point of view, celebrating culture, heritage, and the common human experience.
Product Categories: Knitwear, Tops & Shirts, Skirts, Dresses, Hats, Trousers, Coats & Jackets
Location: South Africa
Price Point: Bridge $50-400
Target Market: Gender Neutral Men and Women, Ages 18-40
Competitive Edge: Vivid Designs,
Key Attributes: Embodies creative design and unique clothing options.
Non-Adaptive
Wildfang
Brand Description
Wildfang describes themselves as the new future of gender, creating garments that don't departmentalize the wearer. Focusing on climate neutral designing they measure their carbon emissions and offset them. Giving back is also a major priority as they promise to give 1% of all proceeds to nonprofits and the community they serve.
Product Categories: Coveralls, Blazers, Button-ups, Bottoms, Dresses, Tops, Accessories
Location: North America
Price Point: Moderate $35-200
Target Market: Gender Neutral Men and Women, Ages 18-60
Competitive Edge: Gender Neutral
Key Attributes:
Older Brother
Brand Description
Olderbrother is a brand for all creating clothes that fit both men, women and people. They use natural dyes and avoid heavy and toxic metals. Guidence for the future is something they pride themselves on and want to be the older brother for you as a consumer
Product Categories: Knits, Tops, Bottoms, Outerwear
Location: North America
Price Point: Contemporary $40-$500
Target Market: Gender Neutral Men and Women, Ages 18-30
Competitive Edge: Natural Dyes, Gender Neutral Design, Sustainable,
Key Attributes: Olderbrother really shines in the department of timeless classics within their designs
Lonely Kids Club
Brand Description
Lonely Kids Club is an independent clothing brand that has been ethically making gender neutral clothing since 2011. They print and ship everything themselves from Sydney using carbon neutral electricity, and focus on sustainability which includes no clothing wastage and constant charity support from all sales.
Product Categories: Tops, Bottoms, Accessories, Dresses, Kids
Location: Australia
Price Point: Moderate $40-175
Target Market: Men and Women, Ages 18-35
Competitive Edge: Ethical Production, Australian Design
Key Attributes: Meme inspired clothing line that has a major following
Consumer Needs Research
Age: 25
Winter Medelson
"I want clothes that I feel comfortable in and not confined to one gender type"
Needs:
Winter wants clothes that express them in the way they feel inside. Affordable and stylish options is their biggest concerns
Worries:
Most gender neutral collection weigh heavy to one gender and they do not want to express themselves in this way.
Occupation: Retail Salesperson
Income: $38,000
Devin Norelle
"It is important to me that I feel like myself in my clothing, it is the first impression for my expression"
Needs:
Devin needs their clothes to make them feel like themselves, making a good impression on individuals
Worries:
Devin is concerned that companies and brands dont offer stylish options that they feel comfortable in
Age: 30
Occupation: Marketing Manager
Income: $80,000
Age: 28
Occupation: Data Analysis
Income: $78,000
Ian Fields Stewart
"I want clothes that express the way that I feel, not the way I want to feel"
Needs:
Garments do not fit the same in certain areas and need consistent fit throughout the garment. Not having to adjust the garments to fit correctly like rolling up jeans for length.
Worries:
Some clothing malfunctions in inappropriate time and dont allow Ian to feel like themselves
Consumer Needs Research
Chart Analysis
After reviewing each brand I identified as traditional non-gender clothing and non-traditional, I discovered 5 major design themes within each company. The chart was used to determine which brands performed the best in each of the 5 categories Aesthetics, Sustainability, Comfort, Inclusiveness and Innovation. The levels are defined 1-5 with 5 being the highest performance in that category. The traditional brands performed well in the visual categories like aesthetics, innovation and inclusiveness. While they did not perform well in sustainability and comfort. While the non-tradition brands were the exact opposite and performed better all around in categories like sustainability, comfort and inclusiveness. Visual elements lacked though within aesthetics and innovation. The collection I compose will have a even balance of all elements but really highlight innovation and aesthetics to bring a new direction to gender neutral clothing design.
Value Proposition Map
Chart Analysis
The value proposition map is used to identify consumers largest needs through analysis, and address how to solve these worries and needs. The consumers worries are on the right of the diagram, broken into needs, worries, and the environments they will be in. On the right offer solutions to these concerns, and explaining the designs and elements I will use within my collection.
Design Problem Statement
The purpose of my collection is to design a gender neutral collection for individuals who identify as either male or female or neutral. My target age range is 20-35 years of age who need clothing to make them feel comfortable and represent themselves as an individual. The solution to these issues are creative designs that also focus on funtionality and fitting multiple body types/genders. Offering garmentst that are capable of styling and having multiple options of wear.