Ellie Simmonds has teamed up with designer and founder Chamiah Dewey to help create and launch a new fashion label specifically designed for people 5ft (1.52m) and under.
The Paralympic champion swimmer, who is 4ft, was inspired to create the extra petite label after struggling to find suitable clothes to fit her. Instead she was having to alter the clothes to fit her small frame. The challenge to find well-fitting clothes had even extended to the London 2012 Paralympics, where her mum had had to adapt her ParalympicsGB kit.
Simmonds, who was born with Achondroplasia, which reduces growth in all limbs, said “I think there’s a massive gap in the market for people like myself…we go to shops and have to sometimes look at the clothes and think, ‘can I wear it?”. She wants to empower people through the collection while providing a more accessible option when buying clothes.
“We all deserve to feel great in what we wear, and for those of us who are extra-petite or short stature, that can be hard to achieve,” she said.
Her first collection is an “athleisure” range with 16 womenswear pieces and six uni-sex styles. The brand named Dewey , debuted at London Fashion Week in September. The initiative also prompted the world’s first 5ft-and-under mannequins to be commissioned which will be used to display the collection in shops.
Read more at BBC News
