One of America’s leading bag and backpack brands JanSport dipped its toe into the adaptive fashion market this week when it launched its collection of highly accessible crossbody bags and backpacks.
The adaptive clothing market, which is estimated to be worth some $490 billion by 2026 involves clothing and apparel that is designed to meet the needs of consumers with disabilities.
The market entry of the iconic bag and backpack brand, which dates back to the 1960s, is noteworthy as it represents a concerted effort from a mainstream player to break into a space that has traditionally been dominated by smaller specialist brands.
Working together
Importantly, both the Central Adaptive Backpack and Central Adaptive Crossbody (available in black and misty rose color schemes) were codesigned alongside the disability community with help from the renowned disability advocacy group Disability:IN.
Disability:IN was able to link JanSport up with users to build out consumer focus groups whilst, all in all, the start of the project to product launch took a whole three years as the company was keen to ensure it had fully got to grips with the market dynamics and needs of its customers.
