Dignity in dressing

A sense of inclusiveness seems to have overtaken the world of fashion. First, it was Nike’s sportswear hijab, then a model with a prosthetic leg walked the ramp at the London Fashion Week. Now, it’s these two women from the city, Anju Khemani and Sarita Dabriwal, who have come up with adaptive and assistive clothing brand for the disabled — Ekkaika.

On how the idea came about, Anju says, “I am in the disability sector for the past 10 years and during this period, I was able to understand it more closely. I realised that there was a need for multiple things. We started Ekkaika because we realised that people with disabilities have limited choice of style and often compromise their dignity, be it self-dressing or assisted dressing.”

The garments at Ekkaika are suited to customer needs and are mostly wraps, slip-on-saris, open back t-shirts and depend on velcros and clip-ons. However, they are not restricted to just specially tailored ones. Anju adds, “We modify regular off-the-rack dresses too. Initially, the challenge was to make the tailors understand the kind of cuts we’re asking them to make. Eventually, they got the hang of it and it was wonderful to see them coming up with ideas,”

Sarita says that ease, style, dignity is their motto. “I have muscular dystrophy myself, and I met Anju through a mutual friend who told me about her project. I got in touch with her immediately. For one of our customers, Deepa, who has spinal muscular atrophy, it was a dream come true, when she saw herself in a sari for the first time,” she says. The price range of the products is from Rs 300 to Rs 2,000.