Current:Home > Contact2 Massachusetts moms made adaptive clothing for kids with disabilities. They hope to bring it to the masses. -EquityZone
2 Massachusetts moms made adaptive clothing for kids with disabilities. They hope to bring it to the masses.
View
Date:2025-04-16 12:04:30
They say necessity is the mother of invention, and this invention came from two Massachusetts mothers with a need: clothing for those with disabilities. Nikki Puzzo and Joanne DiCamillo founded befree, an adaptive clothing brand — inspired by Puzzo's daughter, Stella.
"I don't let anything stop me in life — and that's pretty cool," Stella told CBS News.
The eighth-grader likes to swim, do gymnastics and work out with a trainer, her mother said.
Born with spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy, Stella was 5 when she had double hip surgery that left her with casts on both legs and a bar between them — making it impossible for her to wear traditional pants.
Surgeons told Puzzo that her daughter would have to wear dresses or a long T-shirt for three months while she recovered.
"She doesn't like to look at any type of brace or Band-Aids or anything like incisions," Puzzo told CBS News. "So, I decided to go out and make her a pair of pants."
Using a pair of brightly colored pajama bottoms, she took them apart at the seams and sewed in Velcro. It was a simple fix, but it was a "game changer" for her daughter, she said.
"And then at her post-op appointment, she was wearing them," Puzzo added. "And the doctor at [Boston] Children's [Hospital] said, 'You need to make these. So many parents ask us all the time what to dress their children in, and you basically solved that problem.'"
When she recounted what the surgeon said, Joanne DiCamillo was shocked.
"I was just really blown away by that," DiCamillo told CBS News. "This was just something that was missing from the market and just something that didn't exist."
It was there that befree was born. But with neither woman having fashion experience, they enlisted the help of a third mom: DiCamillo's 85-year-old mother, who can sew.
All three women worked on the next prototype, eventually making a switch from Velcro to zippers after consulting with medical experts. They were granted utility and design patents for their pants and launched their website in 2022.
"We want people to 'dress with less stress,'" Puzzo said, which is the company's motto.
While befree did raise money through a crowdfunding campaign, the company is mostly self-funded, according to DiCamillo. They haven't sought outside investment yet.
Even though other companies sell adaptive clothes, DiCamillo hopes their company will be the one to take it mainstream. Their dream is that in five years, their adaptive clothes will be common in stores and be sold alongside traditional clothes.
DiCamillo noted that potential buyers are not limited to just children with disabilities, but adults with disabilities and other people recovering from surgeries. "The market is really huge," she said.
"We started getting a lot of requests as people saw the kid's pants," DiCamillo said. "We got a lot of requests for adult sizes."
The next piece of clothing on their list?
"So, leggings [are] in the works — as well as shorts and joggers," Puzzo said.
"And jeans," her daughter added.
Like any mother, Puzzo wants her daughter to grow up to be independent. She made a promise to Stella to do anything in her power to give her that freedom — no matter what.
"I want to instill in her that she is beautiful, powerful, strong, no matter what," she said. "And she can always do whatever she puts her mind to, and I believe that, you know, whether she is able-bodied or not."
- In:
- Fashion
- Disabilities
Michael Roppolo is a CBS News reporter. He covers a wide variety of topics, including science and technology, crime and justice, and disability rights.
TwitterveryGood! (7)
Related
- Costco membership growth 'robust,' even amid fee increase: What to know about earnings release
- Texas Gov. Abbott announces buoy barrier in Rio Grande to combat border crossings
- Joran van der Sloot, prime suspect in Natalee Holloway's 2005 disappearance, pleads not guilty to extortion charges
- Dozens of Countries Take Aim at Climate Super Pollutants
- What do we know about the mysterious drones reported flying over New Jersey?
- Climate Forum Reveals a Democratic Party Remarkably Aligned with Science on Zero Emissions
- Aide Walt Nauta also indicted in documents case against Trump
- Why Pat Sajak's Daughter Maggie Is Stepping in for Vanna White on Wheel of Fortune
- McKinsey to pay $650 million after advising opioid maker on how to 'turbocharge' sales
- ZeaChem CEO: Sound Cellulosic Biofuel Solutions Will Proceed Without U.S. Subsidies
Ranking
- In ‘Nickel Boys,’ striving for a new way to see
- Coastal Real Estate Worth Billions at Risk of Chronic Flooding as Sea Level Rises
- Los Angeles county DA's office quits Twitter due to vicious homophobic attacks not removed by social media platform
- Tom Holland says he's taking a year off after filming The Crowded Room
- Skins Game to make return to Thanksgiving week with a modern look
- Behati Prinsloo Shares Adorable New Photo of Her and Adam Levine’s Baby in Family Album
- Justice Department unseals Donald Trump indictment — and reveals the charges against him
- 'Running While Black' tells a new story about who belongs in the sport
Recommendation
Megan Fox's ex Brian Austin Green tells Machine Gun Kelly to 'grow up'
A stranger noticed Jackie Briggs' birthmark. It saved her life
Science Couldn't Save Her, So She Became A Scientist
Mindy Kaling Reveals Her Exercise Routine Consists Of a Weekly 20-Mile Walk or Hike
DoorDash steps up driver ID checks after traffic safety complaints
Today’s Climate: August 17, 2010
Today’s Climate: August 16, 2010
Inside a Michigan clinic, patients talk about abortion — and a looming statewide vote