A Co Antrim woman is set to launch her own adaptive fashion brand this week.
Gemma McAllister, from Carrickfergus, is launching WearMatter on Friday, April 21, at 7pm, with it's first product.
She said the brand aims to "include rather than exclude".
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For over the past two years, the local designer has worked as a disability advisor and says she is using her skills and expertise to launch her brand.
Gemma has also experience of buying and design while working in high street brands in London.
The 28-year-old previously studied Textile Art, Design and Fashion and explained to Be why she decided to launch WearMatter.
The Co Antrim woman said: "I've always been interested in the fashion industry and worked in it and then sort of fell out with it because it wasn't really the industry that I thought it was, it was quite exclusive.
"I joined the civil service to become a disability advisor because I started to get ideas into my head that my designs always were a bit more functional from I left Ulster University, and they always sort of served a purpose.
"I was starting to think about how there was no clothing for people with disabilities and what I need to do was to go get some hands on experience...
"On the side I have been working on the brand.
"I got the fashion experience and then the hands on experience too."
Gemma told Be all about her first product launching on Friday which is The Everyday Adaptive Tee.
She said: "It's a magnetic closure t-shirt that allows you to open it at the neck point. If you've got a disability or a limb difference, it's easier to place it on and take it off but it is not exclusively for people with disabilities.
"There are many other benefits, let's say you wanted to breastfeed your child, have easier access, [or] if you have your makeup or hair done you're not going to get the makeup on the product."
She added: "It's such a niche but it's such a needed product. People with disabilities are often left to the last minute or the products that are out there already are quite clinical.
"Even the subject of disabilities is sometimes taboo and people don't want to talk about it, they're a bit afraid but the conversation needs to happen, even from an early age."
Gemma, who has been working on the brand for the past two and a half years, feels "amazing" ahead of the launch.
"I had butterflies in my tummy this morning. This has been something that I just need to get out there as soon as possible.
"Two years ago, I would have loved to have done it, but at the same there is no better day than right now.
"Tomorrow will be very exciting," she said.
Gemma added: "Something I always say about the brand is every body matters. The word 'matter' is the name behind the brand.
"The reason for that is because matter takes up all of the world, it comes in different forms, shapes and sizes and that's the same with people.
"We are here to include rather than exclude."
More products will be launched in the coming months.
You can view the WearMatter website HERE.
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