Claudia Poh Empowers People With Difficulty Dressing Themselves
A pioneer of adaptive clothing in Singapore, Claudia Poh’s fashion brand Werable allows people with mobility challenges to get dressed easily. As part of her studies at Parsons School of Design in Paris and New York, she and her classmate Amy Yu Chen had the opportunity to work with a woman living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
With the help of Open Style Lab, a New York-based non-profit that makes style accessible to all disabilities, they developed Cair Collective in 2018 through a thesis project. With this technology-assisted dressing system, inflatable components hidden in a garment make it rise on the body, so you can wear it without needing to use your hands.
Poh’s journey to success, however, has not been without challenges. In certain instances, the designer experienced internal conflict regarding her thought process and drive. Fortunately, she had teachers who were supportive and persistent in encouraging her. “I’ve never been the kid who understood things quickly in class. I lacked clarity. I’d be excited to pursue multiple ideas at once. They challenged my logic, helped shape the way I think, and constantly reminded me to take responsibility for my work.”
When she returned to Singapore in 2020, Poh established Werable, named after the empowering phrase, “We Are Able”.
In pursuit of her brand’s vision of “accessible fashion that transcends boundaries”, she has created opportunities for social engagement and enriching human experiences through her brand. Currently, it belongs to Potato Productions, a group of social enterprises dedicated to healthcare, transforming lives, and improving communities.
Werable’s business model differs from the industry practice of releasing two collections a year. Instead, Poh and her team develop products based on their functions. Their work with rehabilitation centres and hospitals, for example, has helped them solve the dressing challenges faced by their clients.
“We’ve been working with Stroke Support Station for two years to design clothes you can fasten with one hand.”Claudia Poh on her adaptive fashion line
As part of DesignSingapore Council’s Good Design Research Initiative, the brand received support for this project. In addition, Poh was a speaker at this year’s Design Futures Forum, where she discussed the future of care through design.
She returned to Parsons Paris recently for the first time in a decade since graduating in 2016, and received a warm welcome from the dean and several professors who fondly recalled her previous work. As a matter of fact, a design she created and sold in Paris was one of her earliest.
“My teachers brought us to the Musée Carnavalet and asked us to select a work to study. I noticed a chair with a jacket slung on the back. As I went about my day, I began to pay attention to how we keep our clothes when we don’t wear them, especially when they remain in the public realm,” she says.
“We no longer have the comforts of a wardrobe or drawers for them to return to, so I wanted to design a new home for them. I thought it was funny that we were brought to a historical museum, but I ended up being inspired by a humble chair used by the museum attendant.”
As a tool for connection, fashion can help shape a future that values belonging. In Poh’s opinion, it requires mindset shifts that are possible. “I dream of a future where fashion is kinder and more inclusive, where it allows everyone to fully partake of experiences they value the most— holistically and authentically.”
