Werable founder Claudia Poh talks adaptive clothing, growing a business and the future of fashion

For many, when it comes to fashion, says homegrown designer Claudia Poh, “you change your body to fit the clothes, not the other way around”.

That relationship gets infinitely more complex for people with disabilities, with details we might not always notice — such as straps and buttons — posing challenges with the seemingly simple task of getting dressed.

Poh is hoping to change the way we see and approach fashion with her label, Werable.

Founded in 2019, Werable specialises in adaptive clothing, designed to meet the needs of people with disabilities. The idea, Poh tells Options, is to forge a more inclusive fashion environment. Rather than being something specially for people with disabilities, she is on a mission to make adaptivity second nature in the clothes we wear.

Among the creations Werable has put out are dresses that require just one arm to put on, wrap shirts with magnets instead of buttons, and a bolero that turns into an arm sling. The brand also offers alteration services, so clients can make their favourite garments work better for them, as well as a bespoke tailoring service.

Poh points out that the individual features she has incorporated into her designs — D-rings and magnetic closures, for instance — have actually been on the market for some time. “I’m trying to apply them to as many of our products as possible,” she says. Rather than coming up with entirely new features with customised specifications, it’s faster and more effective for Werable, as a young business, to use these existing solutions.