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Application of the Functional, Expressive and Aesthetic Consumer Needs

Model: Assessing the clothing needs of adolescent girls with disabilities

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DOI: 10.1080/17543266.2012.700735

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Application of the Functional, Expressive and Aesthetic

Consumer Needs Model: assessing the clothing needs of
adolescent girls with disabilities
a b
Bailey Stokes & Catherine Black
a
Apparel, Merchandising, Design and Textiles, Washington State University, PO Box 642020,
Pullman, 99164-2020, USA
b
AMDT, Washington State University, Pullman, 99163, USA

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Consumer Needs Model: assessing the clothing needs of adolescent girls with disabilities, International Journal of Fashion
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 International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education
2012, 1–8, iFirst article

Application of the Functional, Expressive and Aesthetic Consumer Needs Model: assessing the
clothing needs of adolescent girls with disabilities
Bailey Stokesa* and Catherine Blackb
a
Apparel, Merchandising, Design and Textiles, Washington State University, PO Box 642020, Pullman 99164-2020, USA;
b
AMDT, Washington State University, Pullman 99163, USA
Downloaded by [Washington State University Libraries ], [Bailey Stokes] at 10:38 24 August 2012

(Received 13 January 2012; final version received 3 June 2012)

The purpose of this study was to investigate clothing needs of adolescent girls with disabilities with the application of
the Functional, Expressive and Aesthetic (FEA) Consumer Needs Model (Lamb, J.M. and Kallal, M.J., 1992. A
conceptual framework for apparel design. Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, 10, 42–47). Survey data were
collected from 33 adolescent girls with disabilities. Functional, expressive and aesthetic considerations of the FEA
Model were used to analyse responses regarding satisfaction with specific garment types and general clothing needs.
While functional considerations were most often reported, adolescents also indicated a number of expressive and
aesthetic considerations. Regardless of their level of clothing interest, the common functional considerations
identified were issues with fit and difficulty donning and doffing including difficulty with garment fasteners. Safety
was not a consideration identified in the FEA Model but was identified by the adolescents as important when
considering their level of satisfaction. Based on the results of this study, recommendation for future applications of
the FEA Consumer Needs Model is presented.
Keywords: FEA Consumer Needs Model; disability; adolescents; functional design; needs assessment

1. Introduction The purpose of this study was to investigate the

Adolescents spend a great deal of time working on their
appearance and observing peers in an attempt to create
an image similar to their peers (Horn 1981). Adoles-
cents use clothing to conform to their peer group,
conform to role models and feel better about their
bodies (Kaiser 1997). Adolescents with disabilities also
feel the need to conform to their peer group. Americans
with Disabilities Act (ADA) defines an individual with
a disability as a person who has documented physical
or mental impairment that impacts one or more
major life activities (US Department of Justice 2005).
A social model of disability describes disability as
being constructed by society’s environment and attitu-
dinal barriers. By using a social model, designers and
researchers look at the user’s needs rather than assuming
people have clothing issues because of physical and/or
mental limitations (Lamb 2001, Smart 2001). The focus
of designers and researchers can be directed towards
clothing meeting the abilities of individuals.
While clothing designed especially for individuals
with disabilities may benefit some adolescents, specia-
lised clothing may also set them apart from their peers.
While studies have investigated the clothing needs of
individuals with disabilities, since the 1960s very few
studies have focused on adolescent girls with disabilities.
clothing needs of adolescent girls with disabilities with
the application of the Functional, Expressive and
Aesthetic (FEA) Consumer Needs Model (Lamb and
Kallal 1992). For brevity, the FEA Consumer Needs
Model will be referred to as the FEA Model.
2. Conceptual framework
The FEA Model is a user-centred model intended to
identify the clothing needs of the end consumer (Lamb
and Kallal 1992). While originally developed as a
teaching tool to assist student designers in conceptua-
lising the design process, the model has been applied to
relevant areas of functional design research including
hospital gowns (Cho 2006) and women’s sailing
apparel (Bye and Hakala 2005). The FEA Model
assesses functional, expressive and aesthetic considera-
tions to identify consumer needs and wants (Figure 1).
Consumers judge products from within their
cultural surroundings. Culture ‘acts as a mediator or
filter between the intended users of apparel and their
requirements or desires in their apparel items’ (Lamb
and Kallal, p. 43). Successful design depends on
congruency with the target customer’s culture such as
the adolescent culture.

*Corresponding author. Email: stokesba@wsu.edu

ISSN 1754-3266 print/ISSN 1754-3274 online

Ó 2012 Taylor & Francis
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17543266.2012.700735
http://www.tandfonline.com
 2 B. Stokes and C. Black
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Figure 1. The FEA Consumer Needs Model. Source: Lamb
and Kallal (1992, p. 42). Monument, CO. International
Textile and Apparel Association. Copyright 1992 by
International Textile and Apparel Association.
Functional considerations are concerned with a
product’s ability to perform the tasks required by the
customer. Comfort, donning and doffing, fit, and
mobility were identified as significant considerations
for adolescents with disabilities. Expressive considera-
tions of a product must be congruent with the
customer’s status and self-image in order to be
purchased and/or worn. Aesthetic considerations in-
clude style and design.
3. Clothing and disabilities
Due to limited research specific to adolescents with
disabilities, the authors reviewed selected studies of
women with disabilities of various ages. Studies
investigating the clothing needs of individuals with
disabilities were conducted as early as the 1960s
(Frescura 1963, Dallas 1965, Gamwell and Joyce
1966). The articles reviewed addressed issues related
to the FEA Model.
Dallas (1965), Smiley (1971) and Liskey-Fitzwater
et al. (1993) investigated selected functional, expressive
and aesthetic considerations to compare females with
and without disabilities. Dallas (1965) interviewed
adolescent and young adult women with cerebral palsy
regarding their preferences for functional and aesthetic
features in their everyday clothing. Garment and
garment features preferred and worn by women with
cerebral palsy were different than those worn by
women without cerebral palsy. Fuller skirts with flare,
gores or pleats were preferred by women with cerebral
palsy, whereas women without cerebral palsy preferred
a straight silhouette skirt. Centre front closures were
preferred by young women with cerebral palsy, unlike
young women without cerebral palsy, who preferred
centre back closures. Smiley (1971) compared the
clothing perceptions of early adolescent girls with and
without orthopaedic disabilities. She found no sig-
nificant difference between the psychological clothing
perception or the self-perception of girls with ortho-
paedic disabilities and girls without orthopaedic
disabilities. Like Smiley, Liskey-Fitzwater et al.
(1993) also studied the expressive needs of adolescent
girls. The authors compared the clothing interests and
self-perceptions of adolescent females with scoliosis
and without scoliosis. They found no significant
difference between the two groups in regard to
conformity, modesty, psychological awareness and
interest in clothing. However, girls with scoliosis rated
themselves significantly lower on the use of clothing to
enhance their self-concept. The authors assumed that
this may have been due to the difficulty of camoufla-
ging back braces worn by the girls.
Researchers have also investigated functional and
aesthetic style features and design preferences. de
Klerk and Ampousah (2002) interviewed 40 women
with disabilities in South Africa. The women reported
the lack of fashionable garments suitable for their
disabilities. The participants indicated problems with
style and fit of various garment types including dresses
(86%), jackets (60%), skirts/pants (55%) and blouses
(48%). The women also preferred style features such as
front openings, pleated skirts and elasticised waist-
bands that enabled ease of donning and doffing. When
evaluating ‘adaptive’ garments, college students with
disabilities preferred design features that were fashion-
able and decorative, but not style features seen as
functional (Freeman et al. 1985–1986). Even invisible
features may result in self-devaluation of the wearer if
the garments are viewed as symbolically different from
the norm. Garments that appear to serve only
functional needs of a disability can make the wearers
feel as though they look different from their peers.
Kidd’s (2006) design students created special occasion
dresses for four women aged 16–20 that required
crutches, braces and/or wheelchairs. Kidd’s (2006)
research focused on the fit and safety of the garments.
A major concern identified was dress length especially
since, if a dress was too long, then the adolescent could
get the hem caught under a walker or crutches.
Based on research by Kidd (2006) and Bye and
Hakala (2005), the authors identified user safety as a
functional consideration not in the FEA Model.
Therefore, safety questions were incorporated into
this study, since clothing may impede or inhibit
 International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education 3

mobility devices such as wheel chairs or crutches when Table 1. Disabilities and assistive mobility devices.
the body/garment/near environment interact. Based on Frequency (n ¼ 23)
the FEA Model and the review of literature, the
following research questions were developed to address Disabilities
the purpose of this study: Limited lower body use 13*
Limited upper body use 9
Hand dexterity impairment 14
(1) What is the level of satisfaction adolescent girls Incontinence 2
with disabilities have with functional consid- Other 10
Assistive mobility devices
erations of clothing identified by the FEA Electric wheelchair 6
Model? Manual wheelchair 4
(2) What is the level of satisfaction adolescent girls Prosthesis 1
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with disabilities have with expressive considera- Leg braces 6

Crutches 1
tions of clothing identified by the FEA Model? Walker 2
(3) What is the level of satisfaction adolescent girls Other 3
with disabilities have with aesthetic considera- Do not use 7
tions of clothing identified by the FEA Model?
Note: *Total is greater than number of subjects due to multiple
responses.
4. Methods
4.1. Sample and data collection Table 2. Satisfaction with functional considerations se-
lected garments.
Readers of Logan Magazine, a lifestyle magazine for
young people with disabilities, camps, schools and A B AþB
independent living centres provided a purposive Dissatisfied Neutral Satisfied
sample of adolescent girls with disabilities. Subjects Garment type f f f f %
were aged 13–18 who had a disability as described in
Coat (n ¼ 23)
the US Department of Justice (2005). According to Fit 14 5 4 19 82.6
Brault (2009), less than 6% of people under the age of Comfort 5 9 9 14 60.9
14 in the US have some kind of disability. Because this Safety 3 8 12 11 48.8
is a small percentage of the population, a purposive Ease of donning 10 2 11 12 52.2
Ease of doffing 9 2 12 11 48.8
sample was seen as the most successful method of Dresses (n ¼ 13)
finding such specific participants. Fit 9 1 3 10 76.9
Comfort 6 4 3 10 76.9
Safety 1 6 4 7 53.8
4.2. Questionnaire: functional, expressive and Ease of donning 5 2 6 7 53.8
Ease of doffing 6 2 5 8 61.5
aesthetic considerations Pants (n ¼ 26)
The FEA Model provided the foundation for the Fit 18 4 4 22 84.6
analysis of clothing based on functional, expressive or Comfort 8 5 14 13 50.0
Safety 3 10 13 13 50.0
aesthetic considerations. The majority of responses to Ease of donning 17 1 9 18 69.2
the open-ended questions were functional in nature. Ease of doffing 15 2 9 17 65.4
Shirts (n ¼ 23)
Fit 14 2 7 16 69.6
4.2.1. Functional considerations Comfort 4 6 14 10 43.5
Safety 2 10 10 12 52.2
Functional considerations reported included issues Ease of donning 6 5 11 11 48.8
with fit, comfort, mobility, and donning and doffing Ease of doffing 5 5 13 10 43.5
Skirt (n ¼ 13)
for each garment type. Participants indicated their Fit 5 2 7 7 53.8
level of satisfaction for each of the five garment types Comfort 2 3 9 5 38.7
(Table 2), reporting on the specific garment types they Safety 0 5 9 5 38.7
wear. One of the most common solutions for Ease of donning 0 4 8 4 30.8
Ease of doffing 0 5 9 5 38.7
adolescents who were dissatisfied was to not wear
specific garment types such as dresses and skirts. The
fact that adolescents do not wear specific garment
types may indicate that their needs are not met. too small/short/narrow, appropriate or too big/long/
Fit considerations were reported for each garment wide. Pant waist fit (65%) and inseam length (64%)
type including girth and length (Table 3). For each were also identified as problematic. One participant
garment feature, respondents indicated if the fit was described how she managed: ‘[I] always have to hem up
 4 B. Stokes and C. Black

Table 3. Experience with fit in selected garments.

A B AþB
Too short/too small Appropriate Too long/too big
Garment type f f f No response f %
Coat (n ¼ 24)
Neckline 4 19 1 0 5 21
Waist length 2 15 5 1 7 32
Sleeve length 2 10 12 0 14 58
Armhole Circumference (CC) 5 10 4 0 9 47
Shoulder fit 5 10 8 1 13 57
Dresses (n ¼ 15)
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Neckline 2 6 5 2 7 54
Waist length 3 10 2 0 5 33
Sleeve length 1 7 7 0 8 53
Armhole CC 5 7 3 0 8 53
Shoulder fit 3 5 5 2 8 73
Length 4 2 7 2 11 85
Dress width 6 8 1 0 7 47
Pants (n ¼ 28)
Waist CC 12 9 5 2 17 65
Inseam length 3 6 18 1 21 78
Leg width 7 16 3 2 10 38
Shirt (n ¼ 24)
Neckline 6 9 7 2 13 59
Waist length 11 10 3 0 14 58
Sleeve length 2 7 8 7 10 71
Armhole CC 5 18 1 0 6 25
Shoulder fit 4 11 9 0 13 54
Skirt (n ¼ 15)
Waist CC 3 9 3 0 6 40
Length 6 5 4 0 10 67
Skirt width 4 10 1 0 5 33

at least a few if not several inches. With the flared leg
or ‘‘bell-bottom’’ style, this doesn’t work. [I] have to
buy pants in women’s petite which is not always very
stylish’. Shirt, skirt and dress length were also
identified as either too long or too short by 45.8%,
66% and 84.6% of respondents, respectively. In
addition to issues with length, armhole circumference
(53%) and shoulder fit of dresses were too narrow or
too wide for many respondents (56%). More than 50%
of the participants indicated that they found coat
sleeves too long and shoulder widths either too narrow
or too wide. Designers and researchers need to assess
both static and dynamic clothing fit. Assessing clothing
when an individual is sitting, standing and lying would
be considered static fit, while dynamic fit refers to
assessing clothing when an individual is performing an
activity.
Comfort considerations were related to poor fit and
excessive fabric bulk when sitting. Comfort was
expressed by one participant who used a wheelchair.
She stated: ‘It is hard to have the fabric pulling on your
back or just having all that fabric bunched behind your
back’. While this comment addressed an issue with
long coats, the same would be true of any long
garment. Specific styles of pants were also preferred for
comfort. ‘I like bootcut jeans especially if they are
stretchy because they are fashionable but are also more
comfortable than skinny jeans or straight leg jeans’,
explained one participant.
Mobility considerations were often related to the
constraint of arms and legs. Bulky coats were difficult
to wear due to restrictive movement. One participant
explained why she does not wear jackets: ‘Too bulky
and [arm] mobility needed’.
Ease of donning and doffing garments also
involved mobility considerations, both gross and fine
motor skills. Difficulties with donning and doffing were
often related to style or placement of fasteners which
were reported as difficult to manipulate for each
garment type. Donning and doffing issues were
consistent with the findings of Shannon and Reich
(1979). Adolescents were asked to describe changes
they would make to a coat they bought but did not
like, 42% of responses included fastener changes. Only
two participants felt that fasteners on shirts were easy
to use. Open-ended responses revealed just how
difficult fasteners were for the adolescents to manip-
ulate due to limited hand dexterity. For example,
‘[A skirt] with too many buttons is really frustrating to
get on and off. If a piece of clothing is a hassle, I won’t
 International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education
wear it’. The finding concurred with those of Gamwell
and Joyce (1966), who reported that the most frequent
problem found when selecting suitable garments was
difficulty with fasteners. Elastic waistbands, snaps and
Velcro1 were identified as suitable alternatives to
buttons and zippers. One adolescent said: ‘I need
elastic waists and there are no cute pants like that’.
Another adolescent indicated: ‘[I] have not been able to
find ANY pants in teen departments that have elastic
waists, therefore, we can’t buy them or have to have
the waist completely remade, very expensive!’ This
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finding concurred with the results of research by de
Klerk and Ampousah (2002) who reported that 76% of
the participants in their study indicated a preference
for elastic waistbands.
The respondents indicated that the donning of
coats (52%), pants (69%) and shirts (49%) were more
problematic than doffing of each garment type,
respectively (coats 49%, pants 65% and shirts 43%).
While donning and doffing has been previously
reported as an issue, no research reports indicated
the differences in the levels of difficulty associated with
donning and doffing. This finding needs further
investigation to identify reasons for the differences.
To improve ease of donning and doffing, designers
need to consider the placement and type of fasteners
in light of fine motor skills of adolescents with
disabilities.
A functional consideration identified in the current
study but not identified in the FEA Model was safety.
Safety is an important consideration for adolescents
with disabilities because of the use of assistive mobility
devices. If clothing is too long or too bulky, it can get
caught in the assistive mobility device causing adoles-
cents to trip or fall. One participant explained: ‘I think
one thing to consider for people who use walkers is
that we would like to be able to wear dress pants/jeans
and like the wide leg look but they can be easily tripped
over if too long. I get mine hemmed just a bit at the
bottom’. This is another example of the body, garment
and near environment relationship.
Adolescents also reported adapting their clothing
to meet their needs. An example of personal adapta-
tion is the following: ‘I’m one handed. It was difficult
to do zippers at first but it’s adaptable for example:
add a string to the end as it is easier to pull’. ‘I have all
[pants] altered. All buttons taken off and Velcro put on
instead’. These are just two examples of the need for
adolescents to adapt their clothing in order to remain
independent and are also indicative of their needs not
being met.
Understanding the relationship among body posi-
tion/garment/near environment (i.e. wheel chair) is
important in achieving user comfort and creating a
successful design. ‘I really like [dresses] that have a
5
wrap around band that can be tied in the front or a
zipper on the side as opposed to the back’, stated one
participant.
4.2.2. Expressive considerations
Although responses to open-ended questions were
primarily related to functional considerations, expres-
sive considerations brought up a number of issues too.
Self-esteem and insecurity issues were raised as reasons
for not wearing skirts and pants. The potential for
people to see up skirts when sitting was raised.
Respondents reported they were ashamed of the
appearance of their legs as a reason for not wearing
skirts. ‘[I have] insecurity problems with my skinny
legs’, stated one participant. Another shared, ‘My mom
says I’m not lady like enough to wear [dresses]. Plus it is
too hard to do my colostomy bag cares with a dress
unless I take it all the way off’. Getting clothing caught
under a crutch or wheel could not only result in injury
but was also reported as embarrassing in that it affected
self-esteem. Reasons for not wearing skirts reflected
problems with social aspects of clothing which are
important for designers to consider when developing
apparel. Research has shown that a garment may be
functional but if it does not ‘fit in’ or if it makes the
person look like they have a disability the garment will
not be adopted (Freeman et al. 1985–1986).
The lack of modest clothing available in junior
departments was reported. Expressive considerations
included garments being too tight and too short and
necklines being too low. Participants who used wheel-
chairs were often in a seated position. Because of this
body positioning, teens explained their lower back and
buttocks could be exposed if shirts were too short and if
pants were cut too low at the waist. Low-cut shirts
posed a similar problem for these teens, since those
standing above them could potentially see down the
neckline of the shirt and view the bust. Pants were
preferred to skirts or dresses to mask physical
characteristics of the legs that may deviate from the
norm. This finding concurred with those of earlier
researchers (Kaiser et al. 1985, de Klerk and Ampousah
2002), and indicated the expressive clothing concerns of
women who used wheelchairs and/or assistive devices.
4.2.3. Aesthetic considerations
Aesthetic responses were also limited in number;
however, there were some responses that provided
insights into the aesthetic preferences of adolescents
(Table 4). Seven adolescents indicated that current
fashionable designs were not suitable for their dis-
abilities, while eight adolescents indicated that those
designs were not adaptable for their disabilities. Stylish
 6 B. Stokes and C. Black

Table 4. Satisfaction with aesthetic considerations of adolescents, it could be concluded that the relationship
selected garments. among body/garment/assistive device involved func-
A B AþB tional, expressive and/or aesthetic considerations. This
relationship could usefully be investigated in future
Dissatisfied Neutral Satisfied
research.
Garment type f f f f %
Coat (n ¼ 23)
Selection 8 3 12 11 48.8 4.3. Application and modification of the FEA Model
Style 5 7 10 12 52.2
Dresses (n ¼ 13) The FEA Model not only provided the framework for
Selection 9 1 3 10 76.9 this study but was also a method for coding the
Style 6 2 5 8 61.5 qualitative data as functional, expressive or aesthetic.
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Pants (n ¼ 26) Using the FEA Model provided an understanding of the

Selection 15 1 10 16
Style 13 2 11 15
Shirts (n ¼ 23)
Selection 9 2 12 11
Style 7 4 13 11
Skirt (n ¼ 13)
Selection 5 3 5 8
Style 3 4 8 7
jeans with alternative closures were desired by the
adolescents but were not available in retail stores. There
was a strong preference for specific clothing styles that
met the adolescent needs in the past. When asked to
describe her dream coat, one participant had a very
specific description based on a garment she owned, ‘A
brown pea coat with two buttons on the left side and
the openings on the right. I have a black one exactly like
this and love it! I now want brown!’ Styles and aesthetic
details preferences varied among the participants de-
monstrating a wide range personal style. The adoles-
cents also reported a desire for clothing to flatter their
bodies, illustrating the importance of body–garment
relationship from an aesthetic standpoint.
Assistive devices that are readily visible and cannot
be camouflaged are considered external assistive
devices and a significant part of an adolescents’ overall
appearance. Assistive devices that can be concealed
and go unnoticed can be referred to as internal
assistive devices. Respondents indicated that they
could not find clothing that concealed their assistive
devices. One adolescent indicated that it was difficult
for her to find clothing to fit her pear shape figure and
equally important was the need for high-waist pants
that concealed her colostomy bag. This is just one
example of the need for designers to consider the body/
garment/near environment relationship and to balance
functional and aesthetic characteristics when designing
for adolescents with physical disabilities. The impor-
tance of designing aesthetically pleasing clothing
cannot be over stated. Regardless of disability,
adolescents desire clothing that is cute, fashionable
and stylish. Based on the issues reported by the
61.5
57.7 data and identified frequency in responses. The findings
identified issues related to functional, expressive and
48.8 aesthetic considerations for future investigation.
48.8 While user safety was not a functional considera-
61.5 tion in the FEA Model, it was identified as significant
53.8 in the previous functional research. Clothing interacts
with the near environment such as assistive devices
including wheel chairs, walkers and crutches. In
addition to functional issues, clothing getting en-
tangled with a crutch or wheel could be embarrassing
for an adolescent, an expressive consideration.
The coding process also identified relationships not
found in the FEA Model. For example, the body/
garment relationship is considered an aesthetic con-
sideration by the FEA Model; however, the responses
provided by participants in the study of relevance to
the body/garment relationship were often a combina-
tion of functional, expressive and/or aesthetic. For
example, one participant described a coat that she was
dissatisfied with, post-purchase: ‘It’s a [bomber] jacket
I don’t like the way it fits but it looks cool’. The fit of
the jacket is functional, looking cool is expressive, and
the way the jacket looks or its style is aesthetic. The
revised FEA Model emphasises interrelationship of
functional, expressive and aesthetic considerations
(Figure 3). Previously, the model separated functional,
expressive and aesthetic considerations with a solid
line. To emphasise the interrelationship among these
three considerations, a dotted line replaces the solid
line in the revised model.
The findings of this study illustrate that the body/
garment relationship is a complex combination of
functional, expressive and aesthetic considerations. An
important finding is the need to expand the role of the
body/garment relationship into the body/garment/near
environment relationship. Participants indicated var-
ious occasions when garments were not successful due
to interaction with assistive devices. One adolescent
expressed this concern: ‘Typically pants I find are low
rise and too long. [It is] difficult to find pants with a
waistline appropriate for my colostomy bag. Also hard
not to show my butt when sitting and my shirt rides
up’. This example illustrates how the body/garment
 International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education
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Figure 2. Location of the adolescent girls (United States, Individual State Information n.d.).
Figure 3. Revised FEA Model.
relationship needs to include the near environment for
designers to create successful designs. Rather than
being an aesthetic consideration, it is proposed that the
body/garment relationship involves aspects of func-
tional, expressive and aesthetic considerations. It is
also proposed that near environment plays a role in the
body/garment relationship. The model has been
redesigned with an outer ring that illustrates the
relationship of the body/garment/near environment.
7
5. Summary and conclusions
The findings of this study support the use of the FEA
Model for addressing design research issues. Findings
suggest that adolescents with disabilities are concerned
about functional, expressive and aesthetic considera-
tions. A higher number of functional considerations
were reported. There is a need for further investigation,
since consumer needs are not being met with currently
available clothing.
Specific functional considerations for designers and
future research are donning and doffing, inclusive of
the type and placement of fasteners, fit, mobility and
safety. The body/clothing/near environment relation-
ship identified the additional functional consideration
of safety. The body/garment/near environment also
revealed the need for designers to consider assistive
devises when designing.
Clothing that balances functional, expressive and
aesthetic needs of adolescent with disabilities does not
appear to be currently available. In addition to
functional needs, designers and researchers need to
understand expressive needs of adolescents. Clothing
also needs to be designed with both fashion trends and
mobility issues of adolescents with disabilities in mind.
6. Future directions
Information gained in the course of this study can be
applied to refining the FEA Model for future applica-
tions in the development of clothing for adolescents
with disabilities. Use of the FEA Model encourages the
generation of creative solutions in design by addressing
clothing needs reported by consumers.
 8 B. Stokes and C. Black
The design issues identified by the participants
indicate the need for further investigation of the body/
clothing/near environment relationship addressing
functional, expressive and aesthetic considerations.
Within the body/garment/near environment is the issue
of body positioning. Body positioning affects all
individuals with regard to mobility and comfort.
Clothing on a standing figure does not fit or feel the
same way as clothing on a seated figure, whether the
figure is driving a car or using wheelchair. Rather than
assessing clothing when individuals are in static
Downloaded by [Washington State University Libraries ], [Bailey Stokes] at 10:38 24 August 2012
postural positions such as standing and sitting,
researchers also need to assess consumer satisfaction
relative to dynamic postures, such as walking with
crutches.
Clothing that addresses the consumers’ functional
needs may carry social stigma, an expressive con-
sideration. Additional research is needed to assist
designers, product developers and manufacturers to
better meet the clothing needs of adolescents with
disabilities. Further research that addresses FEA
Model considerations is important not only for
adolescents but also for individuals with disabilities
of all ages.
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