CHICAGO — With age often comes physical and mental changes that can be challenging to everyday life. Even getting dressed can become a difficult, and unsafe, task that may require assistance.
But that doesn’t mean older adults should have to compromise on style, comfort or dignity — and Chicago-based clothing line Joe & Bella aims to make sure they never have to.
“We recognize that just because we’re living with cognitive change, our level of personal identity doesn’t go away,” company co-founder Jimmy Zollo said. “There were days [my grandmother] wouldn’t know my name … but she could still look at a package of clothes and recognize that that was not in line with how she wanted to dress.”
She still wanted to look and feel like herself, he said.
“And so that became our mission.”
Joe & Bella specializes in creating one-of-a-kind clothing for seniors that merges functionality and fashion to make getting dressed easier for older adults and their caregivers. The goal is to design pieces that resonate with the styles those in the Silent and Baby Boomer generations prefer, while also adding strategic zippers, pulls, magnets and other subtle changes to simplify putting them on and off.
Recently, the company collaborated with comedian Seth Rogen and his wife Lauren Miller Rogen, founders of the nonprofit Hilarity for Charity, on producing new items for the line, including a floral-pattern women’s nightgown and colorful men’s magnetic button-down shirt. The Rogens’ charity was founded after Miller Rogen’s mother was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s in 2012.
“Adaptive apparel can be extremely helpful for people living with Alzheimer’s and their care partners,” said Miller Rogen in a press release. “We were pleased to find Joe & Bella, who not only design clothing that’s been cleverly adapted to make dressing and undressing simpler and stress-free, but clothes that really look great.”
When purchasing the The Lauren nightgown or The Seth shirt, buyers will also have the option to pay it forward by donating another to a family living with Alzheimer’s that has limited financial resources.
“That’s a special feature of this program that we were drawn to — people being able to easily donate these special clothes to families in need,” said Seth Rogen.
A Massive Need
Joe & Bella’s clothes were specially designed to accomodate a range of needs, including surgery recovery, incontinence, wheelchair-friendliness, arthritis, Parkinson’s disease and dementia.
The current line offers a variety of pants, shirts and socks for men and women that utilize unique features such as magnetic buttons, dropped and enlarged arm holes, stretch fabric on shirt cuffs and around the shoulders, side and inseam pant zippers, extra-long zipper pulls, elastic waistbands, snaps and super-soft fabric for comfort.
The features are meant to be easy for both wearers and caregivers to use. The magnetic buttons on the men’s button-up shirt are designed to work with just one hand, and the pants, which include khaki, chino and slack styles, were created to hide and easily access adult briefs with the help of the company’s patented CareZips.
“There was a massive need for pants for adults with incontinence,” Zollo said, explaining that adults with dementia or Alzheimer’s, as well as those who have colon cancer or are paraplegic, may fall into that category.
“There just wasn’t a product for them because I think it’s been one of those things that people just don’t like to talk about … especially in the fashion industry.”
Model Maturity
While Zollo said he does have at least one competitor, the needs of seniors aren’t being adequately addressed in the marketplace.
It’s not enough to provide functional clothing — it should also make wearers feel stylish, safe and seen, he said.
The company uses real seniors for its photoshoots for accurate representation in its marketing, and last year held a photoshoot and fashion show at Belmont Village Senior Living in Lincoln Park. The show starred real residents, including those with conditions affecting memory and mobility.
“I remember the first day we went to [Belmont Village], there was a model who told us, ‘Why are you guys here? Are you going to make fun of us?’” Zollo recalled. “She essentially said, ‘I don’t believe there’s a fashion company out there that would want me to be their model.’ And I don’t think that’s ever going to leave me.
“We absolutely need to make sure we put them in the most empowering light we can put them in and do them justice.”
The photoshoots and fashion show were huge successes with positive effects that have lingered, said the living facility’s Connor Speck, who is the activity program coordinator.
“It really made the residents realize that they’re beautiful,” Speck said. “You could tell they were feeling good about themselves. There was nothing as fun as seeing some of the women getting their makeup done and seeing themselves afterward and just being shocked that they still have it.”
Joe & Bella’s current style represents what many current seniors like, such as blouses, button-downs, and business-casual pants that help them feel well-dressed. Colors like white, black, gray, tan, blue and light purple make it easy to mix and match, while newer items like The Seth and The Lauren add a pop of color.
“This is the generation where men wore three-piece suits and ties to work every day and women wore dresses and high heels every single day — and now they’re sort of forced to wear clothing that just doesn’t live up to the standards they set for themselves their entire lives,” Zollo said. “Which just feels undignified.”
Living Up To A Legacy
For Zollo, the goal to create adaptive clothing for seniors is personal.
His grandparents both lived in an assisted-care facility in suburban Northbrook where they were greeted by residents Joe and Bella. The pair, both Holocaust survivors, took Zollo’s family under their wing and showed them how to navigate their new way of life.
Eventually, the couple became so close with Zollo’s family that they were practically members themselves, he said. His reverence for them is what inspired the company’s name.
“We do this because that feeling that they gave us when we met them that first day,” he explained. “That feeling of relief that it’s going to be okay; we can laugh, we can smile, we can have fun. … And I think that’s a really beautiful way, in my mind, of how we can live up to their legacy. That’s what we want the brand to be about and to represent.”
Looking forward, Zollo said he wants to continue to innovate in the adaptive clothing industry by making safe, dignified apparel. Joe & Bella is currently working on designs for a women’s button-down shirt, a cardigan and a men’s quarter-zip sweater.
In the meantime, he continues to use the memories of his grandparents and Joe and Bella as motivation.
“It gives me something to aspire to every time I open my computer,” he said. “I see their name and I know that because it’s their name I can’t give anything less than my best.”
Speck said he also wants people to realize how overlooked older adults may feel in society and how much quality time can make a big impact.
“I would love people to understand … that this is a group of individuals that oftentimes feel like they are separated from society because of their age,” Speck said. “Seek out these things that make them remember that they are part of our lives and active parts of our community.”
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