Athlete input can change gear before it reaches the market: it can reshape a pattern, remove a feature that gets in the way, or reveal a compatibility problem a design team missed. Examples from adidas and Zalando show how athletes and disability-community participants have influenced sportswear development. REI’s outdoor-retail standards address a different part of inclusion—pricing and representation—rather than documenting adaptive product co-design.
What changes when athletes help design adaptive gear?
Participation can mean more than appearing in a campaign or commenting after launch. In the examples described by the companies, it included interviews, practice observation, fittings, feedback exchanges, and design reviews during development. That gives athletes a chance to identify practical needs while teams can still change the product.
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The distinctions matter: adidas describes work on wheelchair basketball apparel; Zalando describes adaptive sportswear developed with Ottobock and its athletes; REI sets expectations for products and brand-partner marketing. These are separate examples, not proof of a coordinated industry-wide shift or a guarantee that every resulting product will suit every wearer.
How adidas redesigned wheelchair basketball kits
adidas Design Director Emily Jagos recounts a project that began with designers gathering insights from athletes on a competitive wheelchair basketball team. The company later worked with Adaptive Sports Northwest, meeting several times with two teams over four months for practices, interviews, fittings, insight gathering, and design reviews. The company says the sessions were made accessible, including by checking routes and parking before an event held during a snowstorm. adidas’s account of the design process
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Feedback changed assumptions about features
The athletes wanted uniforms that looked and felt like traditional basketball uniforms. Designers had initially considered pull tabs and other adjustability details, but athletes said those additions were unnecessary. As Jagos put it, “They’re athletes and they’re very agile.” The example shows why direct feedback matters: a feature intended to help can be unwanted if it does not solve a real need.
The seated position shaped the pattern
Instead of adapting a standing uniform after the fact, adidas developed new patterns for seated positions. The seated kit became the starting point from which standing versions could be drafted. That reverses a common design assumption—that a standard standing pattern is the default and seated use is a modification—and makes posture part of the garment’s original construction.
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Jagos summarized the approach: “Centering athletes in the design process produces the best for the athlete.” The quote is from a company account, not an independent assessment of the finished kits.
What Zalando and Ottobock learned about adaptive sportswear
Zalando says its work with Ottobock and athletes included research and development rounds, feedback exchanges, and fittings. Participants’ input informed which details to keep or remove. One example involved a magnetic clasp considered for adaptive textiles: a magnet could interfere with technology integrated into a prosthesis, making the detail counterproductive for sportswear. Zalando’s account of the collaboration
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The company identifies women’s sportswear label Even&Odd Active and men’s label Pier One Sport among the development examples, alongside adaptive kidswear. This describes the work and labels at the time of the account; it does not establish current product availability.
How outdoor retail standards address inclusion
Product engineering is only one part of whether outdoor gear feels accessible to shop for. REI’s 2026 Product Impact Standards, announced April 17, 2026, require consistent pricing across sizes within a style when that product is offered in multiple sizes. The standards also set marketing expectations for broader representation across race, age, gender identity, body size, and ability, including on-model imagery outside the standard size range.
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REI says annual brand-partner assessments inform merchandising decisions and ongoing engagement. It reported that brand partners representing more than 96% of annual sales completed its sustainability and inclusion practices assessment in 2025. That figure describes assessment participation, not the share of products that are adaptive or independently verified as inclusive.
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REI’s standards are a retail and marketing example; the cited update does not describe a named adaptive-athlete co-design program. Nani Vishwanath, REI Co-op’s Senior Strategist of Inclusive Design, said, “Our products should reflect who we are as a co-op.”
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Where accessible footwear fits—and where the evidence stops
Nike describes its EasyOn footwear as designed to be put on quickly and easily, drawing on insights from parents, children, and the disability community. Its accessibility page also discusses work with athletes, including athletes with disabilities. This is a related example of accessible sports footwear, not evidence about technical outdoor footwear. Nike’s accessibility information
What these examples mean for people choosing gear
Company accounts can show which design choices changed and how feedback entered development, but they do not establish that a product works for every person with a similar disability. Needs vary by body, activity, equipment, and personal preference. For a buyer, the practical questions are whether the product supports the position and movement required, works alongside mobility or assistive technology, and offers a fit that can be assessed before committing.
The strongest lesson is procedural: consult people who will use the gear early, return to them throughout design, and treat their feedback as evidence that can change the product—not as a testimonial added at the end. The adidas and Zalando accounts illustrate that process in sportswear; REI’s standards show how a retailer can address pricing and representation separately.
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