2015: A YEAR TO REMEMBER FOR THE ABLE LABEL
As we enter into the New Year and wave farewell to 2015, The Able Label reflects on the year gone by. It has been quite an action packed 12 months for us, which we would like to share with you.
The year hasn’t been without its downs too though. Sadly Founder Katie’s grandmother passed away. She was unable to see the first range that was inspired by her own difficulties faced dressing with Parkinson’s. We are sure you’ll agree that if she were still around, she would be incredibly proud of Katie and The Able Label.
Despite this, there have been many highlights this year including go live with the first collection, attending several leading tradeshow and also having some great feedback from the likes of Joanna Lumley!
The Designs Finalised
Working with some of the best designers, garment technologists and factories around, we finalised our first range of adaptive clothing, which looks great but also makes dressing easier too.
The Final Samples
After several trips to and from our factory in Portugal and many focus groups with customers and occupational therapist later, we got our final samples through. Thrilled with them and the positive feedback we received, we proceeded into production.
The Photoshoot
We had our first ever photoshoot and met with some incredibly inspiring individuals who volunteered to model for us wanting easier to dress clothes but with style still very important to them. We had some of the industries best hair and makeup artists working on making them over and a leading photographer photographing them. We went on to put the images into our first catalogue which can be found on our website http://www.theablelabel.com/catalogue_a/278.htm
The Feedback
We have had lots of positive feedback and list the best couple for you below. More can be found on our website http://www.theablelabel.com/testimonials_a/256.htm
'Many congratulations to Katie for this range of easy to get into clothes which are stylish and attractive and which I hope will become the mainstay of many wardrobes.'
-Joanna Lumley
'It is so nice to see someone has actually considered dressing when designing a clothing range. I ordered three vests and the quality is gorgeous! My son who is visiting even commented saying how beautiful they looked. No longer will I need to cut myself out of vests as these front fasten with velcro.'
-Mrs Harris, aged 84, from Reading
The Events
We had the opportunity to meet Lord Young and show him some of The Able Label’s easy dress clothing collection at Enterprising Women Event held at The British Library.
Several major tradeshows were attended where we were able to showcase the innovative collection including The Care Show and OT Show held at Birmingham NEC and also RehaCare International held in Dusseldorf.
The Press
We have featured in The Mail on Sunday, Saga Magazine, The Lady Magazine, The OT Magazine, Thiis Trade Magazine and Arthritis Care’s Inspire Magazine to name but a few. We even had our product rated 5/5 in Able Magazine.
So as you can see, the year as been action packed for us and we look forward to the same in 2016 - brining out more desirable designs that also make dressing easier. Let's toast to an exciting year ahead!