UN[PARA]LD project to address lack of outdoor clothing for disabled people

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 09:31:14 GMT

A new initiative launching at the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympics is challenging what it describes as a long-standing failure within the outdoor clothing industry to properly serve disabled people.

The UN[PARA]LD project has been unveiled in the run-up to Milan-Cortina Games. It aims to promote awareness that paralympic athletes frequently have to adapt or alter their own technical clothing in order to train and compete.

Despite performing on the world stage, many athletes rely on improvised solutions such as rolled sleeves, modified fastenings, added padding or personal sewing adjustments to make standard alpine kit functional.

An estimated 1.3 billion people worldwide live with a disability, and founder Alice Sainsbury argues that many are effectively excluded from outdoor activities.

UN[PARA]LD has been developed by design consultant Sainsbury, who was diagnosed with transverse myelitis in 2015, and is backed by former Team GB Winter Paralympians including Sean Rose and Shona Brownlee.

Rather than producing entirely new garments, the initiative focuses on adapting and reworking existing outdoor clothing in collaboration with disabled people, athletes, designers and makers.

You can find out more about UN[PARA]LD on their website. There is a also a launch event taking place in Milan on 05 March.

You can listen to Alice Sainsbury talking about the UN[PARA]LD in Episode 303 of The Ski Podcast:

Latest posts for the topic "UN[PARA]LD project to address lack of outdoor clothing for disabled people"

UN[PARA]LD project to address lack of outdoor clothing for disabled people