The Elderly Want to Have Some Style Too!

Fashion products for babies are big business. Children’s clothing? Even bigger. The preteen and teenager fashion market is massive, as is the young adult market. There is one demographic, however, that is conspicuously absent from the fashion world: senior citizens. You won’t find a large department store section devoted to elderly fashion, and the mall is not filled with life-sized photographs of seniors wearing the newest styles. Why not? The more you think about the question, the more puzzling it becomes. There is a movement to change this state of things, and one lady nicknamed “Granny Jo” is at the forefront of it.

Fed Up with Purely Utilitarian Devices

Granny Jo, like many of us, was put off by the drab, dull-colored appearance of many of the items that seniors use to make life easier. The hospital is filled with these purely functional items, and many seniors don’t like the idea of filling their homes with them as well. But right now, they usually don’t have a choice. Walkers and wheelchairs, for example, don’t exactly come in a variety of attractive shapes and styles. If Granny Jo has her way, though, fashion designers will start to see the potential for a walker to be a statement about personality and not just a tool used to get around. After all, a purse is a functional item too, but no style-conscious lady would carry around a drab, beige-colored sack.

Dressing Things Up a Bit

To get the ball rolling and exercise her entrepreneurial spirit, Granny Jo started her own company to provide senior products that are unique and fun. So far, she’s put out great-looking walker bags, napkin clips, and even oxygen tank covers that really make a statement. The elderly seem to love them, and the business has more requests than it can handle. Granny Jo sees this response as an indication that seniors want to look good when they go out, and she hopes that more senior style products will soon be available.

An Eye for Invention

Granny Jo’s products are more than just style, though. Items like her double-handled mug are incredibly useful to seniors while continuing her commitment to style and fun. There’s a lesson in that particular invention for many of us: the idea came from spending time with her elderly mother in law and observing her difficulty managing a standard teacup. Who knows what great idea could come out of your interaction with a senior loved one?

The idea of providing seniors with great-looking fashion products is an outgrowth of respect, love, compassion, and admiration for the elderly people in our lives. Those are qualities that we should all have for our seniors, and we enjoy making them core values of our caregiving services.

Photo by tehusagent