befree, LLC

Business Description

What wouldn’t you do for your child? This is a question I have asked myself countless times since my daughter Stella was born with spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy. She is the inspiration for my company, befree LLC, and zipOns® adaptive pants. As a parent of a daughter with special needs I realized that we are rewriting the script of the life we “thought” we were going to have, but through this journey, I have grown. Because I realize that rewriting the script, although hard, is also pretty amazing. It has opened my eyes to things I am not so sure I would have seen before. Through all the ups and downs that families go through with having a child with special needs, I felt it was so important to find our silver lining. It was from this humble, grassroots beginning that befree, LLC was born. We are passionately devoted to improving the lives of the disabled and their caregivers. We understand how debilitating the daily frustrations that come with limited mobility can be and we are committed to making adaptive and inclusive fashion that really works.

Stella underwent double hip surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital at the age of 5 resulting in a lengthy three month recovery with casts on both legs and a bar in between to keep her hips in place. This made it impossible to put on traditional pants. Her doctors and nurses could offer no suggestions other other than blankets and oversized t-shirts. Knowing this would not make Stella comfortable and increase her anxiety, I took matters into my own hands. I took apart a pair of pajama pants and altered them so that they could open completely on the sides of both legs and fit over Stella’s casts. The results for Stella were transformative. And when she wore them to her post-op appointment, her doctors were so impressed they encouraged me to make them for others.

I took their advice knowing first-hand the impact they had on Stella’s recovery, and zipOns adaptive pants were born. The last few years were spent prototyping and perfecting the design for which we were ultimately granted a design patent. 

zipOns are made with a soft, moisture-wicking fabric and an elastic waist. They open completely on both legs with zippers spanning waist to hem, allowing them to be taken on and off without going up through the legs as with traditional pants. The legs also widen as needed to accommodate casts, braces and other medical equipment. zipOns can be put on and taken off easily from standing or lying down. The patented design also includes an interior flange and a zipper garage at the waist, fully covering the zippers in the interior of the pants and preventing skin contact and ensuring maximum comfort. 

While zipOns were initially created with Stella in mind, they have evolved to be a stylish and functional solution for millions who struggle getting dressed with temporary or permanent disabilities. The market for inclusive fashion is substantial and growing. Today more than 40 million Americans live with a permanent physical disability. Of those, more than 14 million people struggle every day to dress themselves. Temporary disabilities, too — including 5 million people healing from lower limb fractures and more than 800,000 recovering from hip and knee surgeries each year (a fast-growing number as Baby Boomers age) — leave millions more without good options for simple, attractive and wearable clothing. While designers are slowly becoming more aware of the need for inclusive fashion choices, to date those options are extremely limited. 

Since the market for inclusive clothing remains largely untapped, there are significant opportunities for success in mainstream markets. zipOns would have a positive and transformative impact on millions with temporary and permanent disabilities. zipOns also promote aging with dignity by eliminating lengthy struggles to get dressed. Specifically, we will target adaptive athletes/adaptive sports programs, rehabilitation facilities, orthopedic centers, prosthetic centers, assisted living facilities and home care service providers.

befree is a small, woman owned company and our main challenges are funding, achieving brand recognition in mainstream markets, and manufacturing resources. Securing business loans has proven extremely difficult. Currently we are self-funded and while our progress to date has been amazing, we need capital for marketing and advertising to break into the market and reach our millions of customers. In addition, we have been sidelined the last year due to Covid. Manufacturing resources are very limited and more costly.