Elle Newman

I next wanted to research what clothing existed for people on the high street that had been or were currently going through Cancer. I soon realised there wasn’t much on offer, the most common item that a few shops sold were mastectomy bras. A lot of women choose to have a mastectomy when going through breast cancer. One of the main problems after having one is dealing with the effects mentally of losing their breasts or breast. Some retailers have started to make and sell mastectomy and post-surgery bras to help women with this change. M&S was the first high street retailer to sell them followed quickly by Debenhams.

Debenhams

Debenhams website is clear and easy to read and quite attractive, there is a lot of information on the Mastectomy and Post – surgery page on how to shop and what makes their bra’s different. They have an extensive variety of bra’s, that are sold at the same price as the ‘normal’ bras.

M&S

M&S were the first retailers to sell mastectomy bras, they also work with Coppafeel so for every bra that is sold 10% of the price goes to Breast Cancer Now charity. M&S’s website is played out a little more straightforward then Debenhams, and there is little to no information on the page about the bra’s or how to shop them. The designs are also a little duller than the Debenhams ones which are quite bright and colourful.

From all my research, that I have done in this module across all the groups.  I have been shocked to see how many time the high street retailers don’t cater for a large selection of society whether that be people with physical disabilities, older generation or people with health problems who regularly have treatment or surgery. I am particularly interested in adaptable clothing and think I want to take this forward into my Final Major Project.