Maurice Bryan has been a longtime lover of fashion and has dreamed about becoming a fashion designer since he was young. Around a month ago, he was able to bring his dreams to life by starting an Etsy shop dedicated to his designs. He called the shop DAFASHIONS—”DA” standing for “Differently Abled.”
As the name suggests, the aim of Maurice’s fashion line is to show that people with disabilities can do anything they set their minds to. Each item of clothing features an inspirational phrase penned by Maurice, such as “Please Don’t Let This Chair Fool You!!!” or “You Don’t Have to Be Asleep to Follow Your Dreams.”
When Maurice had the idea to make a clothing line, he and his Habilitation Specialist, Kimberly Max, brainstormed how to make it a reality. They decided to reach out to Hishime Beckles to assist Maurice in implementing his vision. Hishime and Maurice met when Hishime worked at ADAPT, where he supported Maurice’s different interests and ambitions, including recording rap music. As it happens, Hishime and his partner Yasmine Barton had recently started a company, Limitlistics, that assists others in starting their own clothing shops. Now, Hishme and Yasmine with Maurice as his business partners.
When Maurice has an idea for a design, he contacts Hishime, who does his best to recreate Maurice’s vision. Then, they list the piece on Etsy and Maurice promotes it on his Facebook and Instagram. Once a customer orders a piece of clothing, Hishime and Yasmin print the design and ship it out.
Since the store’s inception only a month ago, Maurice has made over 30 sales and has amassed several glowing reviews. Customers say, “The design is just gorgeous,” “It’s beautiful,” and it’s “great quality.”
Maurice says his designs are for everyone, but he wants to reach people with disabilities the most. In the future, he wants to create adaptive designs as well. These clothing pieces would be specifically designed for ease of use by people with wheelchairs and/or limited mobility. Though designs currently exist for adaptive clothing, Maurice wants to update them to be more modern and fashionable.
“Just because you have a disability doesn’t mean you are incapable of doing anything,” he said.
In addition to supporting the logistics of DAFASHIONS, Hishime has also been teaching Maurice about taxes, banking, and other aspects of running a business.
“Maurice has a lot of people who love him, who support him,” Hishime said. “My favorite part about this process is it makes Maurice feel on top of the world. His confidence and his willingness to learn has increased by a thousand. The best part of it is I’m able to tell him: bro, this is only the beginning.”
