Susan Kleiman wants to be the Donna Karan of special needs clothing.
This week the Bedford resident debuts online Ross Daniel Adaptive Apparel (RDAA), a stylish sock line designed for disabled children and teenagers who are fitted with orthotics.
Her son Ross was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at a young age.
He turns 16 next week.
Steadfast in transforming her pain into a passion that can help others, Kleiman does not leave room for personal pity.
“It was the hardest decision of my life, but the best,” she said of enrolling son Ross in The Center for Discovery in Monticello some years back. “It gave him a social life that I couldn”™t give him.”
“Some are cognitively fine and some aren”™t,” she said of disabled children. “I would say Ross is mid-level. His receptive language is good, but he can”™t walk and he can”™t talk. He is also visually impaired.”
Having come from a background in sales and marketing, she had no immediate knowledge of the technicalities of her new venture.
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“I went for advocacy training to help me maneuver the system to get services for my son, like making sure he got diapers delivered to the house, and that he had the proper therapists,” she said. “I wanted to make sure I could tap into all of the resources that the city offered ”¦ and then I did that forothers once I learned how to do it. I would put myself out there and attend support groups and help people.”
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Kleiman found herself struggling to find breathable socks for Ross to wear with plastic molded orthotics.
“I did a lot of research and spoke to a lot of parents, therapists and people who make the orthoses,” she said of her brainstorm period, which began about two years ago. “What is available now is basically black and white and nothing fashionable and fun for kids, so this gave me the impetus to do it because I couldn”™t find it for my son.”
Ross Daniel Adaptive Apparel will first feature “Cool Clothes for Toes,” a funky sock line with designs ranging from peace signs to tie-dye.
Socks range from $12.95 to $14.95 and are 80 percent cotton and 20 percent nylon.
Six months down the road, Kleiman said she hopes to sell adaptive underwear for kids that are incontinent.
“They will be fashionable and fun to give these children some dignity, so they don”™t just have to wear diapers,” she said. “And I”™m also going to work on pants and shirts for kids that have movement issues like my son. It”™s really difficult dressing him sometimes.”
Kleiman hopes to show her line of socks at trade shows and to special needs schools and specialist orthotists, who could potentially serve as strategic partners, she predicts.
The web site is rdadaptiveapparel.com.
