Millennium Magazine_5th Ed

43 Millennium - A Marquis Who’s Who Magazine M indy Scheier is a pioneer of the fashion industry in the area of adaptive clothing for people with disabilities. Her son has a rare form of muscular dystrophy. After constantly wearing sweatpants, he told her that he wanted to wear jeans like his peers. With her 20 years in fashion, Ms. Scheier extensively researched clothing to accommodate not only his needs, but the 20% of the world’s population that have disabilities. In 2014, Ms. Scheier spearheaded the Runway of Dreams Foundation, whose mission is to work toward a future of inclusion, acceptance and opportunity in the fashion industry for people with disabilities. Founded on the basis that clothing is a basic human need, she is proud to make a direct impact on the world and on her family. She calls the highlight of her career the night Runway of Dreams kicked off during New York Fashion Week. Ms. Scheier received a BA in fashion and apparel design from the University of Vermont in 1993. She was name to Newsweek’s “The Creative Class of 2019: Innovators,” People Magazine’s “Heroes Among Us” and PIX11’s “Changemaker: Making the Fashion Industry More Inclusive.” In addition to these honors, she received the Catalyst Award for Marketing Influencer of the Year, the Women at the Wheel Leadership Excellence Award, the Association of Image Consultants’ International Bravo Award, and the Michael Graves Award for Creativity and Persistence. In 2016, Ms. Scheier partnered with Tommy Hilfiger to make fashion history by creating the first ever mainstream adaptive clothing line. She says that now Zappos has Zappos Adaptive, Target has Cat & Jack Adaptive, Nike has Flyease sneakers and Kohl’s launched adaptive versions of their children’s lines; it is phenomenal progress in a very short time. It is evident that the fashion industry is shifting, and she looks forward to its progression. In five years’ time, Ms. Scheier would like adaptive clothing to be a fashion industry category. She hopes that the movement within the industry opens the eyes of other industries to become more inclusive of people with disabilities. MINDY SCHEIER FOUNDER, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Runway of Dreams Foundation Livingston, NJ ARTS, MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT