Grace (second from right) wears Levi’s ‘Ribcage’ jeans, $179. Mi Piaci ‘Tefi’ sneakers, $240. She’s pictured with All is for All team members (from left) Rebecca Dubber in Cos ‘Lace Panel’ shirt, $165, and ‘Floral Panel’ shorts, $130; Grace Cussell in Loclaire ‘Turtle’ tank, $119, and ‘Lucky Mini’ skirt, $299; and Latifa Daud in Kowtow ‘Camille’ top, $269, and Mi Piaci ‘Vision’ sneakers, $260. All other items their own.
For Grace Stratton — law graduate, lover of fashion and lifelong wheelchair user after being diagnosed with cerebral palsy at the age of one — working at the intersection of disability and fashion was always something of an inevitability.
Frustrated by the fashion industry’s lack of representation of the disabled community and the accessibility issues overlooked by mainstream brands in everything from garment design to how pieces of clothing were photographed and described online, Stratton launched accessible fashion platform All is for All in 2019 with two objectives: to see more disabled people included in the fashion conversation, and to consult with brands on what they need to do to make this happen.
“Less than a decade ago, it really wasn’t a discussion that non-disabled people were engaging with,” says Stratton, who’s taken All is for All from a tiny start-up to a pioneering agency making significant change across a diverse range of industries.
Of course, improving the way fashion is made, marketed and sold to those with disabilities remains front of mind. Having worked with many New Zealand designers to bolster representation and improve the accessibility of their ranges, All is for All has recently celebrated a win 12 months in the making: advising mega European e-retailer Zalando on an adaptive fashion collection designed to accommodate people with disabilities and publicised by a campaign fronted by disabled models.
“That was a real moment for us,” says Stratton. Her core belief is that disability is a part of culture, “not a problem to be solved”.
She adds that this distinction is crucial to her work, “because if we want to advance our disabled communities, one of the first steps is for them to be included in the world we navigate every day, and fashion is a big part of that world.”
Words: Phoebe Watt
Photography: Guy Coombes
About FQ’s Class of 2022 Changemakers
As the sun sets on 2022 and rises on another year ripe for change — be it individual or collective, domestic or global, big or small — Grace Stratton is one of seven remarkable women from around Aotearoa who have affected positive change in fields as varied as journalism and the creative arts through to beauty and sustainability. Through their mahi and vision, the lives, legislative rights and legacies of our people and our planet have been changed for the better. Let their challenges and triumphs inspire you to identify a change you wish to tackle in your career and personal life, and motivate you to take that first important step.
Learn more about our FQ Changemakers in our Summer 2023 Issue.
