Made For Us

When pitching their inclusive eyewear brand to investors, Reframd ’s co-founders Shariff Vreugd and Ackeem Ngwenya often faced doubts about whether a market existed for their product. But if you look beyond the West, says Shariff, the opportunity is massive.

In the second of a two-part series on inclusive brands disrupting the eyewear industry, we talk about how Reframd is reimagining eyewear frame design to cater to communities that have traditionally been overlooked.

In this episode we discuss:

• Why certain demographic groups have felt neglected by the eyewear industry
• Why Reframd had to rethink its target audience post-launch
• How the company's data and insights can benefit the eyewear industry
• The test to determine if your glasses fit correctly

In case you missed part 1 of the series, check out Episode 11 with Athina Wang and Florence Shin of Covry. If you’d like to hear more stories like this, please support the podcast by leaving a rating on Apple or Spotify and sharing it with others via this link: https://pod.link/1711282282

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About Shariff Vreugd

Shariff is the Managing Director and Co-founder of Reframd, a company that crafts and manufactures eyewear products based on the unique facial measurements of each customer. Reframd's mission is to make the eyewear industry more inclusive.

Learn more about Reframd: https://www.reframd.com/

Follow Reframd on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reframd/

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• Show notes and transcripts: https://made-for-us.captivate.fm/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/madeforuspodcast
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madeforuspodcast/
• X: https://twitter.com/madeforuspod

After struggling for years to find glasses that fit comfortably, Athina Wang and Florence Shin realised that it was the eyewear industry that needed to change and not them. That was the inspiration for launching Covry, an inclusive eyewear brand that came to life through an oversubscribed Kickstarter campaign.

In the interview, we discuss:

• Why having zero eyewear industry experience proved to be an advantage for Athina and Florence
• How they ensured a successful Kickstarter campaign
• Why customer feedback is an essential part of Covry’s design process
• The 20+ steps involved in creating a single Covry frame

This is the first of two episodes on inclusive eyewear. Tune in tomorrow for part 2 with Shariff Vreugd, the co-founder of Reframd. If you like this episode, please rate the podcast on your preferred app and share it with someone who would enjoy it via this link: https://pod.link/1711282282

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About Athina Wang and Florence Shin

Athina Wang and Florence Shin met in high school and have been close friends throughout their journey in the fashion industry. Frustrated by the lack of comfortable options for diverse face shapes, they teamed up to create an innovative approach to fit and design. Together, they built Covry to embrace diversity and celebrate faces of all different shapes and sizes.

Learn more about Covry: https://shopcovry.com/

Follow Covry on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shopcovry/

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• Show notes and transcripts: https://made-for-us.captivate.fm/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/madeforuspodcast
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madeforuspodcast/

“Where are the plus size male models?” It’s a question the Internet seemed to be asking just a few years ago. Now, a six-pack is no longer a prerequisite to grace the pages of the top fashion magazines. It’s proof, says my guest, Raul Samuel, that there's demand for more realistic-looking models. Still, as we discuss in the interview, not everyone in the fashion industry is convinced.

Some of the topics we cover in this conversation:

• Why the fashion industry has been slow to accept plus size male models
• What Raul has learned about body confidence since becoming a model
• The changes he’d like to see in the fashion industry
• Raul's favourite brands and tips for how to look good at any size

If you liked this episode, please leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to help others discover the show.

You can also check out my conversation with Charlotte Griffiths, founder of BRIDGE Agency, in Episode 7: https://pod.link/1711282282

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About Raul Samuel

Raul started modelling in 2016 and has featured twice in both Vogue and Men’s Health. He has also fronted campaigns for brands like Nike, Tommy Hilfiger, ASOS and Boohoo Man. Raul is represented by BRIDGE Agency, which launched the UK’s first men’s division for bigger, broader male models in 2016.

Follow Raul Samuel on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/raulsamuel_official

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Connect with Made For Us

• Show notes and transcripts: https://made-for-us.captivate.fm/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/madeforuspodcast
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madeforuspodcast/
• X: https://twitter.com/madeforuspod

Sam Latif, P&G's first Company Accessibility Leader, joins me this week to share how she is driving innovation to make the company’s 65+ brands inclusive and accessible for the 15% of people around the globe who experience some form of disability. Sam’s passion for her work stems from her personal experiences as a mother of three who is blind. In her current role, Sam is focused on embedding accessibility into P&G brands such as Pantene, Gillette, Ariel and Pampers.

In our conversation, we discuss:

• How Sam’s personal experiences helped drive innovation in accessibility at P&G
• Sam’s campaign to help P&G’s leadership better understand the needs of people with disabilities
• The initiatives she has led to make P&G's packaging and advertising more accessible
• Why building a ‘disability-confident’ culture is essential for inclusive innovation

If you like this episode, please leave a rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and spread the word by sharing this link: https://pod.link/1711282282.

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About Sam Latif:

Sam joined P&G in 2000 and went on to have a successful IT career. In 2015, she switched her focus to helping make P&G's products, packaging and advertising more accessible. In 2019, she was promoted to Senior Director, taking on the formal title of Company Accessibility Leader. Sam is married with three children. She is a first-generation Scottish Pakistani and currently lives in Surrey.

Photo credit: Holly McGlynn/Stylist

Follow Sam Latif on LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/samlatif

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Learn more about P&G:

Website: https://www.pg.co.uk/people-with-disabilities/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/procter-and-gamble/

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Connect with Made for Us

• Show notes and transcripts: https://made-for-us.captivate.fm/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/madeforuspodcast
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madeforuspodcast/

For many people of colour, wearing a plaster, or Band-Aid, that blends with their skin tone is a novel experience. While inclusive bandages are now widely available in countries like the UK and US, that's only happened in the last few years.

My two guests share their unique perspectives on this. Intisar Bashir is the co-founder and CEO of Browndages, one of the first companies to offer bandages in a range of skin tones, before giants like Johnson & Johnson seized on the opportunity. My other guest is Dom Apollon, whose 2019 tweet about the emotions he felt wearing a skin tone bandage for the first time went viral and inspired the UK supermarket chain Tesco to launch its own line of inclusive bandages.

In this episode we discuss:

• How Browndages has responded to competition from larger players in the first aid care industry
• What happened after Browndages’ appearance on 'Shark Tank'
• Dom’s reflections on why his tweet resonated with people around the world

If you like this episode, please leave a rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. You can also spread the word by sharing this link: https://pod.link/1711282282.

Bios

Intisar Bashir and her husband Rashid Mahdi launched Browndages in 2018 after noticing that none of the bandages they purchased in stores matched the skin of anyone in their family. The couple live in Columbus, Ohio with their four children. Intisar comes from a family of entrepreneurs and has always aspired to follow in their footsteps.

Dominique (“Dom”) Apollon is a US-based racial and social equity professional and the founder of Apollon Research and Consulting. From 2008 to 2022, Dom led the Research Department at Race Forward, one of the largest racial justice organisations in the US. Dom lives in California, where he completed his PhD in Political Science at Stanford University.

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Learn more about Browndages

Website: www.browndages.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Browndages/

X: https://www.twitter.com/Browndages

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Learn more about Dom Apollon

Website: https://apollonresearchandconsulting.com/

X: https://twitter.com/ApollonTweets

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Connect with Made for Us

• Show notes and transcripts: https://made-for-us.captivate.fm/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/madeforuspodcast
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madeforuspodcast/
• X: https://twitter.com/madeforuspod

When Charlotte Griffiths’ agency BRIDGE launched the UK’s first men’s division for bigger, broader male models in 2016, it was based on a hunch that the fashion industry was ready to embrace men of different shapes and sizes. In this week’s interview, Charlotte tells me how her gamble paid off and why brands need to let go of outdated stereotypes around men and fashion.

Charlotte is the owner and Managing Director of BRIDGE, a talent management agency established in 2014 that represents models and influencers internationally. The agency‘s ethos is to "bridge-the-gap" between standard and plus size models. After seeing a rise in mental health struggles for men, Charlotte recognised that to be a truly diverse agency they needed to bring men into the conversation around body positivity as well.

In this episode we discuss:

• Charlotte’s brief stint as a model and how it influenced her decision to launch BRIDGE
• How she got the inspiration to start the men’s division
• The models she discovered and the campaigns they’ve worked on
• Why she thinks some brands are reluctant to showcase larger men in their imagery

If you enjoyed this interview, please subscribe to Made For Us to be notified of future episodes and rate the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to help others discover it.

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Learn more about BRIDGE

Website: www.bridgeagency.com

Application form: https://bridgeagency.com/apply

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bridgemodels

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Connect with Made for Us

• Show notes and transcripts: https://made-for-us.captivate.fm/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/madeforuspodcast
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madeforuspodcast/
• X: https://twitter.com/madeforuspod

When Hector Minto joined Microsoft seven years ago, he knew it was time to bring disability inclusion into the mainstream. In this episode, Microsoft’s Lead Technology Evangelist on accessibility tells me why “this is not a niche topic anymore” and why companies need to get ahead of regulation and build accessible products.

Hector drives and measures the education and adoption of Microsoft accessibility features and assistive technologies across the company’s customers and partners. Before joining Microsoft, he spent over two decades in the field of assistive technology and accessibility.

Some of the topics we cover in the conversation:

• How inclusion has driven innovation and healthy competition within Microsoft
• How Microsoft assesses the impact of disability inclusion
• Why companies should exceed expectations when creating accessible experiences
• The challenge of building more inclusive AI

If you're enjoying the podcast, be sure to hit the ‘Follow’ button to be notified of future episodes and please leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to help others discover the show.

If you liked this episode, check out my conversation with Maura Horton, founder of accessible clothing brand MagnaReady: https://link.chtbl.com/madeforuspodcast

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Learn more about Microsoft

Disability Answer Desk: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/accessibility/disability-answer-desk

X: https://twitter.com/MSFTEnable

Follow Hector Minto on X: https://twitter.com/hminto

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Connect with Made For Us

• Show notes and transcripts: https://made-for-us.captivate.fm/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/madeforuspodcast
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madeforuspodcast/

Do you have what it takes to create your own emoji? My guest, Rayouf Alhumedhi, did just that when she launched the Hijab Emoji Project at the age of 16 to push for digital representation for Muslim women around the world. She was named one of Time magazine’s most influential teens and also featured on the Forbes 30 under 30 list. Rayouf recently graduated from Stanford University where she studied product design.

In this episode, Rayouf talks about:

• Her motivation for creating the headscarf emoji
• The praise and backlash she received during her campaign
• Why she decided to major in product design at Stanford
• How Gen Z is pushing inclusive design to the forefront

Loved this episode? Share it with a friend and drop us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to spread the word! And be sure to subscribe to the free Made For Us newsletter to get bonus content.

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Learn more about Rayouf Alhumedhi

Website / Instagram

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Connect with Made for Us

• Show notes and transcripts: https://made-for-us.captivate.fm/
• Newsletter: https://madeforuspodcast.beehiiv.com/subscribe
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/madeforuspodcast
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madeforuspodcast/

As emoji usage has gone global over the past decade, demand for more inclusive emoji has soared. But how effectively can emoji capture human diversity? And what challenges does this pose from a design perspective?

I’ll be exploring these questions and more in a two-part special on emoji. First up is Keith Broni, the editor-in-chief of Emojipedia, the world's #1 emoji resource. Keith oversees changes to emoji sets from major vendors like Apple and Google, as well as interpreting emoji usage and trends. He received an MSc in Business Psychology from University College London, where he did his dissertation on emoji use in social media communication.

In this episode we discuss:

• How emoji originated and what's behind their universal appeal
• What sparked the move towards more inclusive emoji
• How gender representation has evolved over the years
• Whether there’s a limit to the number of emoji we can have

If you liked this episode, check out my conversation with Rayouf Alhumedhi, the founder of the Hijab Emoji Project.

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Learn more about Emojipedia

Website / Instagram / X

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• Show notes and transcripts
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• Instagram
• YouTube

This week's guest is Maura Horton, the CEO and Founder of MagnaReady, a company that provides accessible apparel for those with limited dexterity. Maura developed the concept for MagnaReady after her husband was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and struggled to dress himself independently.

She invented and eventually patented a magnetic closure system that replaces buttons and has since licensed the technology to Fortune 500 Companies including PVH Corp, owner of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger. Maura also partnered with and advised Tommy Hilfiger Adaptive, the first mainstream brand to launch a children’s adaptive apparel line.

In this episode we talk about:

• The state of the adaptive clothing market before MagnaReady
• How Maura got the inspiration to infuse magnets into her husband’s shirts
• The challenges she faced in the design and manufacturing process
• Why Maura thinks the term ‘adaptive’ is unhelpful

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Learn more about MagnaReady

Website / Instagram / X

Follow Maura Horton on LinkedIn

Maura’s recommendations for people to follow:

Keely Cat-Wells

Andraea LaVant

Wheelchair Barbie

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Transcripts and show notes

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