05.26.26
The Griffin Brothers Are Redefining Adaptive Fashion and Brands Need to Catch Up
At Licensing Expo 2026, NFL stars Shaquem and Shaquill Griffin share how they are partnering with adaptive design leaders to prove inclusive fashion doesn’t compromise style.
Source: License Global
The adaptive apparel market reached $350 billion in 2024, serving 1.3 billion people worldwide living with disabilities. At this year’s Licensing Expo, NFL alumni Shaquem and Shaquill Griffin joined Runway of Dreams founder Mindy Scheier and Volto Santo founder Pat DeCrescenzo in the session, “Leveling the Playing Field: Industry Leaders Chart the Future of Inclusive Design at Licensing Expo” to discuss how inclusive design is moving from niche to mainstream and why brands can’t afford to wait to start designing with inclusivity top of mind.
Fashion First, Function Always
Shaquem Griffin, the NFL’s first one-handed player, spent years adapting to products. Now alongside his brother, 2026 Super Bowl champion Shaquill Griffin, he’s creating apparel that adapts to him and other wearers.
Together with their partner, Earthbound Brands, the Griffin brothers are launching Y.O.U. by the Griffins, which stands for “You. Others. Us.” in collaboration with DeCrescenzo’s Volto Santo, to prove that adaptive design doesn’t require aesthetic compromise.
“We didn’t want to compromise looking good for adaptability,” says Shaquill. “We want all that to be in one thing. If you look good and feel good, you do good things.”
“We keep aesthetics and curation at the top of mind,” says DeCrescenzo.
That strategy works. Volto Santo attracts equal numbers of NFL players and Paralympians, able-bodied and disabled consumers.
The Y.O.U. by Volto Santo collection features magnetic zippers, adjustable openings and adaptive drawstrings, but the design process started with style. DeCrescenzo, a former Para snowboarder, built Volto Santo on the principle that clothing should look cool first, then reveal how it makes life easier. The audience at Licensing Expo got a special preview with all three athletes matching on stage in tracksuits from the collection, showcasing firsthand how the apparel was designed to be worn by everyone.
“The goal, just like all three of them wearing the same product, is just that, that everybody should be wearing all the same clothes, and it should have modifications in it for everybody to wear,” says Scheier. “I’m sure everybody’s going to want to wear it, because it’s more usable, and it’s innovation. Innovation is really the foundation of anything that’s universal or adaptive.”
The Whitespace is a Missed Business Case
Scheier has spent 12 years pushing the industry toward inclusion, starting with the first mainstream adaptive line for Tommy Hilfiger in 2016. Scheier explained to the audience that there is massive whitespace, and brands are missing out on a significant opportunity by not designing for accessibility and inclusivity. $13 trillion is left on the table annually by excluding people with disabilities from mainstream products, she explained.
“When I first started, brands said, ‘It’s obviously a very niche group,’” Scheier adds. “All of which are so beyond false.”
She went on to emphasize how the disability community represents the largest minority in the world and the only one anyone can join at any point. Universal design innovations like wheeled suitcases and texting were originally developed for people with disabilities and became the ubiquitous norm. Adaptive products follow the same trajectory.
Designing With, Not For
The distinction between designing with the disability community versus designing for them emerged as critical guidance in the conversation. Scheier developed Gamut Management to bring people with disabilities into every step of the value chain from product development and marketing to PR and copywriting.
“I never started this adventure thinking, ‘I know it all because I have a son with a disability,’” says Scheier. “Oliver’s form of muscular dystrophy is one of 140 different versions of just muscular dystrophy.”
The Gamut Seal of Approval, the first certification of its kind, verifies that people with disabilities were involved in product creation and that a separate group approved the final result. When brands skip this step, the consequences are immediate.
“The community knows very quickly when it feels performative or tokenism, and it’s very hard to come back from that,” warns Scheier.
DeCrescenzo’s collaboration with the Griffins exemplifies authentic co-creation, combining lived experience with technical expertise.
“Pat here is a mad scientist,” says Shaquill. “For him to capture everything we want it to look like, but also make it adaptive for everybody, he’s really been doing his thing.”
What Success Looks Like
The panelists shared a unified vision that success means this conversation becomes unnecessary.
“Success looks like we don’t have to talk about this anymore,” says Scheier. “That there are just products out there for everyone.”
DeCrescenzo painted a clear picture of what that will look like.
“I think that success in this space looks like someone like Shaquill and someone like Shaquem walking into the same store, they both gravitate towards the same product. Shaquill is purchasing it because it’s convenient and stylish. Shaquem is purchasing it because it’s stylish and it’s a necessity. That’s the end goal.”
For brands entering the space, Scheier’s advice was direct, calling out to the industry: “you better catch up, because it’s happening.”
Shaquem equally urged the industry to accelerate its efforts.
“Get involved, catch up, speak more about it. Being able to have a voice and utilizing it, and then being able to have supporters hyping that voice. I think that’s what’s going to make a change.”
In the end, Shaquem emphasized that adaptation is universal.
“Being able to adapt is a skill in so many different ways. We all have to adapt to something.”
The message from the panel was unambiguous: inclusive design is smart business. It is a mainstream opportunity that companies need to stop treating as an afterthought. It’s innovation that expands markets, builds loyalty and creates better products for everyone. The brands that recognize this now will lead the next era of design, those that don’t risk being left behind.