Izzy Camilleri ends the IZ Collection
Financial struggles force designer to pull line tailored for wheelchair function
After seven years of outfitting men and women in stylish bomber jackets, jeans and suits that won’t bunch or pinch while sitting in a wheelchair, the adaptive fashion label IZ Collection is shutting down.
“Regretfully, it has come time for us to take a break from IZ Collection,” the company said Monday through a statement posted on their website.
“As the brand begins an indefinite hiatus, we will be clearing our warehouse of stock, but once that is gone, we will be, too.
“We do not know what the future holds for IZ and if or when we will be back in any reincarnation.”
IZ Collection is designed by Toronto’s Izzy Camilleri, who has dressed celebrities such as David Bowie and Angelina Jolie. She most recently styled the Tragically Hip’s Gord Downie in pink and turquoise metallic leather for the band’s tour this summer.
For the past seven years, she has devoted most of her energy to adaptive fashion — clothing designed for seated bodies that would not interfere with wheelchair function — but the business has become financially unsustainable.
“It’s not a decision that came quickly or overnight,” Camilleri said in an interview on Monday. “The growth has been quite slow and it’s difficult to sustain a slow growth. We produce locally and ethically and it’s hard for us to juggle pricing.”
Camilleri was inspired to focus on adaptive fashion after late Toronto Star reporter Barbara Turnbull, who used a wheelchair, asked her to design a shearling cape.
Though Camilleri has a studio and showroom in the Junction neighbourhood, IZ Collection is sold ex- clusively online and ships to customers in 15 countries.
The closest competitor is based in Germany, Camilleri said.
While Camilleri will continue to create bespoke and custom designs, she estimates the IZ Collection will sell out for good by the end of the year.
A 2014 exhibit, Fashion Follows Form: Designs for Sitting, at the Royal Ontario Museum also showcased Camilleri’s designs.