Monday, December 14, 2009

Soft Clothing for All Children (Review)

When you have a child with sensory issues, sometimes finding the right clothing is a chore. Sock seams are painful. Tags are scratchy. Fabric is too rough or sometimes burns the skin (micro fleece burns my skin into a painful bright red color -- finding a pair of gloves that don't burn the skin on my own hands is a challenge -- and we realized when she was a toddler that part of my daughter's eczema was not eczema at all, but were burns from polyester content in clothing).

The folks at softtm are creating clothing for individuals who are sensitive to fabrics and seams and tags and dyes.

If you've got one of these sensory sensitive kidlets, you've probably already guessed that this line is created by either a special education teacher or a mom who has a sensory sensitive child, too. You're right.

softtm sent me, free, to review here, one navy blue, short sleeve, child size XXL Perfect Soft-t-shirt. The company is celebrating the launch of the soft t today with coupons here (pictured at right). The short sleeve shirts are priced at $10.

The fabric is 100% cotton; the t-shirt was made in India. The fabric, like the company name, is soft. The fabric is very smooth and I like to run my hand across it. It's lightweight -- I wouldn't call it "thin", because I've purchased skimpier t-shirts with thinner fabric, but it's not heavyweight, either. It's a good weight for summertime or for layering under winter clothing. I live in a Midwestern state that has already experienced temps near zero this fall, and this fabric is the right weight for layering under a heavier, bulkier sweater, to buffer the sensory challenges of the outer item.

The seams are flat (how'd they do that?) Some items are seamless, but this t-shirt is not. The labels are printed (no tags). The collars are wide. softtm colors clothing using vegetable dyes. I was allowed to request the size (XXL child), and I probably chose too small; the smallest adult size may be a better fit for my girl with the long torso. (She's moving into a "big girl" 14/16 size shirt and can sometimes wear an adult XS or S, depending on how generous the adult sizes are in a particular brand.) Finding shirts that fit in the shoulders AND are long enough for her long torso has me being creative in dressing her these days. When I place an order, I'll go a size up.

If you have a sensory-sensitive kidlet at home, you must click over to the web site and peek at what is coming from soft in the future. softtm clothes for dressier occasions, seamless socks, tops and bottoms are on the way.

The web site contains quite a bit of information about the creators of the product, about sensory challenges, about the company, future styles and more.

Thanks, softtm, for including us in this review! We like the shirt! :) I'm happy to know about this resource and to be able to pass the information along to others who may be looking for clothing for individuals with sensory sensitivities.

6 comments:

PaintCrazy said...

Good review Penny! My kiddo is HYPOsensitive rather than hypersensitive which has it's own set of challenges but clothing isn't one of them. He doesn't even notice when he has a shirt on backwards with the tag rubbing his throat!

Just an FYI on the sizes thing too. My daughter is really tall. 14/16 sizes never fit her - she skipped from size 12's to junior sizes. The 14/16's are too short in the body and sleeves but the junior sizes are longer and leaner...

Penny said...

Thanks, PaintCrazy, for the tip on the sizes!

I have had success at the Salvation Army store, in the women's section, where the clothes have been washed and dried a lot which makes them soft and makes me confident they won't shrink as soon as I wash them. I'm guessing that I'm buying a lot of junior sizes there without realizing it.

Anonymous said...

I'd never heard of this company; thank you! I'd love for you to review a product of mine.

http://www.my-mamas-love.com

Warmest regards,
Leslie
http://outrunning-autism.blogspot.com/

Penny said...

Leslie, I'd like to review your products! Just browsing the first few on the product list, I have one w/ eczema, one w/ eczema/psoriasis, two who complain they have trouble relaxing and falling asleep...

I avoid petroleum products and a lot of substitutes contain soy, which is on our allergen list.

juliebird said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
juliebird said...

I've ordered clothing from Soft and I can't wait to receive it! My girlfriend's daughter modeled for their look-book and she has Sensory issues and she LOVED the clothes. No complaints about discomfort with the clothing at all. That is very comforting to know that Soft actually used children with these issues to model their clothing.

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