Context

This is what context in the true essence implies:

To study and understand the existing product or similar products in the market, the product scenario, its users, and the pros and cons of the product as experienced by them. This is generally done by studying the available data and through interaction with all the users and stakeholders.
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Clothing is a tool to enhance self-esteem and individual establishment. It helps to gain admiration from others & is a crucial aspect of the cultural sense of belongingness. The elderly have a desire to look like the same person they have been a few years ago. The life of elderly people can be improved mentally and physically by a proper choice and design of clothing. Even though it becomes difficult to wear the five and a half meter long saree, older women like to cling to the traditional clothing due to the innermost desire to appear the same person they have always been as well as societal norms.

Existing Similar Products in the Market:

There is no significant product in the market that caters specifically on the problem of having easy to wear and manage sarees for the elderly. There are a lot of convenient dresses for the specially-abled and for patients of all ages and we came across a lot of these works and researches. There are various companies that now provide customized and convenient clothing for patients for ease in dressing/undressing. But most of them involve switching to a western style of clothing like gowns which the old people do not like to adopt. One such service provider is:

https://elder-care-india.com/adaptive-clothing-for-seniors

These are the features in their product from which we might take some inspirations:

The important takeaways are:

Shoulder Open Gown

The shoulder open night gown is for women who find it difficult to raise their arms. As a result, this dress is easy to put on by oneself or with the help of an attendant.

Easy to Wear

To wear the shoulder open night dress, first remove all the buttons on the shoulders. Then, slip the dress on from the over the head until the top of the dress reaches chest level. Wrap the sleeves around the upper arms and button-up. To remove, undo the buttons at the shoulders. Pull the dress over the head (if you are attending on another person) or let it fall down around the ankles and step out.

Fabric & Material

Cocoon Senior Clothing is made from fine cottons & blends. This dress uses pure cotton fabric. After the first wash, the material will become even softer and more opaque.

This type of clothing is very convenient to wear and a lot of work has been done in this area. But the disadvantage is that the clothing is not at all ethnic and cultural and is completely different from what our grandmas have been wearing all their lives and thus they do not accept this psychologically at all as their daily clothing.

The other kind of similar product is the saree that is used for children in fancy dress competitions, party wear, etc. This is how it is designed:

These sarees come pre-plated and with an attached petticoat. The matching blouse is also lined with it. The pre-plated idea becomes really important for us as elderly people find it difficult to do this on their own with age and need to take help from someone. We will take some features of this product as well in our final design.

Survey:

We conducted a small survey to check whether this issue is common across all parts of the nation. Some noteworthy results are:

It is thus quite evident that most of the elderly women wear a saree in their everyday life and there are some common problems associated with the current design. These problems exist for a large fraction of the age group and also in all parts of India.

Some general problems with saree:

Material is too heavy that can be a bit uncomfortable for many women especially in extreme weather conditions.

It is difficult to walk when you wear a saree & are old. The thought of tripping over the border is one of the many fears Indian women face. It's also difficult if you have to use the washroom.