Cancer and fashion are two words that seem like complete opposites, but a new range of adaptive design brands are bridging the gap between high-fashion style and the unique needs of someone undergoing treatment for cancer.

Also known as adaptive clothing, adaptive design is fashion designed for people with physical, cognitive, and sensory issues. According to The Washington Post, “Adaptive design began some 40 years ago, mainly for seniors in long-term care facilities, not for young adults and children.” But unlike apparel of the past, today’s adaptive clothing is designed with style, age, comfort, and practicality taken into consideration.

Many brands, like With Grace B. Bold, are designed to target a specific market, like those who’ve received a mastectomy. Megan Sullivan, the brand’s founder and designer, was inspired by her own mother’s breast cancer journey. “She said that the fact that she wore this [drain] home from the hospital that she didn’t know she was going to have to wear home, just completely altered how she saw this experience,” Sullivan told CancerWellness.com in an interview earlier this year. Some of her designs, like the Anne Elizabeth, include a pocket to hold a surgical drain, for example.

Tommy Hilfiger’s adaptive clothing line, Tommy Adaptive, debuted in 2016. Originally targeted to young people with disabilities, the label debuted Tommy Adaptive for adults in 2017. Many of the brand’s designs, seen in our exclusive photo shoot on the following pages, includes magnetic closures and soft fabrics. Other major companies hopped on board, including Target, who launched their sensory-friendly kids clothing brand, Cat & Jack. Zappos, the popular online shoe retailer, launched an adaptive clothing vertical featuring designs by brands such as 4Ward, their in-house brand, Tommy Adaptive and Nike.

Coresight Research, a data-driven site focused on retail and technology, estimates the potential global adaptive apparel market will reach $288.7 billion this year and grow to $349.9 billion by 2023. Coherent Market Insights anticipates that number reaching $400 billion by 2026. In the United States alone, they anticipate a market of $47.3 billion in 2019, which could grow to $54.8 billion by 2023. Unfortunately, needs for the adaptive community are growing, not declining, despite advancements in the medical field. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), chronic disease is the leading cause of death and disability in the United States. As well, around one half of American adults have one or more chronic health conditions.

It makes good business sense then for brands to enter the adaptive design market. According to Vogue Business, “The differently abled population in the US has a collective disposable income of around $490 billion, slightly below that of African-Americans at $501 billion.”

Why then haven’t brands jumped on board? Part of it may be training. Although adaptive design has grown significantly from where it was even just five years ago, many of the current styles are not targeted toward working adult populations. Some schools, such as the famed Parsons School of Design in New York City, have partnered with nonprofits like Open Style Lab, which leads a class on designing for people with disabilities. It’s a major, necessary step forward, one we anticipate growing as the needs and size of customers grows, too.

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We’ve rounded up some of our favorite adaptive design brands—featuring everything from sneakers and hospital gowns to lingerie and streetwear—and where to purchase the styles.