Meet the Cork siblings behind a wheelchair-inclusive fashion brand

"We wanted it to be a range of clothing that everyone could identify with and have access to."

On this week's episode of the Her Podcast, we caught up with Cork siblings Aisling and Nathan Kirwan who've created a  sustainable and accessible fashion brand and are hoping to spread the word ahead of the festive season. The siblings, who hail from Carrigaline, were recently featured on the 'Taking Care of Business' segment on the Late Late Show with their fashion brand, Chariot Clothing.  Established in 2020 and stemming from Nathan's frustrations as a wheelchair user, Chariot quickly evolved into a lifestyle brand with the pair hoping to make a big splash this season and get Irish people onboard to support local businesses this Christmas.  You can listen to our interview with Nathan and Aisling in full below: When discussing the inclusive nature of the clothing range, you can instantly tell the impact it's had on Nathan, "These trousers have changed my life and how I go about my day in clothing. I know firstly, that I can get them on, secondly, they will stay on."  Nathan designed the trousers himself (his engineering background coming in handy) and his sister, Aisling, soon joined the company as a business partner as the brand quickly evolved into a broad range of ethically-sourced men and women's clothing that includes t-shirts, sweatshirts, and beanies.  “I think the world of fast fashion is what our eyes became open to during this whole process and just on our own conscious, we want to make sure we’re striving to be as ethical and sustainable as possible," says Aisling.  https://www.instagram.com/p/CMW29KeF6Pt/   The duo advocate for a circular economy with less waste both before and after purchase looking at, "how to repurpose all items instead of constantly producing stuff from raw materials all the time."  Materials they use in their clothes production are also friendly to the earth with things like organic cotton, regenerated cotton, and recycled polyester. Inclusivity is central to the brand and something both Nathan and Aisling advocate for: 

"Myself and Nathan can shop on the same website which is nice. Nathan doesn’t have to go to a special website and feel different, feel excluded. You can come to this website and not feel excluded, you don’t have to go to a site just for wheelchair clothing.”

You can check out the latest styles from Chariot Clothing on their Instagram here or their website here. Listen to the full episode below or check it out on Spotify here. https://soundcloud.com/herpod/herpod-nathanandaisling128