SWAMPSCOTT — Befree, a Swampscott-based adaptive-clothing company, has patented zip-on clothes designed to facilitate fashion and comfort for people with disabilities and those recovering from injuries or surgeries.
Since the company launched in March 2022, it has attracted the attention of the Swampscott-based charity the Jauron Family Foundation — which offers financial support for disabled individuals in need of adaptive clothing — along with customers from across the country. The idea, co-founder Nicole “Nikki” Puzzo said, came from trying to dress her youngest daughter, Stella.
Stella was born with spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy and underwent a double-hip surgery at the age of five. For three months, Stella had to wear casts on both of her legs with a bar in between, making the process of putting on pants extremely difficult, if not impossible. When Puzzo asked doctors how they recommended she dress her daughter, their response disappointed her.
“I was talking to them and asked them, ‘What would parents dress their kids in?’ They said, ‘Basically, dresses, T-shirts, and blankets.’ I said, ‘That is just miserable — that is not going to work for Stella,’” Puzzo said.
Puzzo bought a pair of pajama bottoms, cut the seams, and fitted them with Velcro, allowing Stella to easily put them on and wear them comfortably around her casts. When Stella went to her post-operation appointment at Boston Children’s Hospital, her new pants caught the attention of hospital staff and other parents.
“She was wearing them, and they were like, ‘These are great, you need to make more of these so other parents would benefit from them,’” Puzzo said. “It was a game changer — it was really easy for Stella — they could check her incisions or cuts without having to undress her completely. It just really made it a lot easier overall.”
When Puzzo told her long-time friend Joanne DiCamillo about the pants, the two Swampscott mothers decided to go into business together. With the help of DiCamillo’s mother, a talented seamstress, they produced prototypes and refined their design, moving from Velcro, to snaps, before eventually shifting to a full-length side zipper on each leg.
Collaborating with Mass General’s nursing director, the pair tweaked their design again to completely cover the side zippers to avoid friction irritation for paralyzed customers. After a brief setback during the pandemic, befree sold its first pair of pants in 2022.
“The feedback has been terrific,” DiCamillo said. “If they’re a caregiver and they’re helping their children get dressed, we hear from them how that makes their life so much easier. We have some customers who dress themselves and they love how that gives them independence.”
Puzzo said the company plans to introduce jogger pants, leggings, and shorts to its online catalog. With products ranging in price from roughly $35 to $55, befree partnered with the Jauron Family Foundation to provide financial assistance for those who need adaptive clothing but have trouble paying for it.
“Our goal is to be as inclusive as possible in our company in the apparel that we’re making,” Puzzo said. “And what we realized was we did not want financial hardship to ever be possible for anyone, because adaptive clothing should be available to everybody.”
