Alice Sainsbury is the founder of Adaptive As Standard, an evolving practice working across outdoor design, access and lived experience to explore what a more inclusive outdoors could become.
Grounded in the principle “with us, not for us,” Adaptive As Standard brings lived experience together with design and industry expertise through research, collaboration and practical projects. The work asks not only how more people can participate in the outdoors, but who outdoor products, places and experiences have been designed around in the first place — and what might change when a wider range of people are involved in shaping them.
This thinking is at the heart of UN[PARA]LD, a community-led initiative exploring the future of adaptive outdoor clothing and participation. Disabled people have long adapted, repaired and modified clothing to make existing products work for their bodies. At the same time, thousands of outdoor garments sit unused in wardrobes, warehouses and stockrooms.
UN[PARA]LD asks what happens when we bring those realities together.
By connecting disabled people and adaptive athletes with designers, engineers, repairers and makers, the project explores how existing outdoor clothing can become the raw material for greater access — while documenting and sharing the knowledge created through adaptation. It sees repair and modification not simply as ways to extend the life of a product, but as opportunities for co-design, innovation and learning.
Through this work, Alice explores why accessibility, inclusion, sustainability and climate should not be treated as separate conversations. From who gets to participate, to what we manufacture, repair and reuse, the question is how we might build an outdoor economy that values people, resources and what already exists differently.
Alice Sainsbury
