Clothing design makes life easier for amputee - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Clothing design makes life easier for amputee

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — “I’m not the kind to just stand around,” Charles Collins said as he adjusted his “Once a Marine, always a Marine” ball cap, wiping the sweat from his brow.

Collins was in Vietnam, jumped out of airplanes, served in the Marines and the civil service and raised three children. Now, at age 62, his wife Kathleen still can’t seem to get him to sit still.

“Some people like to sit,” he said. “Me, myself, I ain’t got time for that.”

At one time, Collins thought he might have to change his active lifestyle. He was diagnosed with a vascular disease, which caused severe blood clots in both of his legs. In 1992, his right leg was amputated from the knee down.

“I didn’t think he was going to do so well after he lost his leg,” Kathleen Collins said. “It was tough because he was always so busy.”

Collins was slowed down by the loss of his leg, mostly because changing his clothes became a 45-minute chore and driving was nearly impossible.

“It was quite a struggle for him,” said Kathleen, who used to help get him dressed. “It was tough for me, too, because he is much bigger than me.”

A determined, stubborn Collins wouldn’t let the loss of a leg slow him down. That’s why in 1997 he designed “zipper leg trousers” for amputees like himself.

“I did what I did because the need was so great,” he said.

The pants zip on the inseam, making it easier to take his prosthetic on and off because he doesn’t have to remove his clothes to do so. Collins said it has made it easier to drive.

“I couldn’t even drive because my leg was crammed. This puts pressure on the stump,” he said.

Collins designed the pants to fit his body but said they can be designed to fit any mold.

“The clothing can be designed for any size, any shape or any person,” he said.

The pants are also designed in a way that people won’t notice the hidden zipper on the inseam.

“The biggest problem is getting the right kind of zipper,” he said. “You want just the one-way zipper and the right color.”

Collins doesn’t make the pants himself; he gets tailors to help him with adding the zipper.

“The clothing is already made, so it’s not an invention,” Collins said. “It’s a design.”

He has made up a book of plans that he hopes one day to give to a manufacturing company so that zipper leg trousers can be mass-produced for amputees everywhere.

“There are a lot of zipper leg pants, but they aren’t designed for amputees,” Collins said. “Those zippers are on the outside.”

Kurt Light, a prosthetist and orthotist at Hanger Prosthetics, said there is a market for the zipper leg trousers. Light said the only kind of pants like it are nylon sweats, which many of his patients wear during rehabilitation.

“What do you do when you want to wear dress pants or jeans? There’s a void there,” he said. “It just doesn’t exist.”

So far, Collins said, his design has been well received by doctors and other amputees.

“All the doctors asked, ‘How did you do that? Where did you get those from?’ The veterans, they are amazed that I don’t have to go through all that,” he said. “They want to know how they can get some.”

For now, he settles with just helping amputees here and there. In Tifton, Ga., where Collins and his wife lived before moving to Fayetteville, he designed some pants for veterans he met at the veterans hospital. He hasn’t shared his design with other amputees here, but he’d like to.

“I get satisfaction knowing that someone else is appreciative of the zipper leg trouser,” he said. “And to make life easier for the amputees.”

If he never sells the design to a company, Collins said he will still get something out of his creation.

“If not, it will just be my own benefit,” he said.