Supertee. The New Medical Garment for Sick Kids

Hospital for children especially when faced with life threatening illnesses can take as much of a toll on the mind as it does the body. The Supertee aims to help improve on both by providing a more comfortable and easily accessible hospital garment that makes it easier to change when a child is connected to IV drips, central lines, heart monitors and many other tubes and cables. Our garments improve hygiene, reduce nurse calls for changing assistance all with encouraging the fighting spirit by inviting children into the world of imaginative play and superhero wonder to help endure hospital life.

Two years of prototype testing and nurse guidance we finally developed a garment with a system that could benefit the majority of challenges parents and children face in hospital. Our Supertee is a Cotton garment which made it difficult to print vibrant colours on. An unorthodox screen printing process was set up to accomodate our printing requirements. The small plastic press studs provide organised exit points for cables and tubes to be neatly organised. It also made the garment X-ray and MRI friendly. Exposed underarms for thermometer checks and shoulder studs to bypass head injuries or breathing masks/feeding tubes.

Since launching our product last June we have held private events at several children’s hospitals. These involve cosplay artists, facepainters and celebrities supported by Supanova comic con. Being superhero themed it has been widely accepted by the children given the popularity of marvel and dc comic movies. Our designs are contemporary in appearance and allow the children to blend in with the other cosplayers who come to meet their heroes which are the children. Our events leave the families knowing that their are people out there that believe in them, that care and who wish for them to keep fighting.

The Supertee is packaged in a reusable tin for the children to keep personal items in, this reduces our environmental impact for packaging. It also comprises a bookmark with a motivational message from us to the parents. A free comic book with activities along with 5 stickers which the children can use as they wish. The goal is invite children into the world of imaginative play and build on the studies relating to the “Batman effect” which indicate the willingness for children to endure tasks and change their mindset when they take on the persona of a favourite superhero. This is compounded when a cosplayer explains that they have come to meet the child they have heard so much about. This medical garment aims to raise funding into rare disease treatment, by having a cause we find that we are developing a community support network via our social media that is slowly growing. One last feature about the design is that the supertee comes with a cape being a superhero costume which when this cape is removed and brought round to the front of the shirt can also be used as a bib during feeding times and help improve hygiene.