While buying clothes for other people is never an easy task, if you’re looking to buy clothes for an elderly loved one, you’ll need to think about a lot more than just their style and whether or not the clothes are their size.
To help you in finding the right clothes for your elderly loved one, here are three tips for buying clothes for senior citizens.
Avoid Buttons And Snaps
As people age, the dexterity in their hands often starts to deteriorate. Especially if your loved one is suffering from something like arthritis, you’ll need to be very careful about what closures you choose for the clothes they wear.
Ideally, you should try to get clothes for elders that don’t have any buttons or snaps on them. Oftentimes, working with buttons and snaps can be very hard for older fingers. Even if your loved one isn’t primarily clothing themselves, like if they’ve living in an assisted living facility, clothes without these features are often easier to put on and take off. If there is going to be something on the clothes that needs to have a closure, look for larger zippers that are going to be easier to grab onto and maneuver.
Choose Materials That Won’t Irritate
While most people realize that baby’s skin is very soft and delicate, the skin of most older people needs to be treated with care as well. Knowing this, you’ll want to make sure that the clothes you choose for your elderly loved one won’t cause too much irritation on their skin.
Generally, clothes that are made out of wool or certain synthetic fibers can cause a lot of irritation on the skin. So rather than picking clothes made of these materials, try to find clothes that are made of cotton or even silky materials that will easily flow over the skin. And depending on the climate that your elderly loved one is living in, you’ll also want to choose materials that will help them maintain a comfortable body temperature.
Don’t Get Clothes That Are Too Baggy
Although your elderly loved one might feel more comfortable in clothes that aren’t fitted to their body and allow for a little more free movement and forgiving silhouettes, what you won’t want to get are clothes that are too baggy for their body size. With clothes that are too baggy, not only will your loved one look sloppier than they might like, but baggy clothes can also get in their way. And if they get their clothes snagged on something, it’s very likely that they will trip and fall or otherwise become injured.
If you’re going to be buying clothes for your elderly loved one to wear, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you pick the right things.