KEEKS, a family run adaptive fashion retailer dedicated to offering footwear and clothing for kids with all abilities celebrates one year in business. KEEKS is the only marketplace in Ireland bringing together the best adaptive fashion brands from around the globe, allowing people with disabilities or additional needs to look and feel their best.
Rob and April Mullen based in Cobh, Cork founded KEEKS last year after stumbling across BILLY Footwear for their son Kian, and subsequently being approved as their Irish retailer. Billy footwear are a stylish adapted footwear brand designed for people with limited mobility or to fit over Orthotics. After launching KEEKS last year, Rob and April set a goal to source a wider range of products to help assist parents and children with additional needs. Their first year has seen them add 10 new brands from around the globe and has far exceeded what they could have imagined when starting out.
Kian Mullen, the inspiration behind KEEKS is a happy eight-year-old, living life to the fullest – triumphing everyday over his disability. Kian was born with a rare genetic condition called Fox-G1 – it means that he is non-verbal, non-mobile and tube fed. There was always challenges to help Kian live to the fullest. From sourcing equipment and clothing to the intensive medical assistance he needs. Rather than seeing those difficulties as a burden April and Rob have embraced it in a courageous way – constantly finding the solutions to overcome them.
Rob explains:
The company was set up after years of struggling to find fashionable and functional products for our son Kian. Over the years we discovered a number of products that had the ability to make life that bit easier while also meeting our fundamental requirement of being both fashionable and functional.
After initially starting with BILLY Footwear, KEEKS now also sell Friendly Shoes, Mum 2 Mum bibs, SAM sensory clothing, Polly & Andy socks, SmartKnit socks, Befree zipOn pants, Bundle Bean wheelchair blankets and ponchos, and a range of other products.
April added:
We are delighted with how the first year has gone. We have been able to help so many people source products they so badly needed and the feedback has been great.
We spend a lot of our time helping people find and size the right solution for them, but we offer a very flexible returns policy just in case. This a huge advantage when compared to the gamble people may have taken when ordering from the US in the past. Getting anything to Ireland was massively expensive and returns were just not viable. We are now sourcing the products and bringing them to Ireland.
At times it has been difficult to juggle life with three young kids with running a business, but it has been so rewarding and we wouldn’t change it. We never expected we would ever end up running a business and it has been a steep learning curve, but we genuinely feel that we have made life easier for parents and kids by sourcing adapted solutions while keeping it stylish. There is no reason why fashion and a disability cannot go hand in hand”.
After a very busy first year, the primary products KEEKS sell include:
- Mobility and AFO Friendly Footwear
- Seamless & AFO Friendly Socks
- Sensory Friendly Clothing
- Weighted Collars & Chewy Fidgets
- Youth Bibs & Bandanas
- Adult Bibs & Bandanas
- Large Sleep Suits
- Full zipOn pants
- Wheelchair Cosy & Poncho
- Tubie Pads
What will year two bring? Other than carrying over the momentum from year one, Rob and April plan to add a Baby & Toddler section to KEEKS and raise awareness of the business.
We want to grow awareness around our products. BILLY footwear is our No 1 brand, however we have other products such as SAM sensory clothing or Bundle Bean wheelchair blankets and ponchos that can help a completely different customer to someone buying adaptive footwear, Rob added.
To learn more about: KEEKS check out the KEEKS website https://www.KEEKS.ie/. social media @KEEKSireland for Facebook and Instagram.
Contact us directly on email: [email protected] or Ph: 0871859488
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