If you’ve ever watched your child struggle to sit still during homework, constantly fidget with anything within reach, or become overwhelmed by clothing tags and textures, you’re not imagining things. These are real sensory experiences that millions of families navigate every day. The good news?Innovators are starting to listen—and create solutions that work with developing brains instead of against them.
From Personal Struggle to Community Solution
Olivia Drewery, a 27-year-old from the United Kingdom, spent most of her life feeling chronically overwhelmed, constantly masking her natural responses, and wondering why everyday things felt so difficult. After being diagnosed with autism and ADHD in her early twenties, everything clicked into place.
“Why were there no lifestyle brands for people with brains like mine?” Drewery posed. “Not just merch or slogans, but clothing that actually works with our nervous systems and not against them.”
Instead of waiting for existing brands to catch up, Drewery connected with Club Neuro co-founders Loukas Hambi and Sam Wright and spent 10 months perfecting a solution: the Stim Hoodie.
A new hoodie designed by and for neurodivergent people has hidden fidget tools, weighted fabric, and no annoying tags. Finally, clothing that works WITH developing brains.
What 4,000 Voices Helped Create
The hoodie looks like any other cozy sweatshirt—but it’s packed with intentional design features. Each includes removable stress balls built into the cuffs, hidden stim toys in the front pockets, weighted fabric for deep pressure input, no irritating tags, a large hood designed to encase noise-cancelling headphones, and thumbholes for added proprioceptive feedback.
These features didn’t come from a design team’s conference room. They came from approximately 4,000 survey respondents from Drewery’s online community of neurodivergent followers—people who shared exactly what they needed from clothing.
“This hoodie was shaped by thousands of neurodivergent voices,” Drewery said. “People telling us again and again that clothing can be overwhelming, distracting, uncomfortable—and that it doesn’t have to be.”
Quote: Why were there no lifestyle brands for people with brains like mine? Not just merch or slogans, but clothing that actually works with our nervous systems and not against them. Attribution: Olivia Drewery, Founder of Club Neuro
Laura Lurns · Learning Success expert
Why This Matters for Developing Brains
For many children who are building focus skills and learning to regulate their sensory experiences, stimming—self-stimulatory behavior—is how they stay grounded. It helps them focus, calm their nervous system, and stay present.
But the reality is that stimming openly isn’t always safe. People stare, judge, and comment—so children mask it, suppressing natural responses that actually help them function. This masking takes energy and creates additional cognitive load.
By integrating fidget tools directly into clothing that looks completely normal, the Stim Hoodie lets children regulate without standing out. It’s a small change that can reduce the mental load of social navigation while supporting the sensory needs of a developing brain.
Key takeaways
- Community-Driven Design: The Stim Hoodie was shaped by approximately 4,000 neurodivergent voices who shared their exact clothing needs.
- Functional Features: Hidden fidget tools, weighted fabric, no tags, and a headphone-ready hood address real sensory challenges.
- Growing Movement: More companies are designing products WITH neurodivergent communities rather than for them.
The Growing Movement Toward Functional Fashion
The $103 Stim Hoodie is now available in five colors and sizes XS-XXL. It’s backed by experts from the Global ADHD Clinicians Network, including Dr. Pav Kooner, who noted: “There’s a real gap between awareness and the kind of practical support that actually helps people get through daily life.”
Drewery quit her full-time office job to bring this vision to life—a powerful reminder that lived experience is driving real innovation in the accessibility space. As she told the Yorkshire Evening Post: “I feel like I’m doing the right thing in my life.”
For parents, this represents a growing trend: products designed with input from the communities they serve, rather than for them without their input.
Quote: As someone with ADHD myself, that gap matters to me. Club Neuro is focused on the everyday realities people are living with, not just the conversation around them, and that’s why this feels important. Attribution: Dr. Pav Kooner, Founder of the Global ADHD Clinicians Network
Laura Lurns · Learning Success expert
At Learning Success, we believe that children are capable, not broken—and that the best innovations come from listening to the people who actually understand these experiences. The clothing industry has long ignored the sensory needs of developing brains. But change is happening when communities demand better, when entrepreneurs listen, and when parents seek out solutions that support their children rather than work against them.
If your child is building sensory regulation skills, you don’t have to wait for the world to catch up. The Learning Success All Access Program offers a free trial that includes a personalized Action Plan—and you keep that plan even if you decide it’s not the right fit. Because when we design for capability instead of limitation, everyone benefits.
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Your school district must evaluate your child free of charge if you ask in writing, whatever your income and whatever the outcome (US, 34 CFR 300.111 and 300.301(b)). That route takes time and answers a different question than you do. This one starts today, from what you already know.
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References
- Good Good Good - Woman invents 'stim hoodie' with built-in fidget toys
