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Clothing and sensory overload, what actually works for you?

Scott

I’m autistic and for years I struggled with clothing without really understanding why. Labels, seams, certain fabrics, tight collars, heat and the general feeling of some clothes against my skin could become really distracting or overwhelming.

Since my diagnosis, a lot of those experiences have made much more sense to me.

[edited and locked by mod rule 12 & 14]

  • I'm not sure if this can be categorised as sensory but apart from t-shirts I can't wear anything that doesn't open at the front, jumpers, sweatshirts, hoodies.. anything you have to put on over your head makes me feel really claustrophobic.

  • Loose fitting, natural fibres and no short sleeves, no T-shirts, always trousers never dresses or skirts, mostly as I can't get tights to fit and stockings are at best just over my knees.

    I love knitwear, but can find little of it, I can no longer knit and I've never managed to crochet.

    I mostly end up with what fits and what I can afford rather than what I'd like.

  • I remove irritating labels, and much prefer natural fabrics that "breathe" and move with me as being the most comfortable.

    "Formal" clothes that shape and hold me in a certain posture - like suits - I can put up with for a while. It can seem a bit like "masking" to me so I can find wearing them tiring.

    To a certain extent I am aware of the social effect of my clothes choice - sometimes I am more happy about wanting to be seen or not - so that makes a difference in what I choose to wear

    Beyond these things what makes the biggest difference to me is whether they are clean and fresh or not.

    Which reminds me that I have some washing to put away!

    Best wishes

  • I am very sensitive to feeling hot, so I wear loose cotton clothes  only. I also don’t like anything tight  on my waist so either elasticated waistbands or dungarees are best. I have to feel comfortable more than anything. Generally I dress fairly gender neutral but I do have a couple of dresses I love. I don’t have anything particularly that stresses me out such as labels but some things are just a ‘no’ for me as soon as I touch them. 

  • in reply to Dawn

    Thank you for sharing this, Dawn. I do not think your needs are odd at all. Sensory experiences are incredibly individual, and something that feels comfortable to one person can feel unbearable to someone else.

    I struggled with clothing for years, particularly labels, seams and certain materials. It was only after my autism diagnosis that many of those struggles finally made sense. Hearing experiences like yours reminds me why I felt I needed to try to create a solution to some of the clothing difficulties we so often talk about.

    No single piece of clothing will work for everyone, but every shared experience helps us better understand how varied sensory needs can be. Thank you for being so open about yours.

  • Hiya,  yeah, some of us have very odd needs indeed.  Labels bother me if they aren't the super soft ribbon type - I cut them out.  For me clothing needs to be skin tight but soft and flexible - like leggings, or else really free flowing and baggy.  I hate feel trust up.  No business suits or formal dresses for me, lol.  

    But the really odd one is those nasty round things that fasten clothes - I can't even bare to hear or type the word - uggggg! makes me think of snotty nosed kids and puke. I feel dirty if I wear clothes with them.  School uniform was a nightmare.  I hate touching them.

    I could never fathom why this was so until my assessment.  I'd talked about that in my paper work mentioning that a person's accent when they say the word can impact on the degree of uckiness I experience.  The assessor's take was that they think I have an unusual form of synesthesia.  Lol, that would explain it.

    Out of despair at just having to go shopping, which I hate anyway, only to not find what I want, I taught myself to knit and crochet (I do that well) and the basics of sewing.  I do that well enough to produce loose trousers with elasticated wastes, tops and gypsy skirts all in high quality cotton, of course.

    There are a couple of online companies that make T shirts etc for ND people - no seams or labels and soft high quality cotton.  Born Anxious is my favourite.