While no two caretakers face the same day-to-day issues, one universal strain remains: the inherent challenge of dressing loved ones who can't dress themselves. 

"Not feeling comfortable or confident helping a loved one with their care needs ... can sometimes be the breaking point for families, in terms of feeling unable to  care for them at home anymore," explains Alison Lynn, the assistant director for care programs at the Penn Memory Center, a National Institute on Aging-designated Alzheimer's Disease Center.

Now more than ever, however, an increasing number of designers and retailers are solving this caregiving dilemma by offering a range of clothing options - commonly referred to as "adaptive wear" - that run the gamut from easy-on shoes and belts to dashing pajamas. "[In the past], adaptive wear was one of two things - either institutional, or completely custom and very expensive. Now, we're moving past that ... with options that people would be excited about wearing," says Allison M. Kabel, an associate professor of health sciences at Towson University, whose research looks at the factors that shape one's sense of dignity.

It's a smart business move, according to the latest data from the National Health Interview Survey, given that more than 3 million people 50 and older require some form of help when dressing, explains Carrie Henning-Smith, an assistant professor of health policy and management at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.

So whether it's shopping for a button-free shirt so that a spouse with Parkinson's disease can get dressed independently or finding pants with flattened seams for a wheelchair-using parent, there are now a variety of attractive choices. Here's a guide to some of the most useful, affordable and inventive adaptive-wear resources available.