Koalaa: Prosthetics designed around real life

For many people with limb differences, finding a prosthetic that is comfortable, affordable and genuinely useful can be a challenge. Traditional prosthetics can be expensive, difficult to access and highly individual in their fit and function. The process of getting one can feel like a long journey through clinical systems.

Koalaa is doing things differently.

The award-winning company creates comfortable, affordable soft prosthetics for adults and children with upper limb differences, with a simple philosophy: the user should be at the centre of the design. Rather than creating a single prosthetic designed to perform one particular function, Koalaa has developed lightweight, flexible fabric sleeves that can be paired with interchangeable tools for different activities. That means a single prosthetic can adapt to the person wearing it, rather than expecting the person to adapt their life around the prosthetic.

This opens up a whole new range of possibilities, from everyday tasks such as cooking, gardening and using a computer to hobbies, sport and creative pursuits.

Putting users at the heart of design

Koalaa describes its approach as a new world of prosthetics where users take the lead. Customer experiences, feedback and aspirations are an important part of how Koalaa develops its products, helping them understand not just what a prosthetic needs to do, but what people actually want to be able to do with it.

Koalaa's interchangeable tools are designed around those possibilities. Users can choose the tool that suits the activity they want to undertake, with options that can help with everything from holding cutlery and a pen to gardening, cycling, playing an instrument or taking part in a sport.

For someone who has previously been told that certain activities are no longer possible, having the opportunity to explore different ways of doing them can be transformative.

Soft, flexible and made for everyday life

Koalaa's soft prosthetics are made from lightweight fabric rather than the rigid materials traditionally associated with prosthetic limbs. The sleeves are designed to be comfortable, flexible and easy to put on, while being machine washable - an important practical consideration when something is being worn as part of everyday life.

The range includes the ALX, designed for below-elbow limb differences, and the Paww, a shorter, glove-like design created in response to feedback from Koalaa users with partial hand and finger differences. Their products are also designed to grow and change with the user's needs, with different tools and covers allowing people to personalise their prosthetic and use it for different activities.

By offering a range of colourful, distinctive covers, including designs such as Rare Rainbow, Wildflower Meadow and Snazzy Superhero, they allow users to choose whether their prosthetic blends in or becomes something they want to show off and users can also create their own designs. This can be particularly helpful when introducing a prosthetic to children. Their specialist range includes animal inspired prosthetics for young children and babies to adjust.

Making prosthetics more accessible

Koalaa aims to tackle three significant barriers within prosthetics: access, affordability and comfort.

The company has developed a model that can make fitting much quicker and more accessible, with its patented “fit-in-15” approach allowing a member of the Koalaa team to fit a prosthetic in around 15 minutes. Its remote Limb Buddy service can also support users who aren't able to access an in-person fitting.

Koalaa has also developed a “day one” prosthetic that can be fitted within 48 hours of surgery, supporting earlier rehabilitation, while its wider clinical programme works with NHS and private clinicians. Orders are processed so your prosthetic is received within just two weeks. 

Every Koalaa user is connected with a Limb Buddy, providing one-to-one support throughout their journey. Limb Buddies can help with questions, measurements, fitting, choosing tools and getting used to the prosthetic, as well as providing ongoing support as the user's needs change. Many Limb Buddies also have personal experience of limb difference themselves, bringing lived experience and understanding to those conversations.

Around the World

Koalaa has worked with international partners and developed its Global Access programme to bring its approach to communities where traditional prosthetic services and infrastructure may be difficult to access. Access to prosthetics should depend on where someone lives, how much infrastructure is available or how much they can afford.

AS Users become part of the Koalaa Community, there are opportunities to connect with other people with limb differences. That peer-to-peer element is important because adapting to life with a limb difference isn't only about finding the right equipment. Sometimes it's about seeing somebody else doing something you thought you couldn't do and thinking, “Maybe I could try that too.”

Why Koalaa is on Never Grey

At Never Grey, we're interested in products that don't simply ask disabled people to accept limitations, but instead give them more choice, more independence and more ways to do things on their own terms. Koalaa fits that philosophy beautifully. Their prosthetics aren't about telling someone what they should be able to do, they ask what do you want to do?

Koalaa is helping to make prosthetics more comfortable, more affordable, more accessible and, perhaps most importantly, more connected to the lives people actually want to live.

That's exactly the kind of innovation we're proud to spotlight at Never Grey.