Adam King wears his heart — and hugs — on his sustainable sweatshirt  

Life has been busy for the Toy Show star, who recently visited the Áras, appeared on stage at the Cork Opera House, and launched a new limited edition of ethical children's clothing featuring his iconic symbol 'A Hug For You' 

Human Collective x Adam King Kids Comfy Crew Pink Cream Melange, Mellow Yellow €39.50 Danny King, Adam King and Robert King.

It has been an emotional week in the home of Adam King, the boy who captured our hearts during the pandemic with his ‘virtual hug’ message.

First, Adam’s big sister, Katie, 12, had her final day of primary school. Then his great-grandmother, Joan, celebrated her 90th birthday. And to top it all, the Kings were invited to the summer family garden party at Áras an Uachtaráin.

“It has been a really lovely family-oriented, very fulfilling few days. We couldn’t have asked for a better start to the summer holidays,” says Adam’s dad, David.

June was an activity-packed month for eight-year-old Adam, who has a brittle bone condition and is a full-time wheelchair user.

He hit the stage at Cork Opera House with Sinéad Sheppard’s School of Dance. He learned circus skills with Wobbly Circus during Cruinniú na nÓg, Ireland’s national day of free creativity for under 18s, and he enjoyed the Art & Soul exhibition at Castlemartyr Resort.

He also launched a clothing collaboration with sustainable Irish urban-wear brand Human Collective. The limited edition kids’ range has a collection of crew neck sweatshirts and hoodies for children up to eight-year-olds. Each piece features Human Collective’s ‘equals symbol’ logo — representing respect for difference and diversity, which has been at the core of the company’s ethos since setting up in 2021 — alongside Adam’s iconic virtual hug symbol ‘A Hug For You’.

For David King and his wife, Fiona, the collaboration is a very satisfying alignment of inclusion values.

“One of Adam’s biggest qualities is his kindness. He has a big heart and is very much about including everybody. And for him to be included in the world is just really important to us. Sometimes that doesn’t happen when children have additional needs. Fiona and I have worked so hard behind the scenes to ensure he lives an inclusive life.

“What we like about Human Collective is why we came together — their very positive message of love, equity and celebrating diversity. We like to think we’re about similar values.”

Three euro from the sale of every adult sweater goes directly to three Irish charities that aim to help level the social playing field: SARI (Spots Against Racism Ireland), The Irish Youth Foundation, and LGBT Ireland.

While confirming that he “certainly wouldn’t be putting myself forward as a fashionista”, David says the Human Collective clothing fits well with the Kings’ summer lifestyle. 

“It wears well, it’s durable really solid material. We live close to Youghal beach. A lot of our summer is spent in swimsuits, going for walks. We like that outdoor active lifestyle.”

Adam has had “a great year at school”. Now, just like his siblings — aside from Katie, there’s Danny, 14, Robert, 10, and Sarah, three — he’s looking forward to the summer.

“In para athletics, he has a couple of wheelchair events coming up. And we’re heading on holiday to Butlins next month,” says David.

Adam King and his family — Sarah, Fiona, Danny, Robert, Adam, Katie and David — model Human Collective’s new sustainable range of clothing.

Driving ambition

Looking back on Adam’s early days and weeks, David recalls the uncertainty. “When he was born we didn’t know what the future would hold for him. You never know the future for any of your kids, but particularly in his case we didn’t know how fragile he was. Now I see him at eight years old, not just occasionally participating in sport, but being a proper athlete.”

While Adam lifts his spirits every day — “I get a hug from him every day” — his little boy’s “driving ambition” empowers him to be ambitious too. Explaining that he always advises his son “not to go to the finishing line, but to go through it”, he recalls one particular moment that sticks out for him — at the recent para athletics event in Templemore.

“Adam was doing wheelchair races, and he was doing the 60m or the 100m and he took off so fast and so hard that he did 300m of the track straight off. I had to shout at him to stop. I admire his drive and ambition. We often say things to kids and we wonder do they land — often it’s through their actions that you see, yes that landed.”

Describing his son as “mischievous, fun and hilarious”, David says Adam has a great relationship with his siblings. And he’s really close with the baby of the family, Sarah. “He’s the big brother she looks up to. They play a lot at home together. He’s the fourth child of five. He gets in the mix and he has the fun. He’s really smart, creative, and funny and he’s a bit of a divil when he wants to be, in all the good ways.

“He has no airs or graces despite all that has happened. A big part in that is the grounding his siblings give him.”

Adam brought joy to the nation — and beyond — when he appeared on the Late Late Toy Show in November 2020. He shared his dream of working for Nasa and captured the attention of high-profile astronauts and US and European space agencies, with Nasa tweeting ‘We can’t wait for him to one day join our team of dreamers’.

“Everybody at that time — that time around covid — was looking for a bit of joy, of magic. The Toy Show gave voice to what people were looking for,” says David. “Adam had that idea of the virtual hug and the piece of art he created became an iconic symbol of connection.

“It was surreal. Even to this day we still find it hard to put in words the positive impact it had. We had so many messages from people who hadn’t been able to connect — students with teachers, family with loved ones — it struck a chord.”

In Human Collective x Adam King Kids Comfy Crew Pink Cream Melange and Mellow Yellow jumpers, €39.50; Danny, Adam, Robert and David King

Powerful story

Conor Buckley, founder of Human Collective and son of the late trailblazing activist, Christine Buckley, recalls seeing Adam on TV that night. “He was the cutest child and his story was so powerful. At that time when the country needed a hug, he captured the feeling of a moment in time.”

Like David, Conor is also a dad of a young family — he has three children under three years of age. But at one point becoming parents seemed impossible for him and his wife, Lauren. “We’d been trying for years. We had miscarriages and ectopic pregnancy and we were going to do IVF. But then the three came along.”

Conor likes to share his family’s positive experience because it shows you can be in the “depths of sadness and never think there might well be a happy story at the end”.

Like the King household, he too has had an emotional few weeks. His youngest, a daughter, Georgie, was born just under a fortnight ago. And the emotion came out at his three-year-old son’s recent sports day.

“All the kids had started except for Jonah. He was the only one who wouldn’t. And this little girl, a pal from pre-school, gave him a big hug and pulled him across the hall to take part. Just that — someone giving him a hug and looking out for him — Lauren and I were in floods.”

It just goes to show the power of a hug, something that Adam King — whose magical, powerful hug created connections worldwide — knows all too well.

• Human Collective kids’ range is made using 100% sustainable fabrics, a mix of 85% organic and 15% recycled polyester that are naturally breathable. 
• It comes in a rainbow of Adam King-approved colours. Each piece costs €39.99. Shop the collection online from wearehumancollective.com or in-store from Human Collective, St Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre, Dublin 2.