{"id":104737,"date":"2024-10-03T07:48:22","date_gmt":"2024-10-03T12:48:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=104737"},"modified":"2024-10-03T07:48:22","modified_gmt":"2024-10-03T12:48:22","slug":"why-arent-major-clothing-brands-extending-sizes-when-more-than-two-thirds-of-u-s-women-are-considered-overweight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/why-arent-major-clothing-brands-extending-sizes-when-more-than-two-thirds-of-u-s-women-are-considered-overweight\/","title":{"rendered":"Why aren\u2019t major clothing brands extending sizes when more than two-thirds of U.S. women are considered overweight?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Abigail Ali
\n<\/strong>Medill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n

Tess Holliday struggled to find plus-size clothing growing up in Laurel, Mississippi. As a teen, she was surrounded by images of thin women on TV shows like \u201cAmerica\u2019s Next Top Model,\u201d in magazines like Vogue and in ads for Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig. \u201cThe early 2000s were not for the faint of heart,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Like other plus-size girls in town, she shopped at thrift stores, cutting old clothes apart or sewing them together to create something new. To make her mom\u2019s larger-size castoffs look trendy, she often put safety pins through them. Other times, she just bought T-shirts and pants from the men\u2019s section at Hot Topic.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fashion was her armor. \u201cI really longed to fit in, and I didn’t really want to be noticed,\u201d Holliday said. Now, at 39, Holliday is a model, founder of the body-positive online community Eff Your Beauty Standards and a consultant to brands like Pinterest and H&M that want to increase inclusivity. She even appeared on the covers of Cosmopolitan and Self in 2018, Nylon in 2019 and Inked in 2021.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was sick of not having access to clothing my size, where I could show my personality and cultivate my own style,\u201d Holliday said. \u201cI felt called to change the trajectory.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Why aren\u2019t more companies making plus-size clothing? Around 74% of U.S. adults are overweight or obese, and the average woman is a size 16-18 or XL-XXL, according to the National Library of Medicine and the International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education, respectively.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet shops like Urban Outfitters offer more than 2,000 design choices in a size medium online, but only 131 in a size XXXL. The only items available in XXL on Lululemon\u2019s website are underwear, and few companies carry plus-size clothes in their brick-and-mortar stores.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo, if they’ve traditionally produced for a particular size range, they’re usually going to continue,\u201d said Kristin Thony-Barletta, a professor in supply chain management at North Carolina State University.<\/span><\/p>\n

Plus-size women worry brands will pull back their larger selections because of weight-loss drugs like Ozempic. \u201cWhere’s that going to leave the people that don’t choose to go on these medications or aren’t able?\u201d curvy model and content creator Alex Michael May said. \u201cIt’s not about, \u2018Oh, we fixed the problem. Now, no one’s going to be fat anymore.\u2019 There’s still going to be all types of body types.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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The history of plus-size fashion<\/b><\/p>\n

In the early 1920s, Lena Bryant, the woman behind retailer Lane Bryant, became the first widely known designer for plus-size women. After creating a line of maternity dresses, she moved on to make clothing for what she referred to as the \u201cstout-figured\u201d woman, designing garments to fit different curvy body types. Lane Bryant remains a major producer of clothes for mature women.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Plus-size women broke into the mainstream fashion space through modeling in the 1970s. In 1984, Mary Duffy started the first plus-size modeling talent agency, Big Beauties \u2013 Little Women Agency. Over time, curvy women became more prevalent, walking on runways and appearing on the cover of magazines.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet many women say plus-size representation slowed during the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. For example, \u201cheroin chic,\u201d or extremely thin figures, represented the ideal woman in the \u201890s and 2000s, made popular by celebrities like Paris Hilton and Victoria\u2019s Secret models. Popular fast-fashion companies like Zara leaned into these trends, targeting young women. Anything above a size XL was \u2014 and is \u2014 hard to find at these stores.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Cassandra Sethi, the founder of luxury personal styling company Next Level Wardrobe, said consumers forget fashion is a for-profit industry. \u201cThey are in the business of making you feel like you don’t belong, like you need the latest trend or brand, whatever size you are,\u201d Sethi said. \u201cIt can feel extremely overwhelming.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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The clothes-making process discourages extending sizes<\/b><\/p>\n

Expanding sizes can be tricky, especially if a company isn\u2019t known for plus-size fashion.\u00a0 \u201cIt seems easy, right?\u201d said May, who works with companies like JCPenney, Nordstrom and Beyond Yoga. \u201cJust make it a bigger size.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But it takes extra time, resources and money, practically doubling the work, said Melanie Carrico, an associate professor in consumer apparel-retail studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. In part, it\u2019s because clothing patterns need to be readjusted.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The start-to-finish process can take months. The designer creates a sketch, then develops a pattern to send to a manufacturer that makes garment samples. The samples go back to the designer for tweaks and adjustments, and once they achieve the desired fit and adopt it into the clothing line, the final pattern goes to production.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To scale the pattern for different sizes, brands apply \u201cgrade rules\u201d \u2014 that is, measurements that determine how the garment will grow proportionately from size to size. So, if the design starts at a size four with a 24-inch waist, an inch or inch-and-a-half of fabric might be added to go up one size.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By the time the patterns reach plus sizes, grade rules tend to stop making anatomical sense. Companies often ignore the way a woman\u2019s body changes as it grows, said Gabrielle Hurwitz, 32, a luxury bridal stylist who works with women of varying sizes and who used to be plus size. \u201cThey’ll have a cut out under the boob or backless, and it’s like, \u2018I need to wear a bra,\u2019\u201d Hurwitz said. \u201cYou need to add some structure, some support, so it works for everyone.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s best to create a new base pattern for larger sizes and \u201cgrade up\u201d from there, Carrico said. Companies need to go through the design process yet again, which is why extending sizes can cost more time, money and resources.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gabi Williams, a 30-year-old, curvy server, said she worries a returning societal obsession with thinness will lead to a lot of people losing weight, further discouraging brands from making the investment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Established companies also struggle to forecast what styles plus-size women are looking for and tend to under advertise their extended designs. For example, when Old Navy created a campaign to bring larger clothes to its brick-and-mortar locations in 2021, it sold fewer larger pieces than anticipated and lost a lot of money, according to The Wall Street Journal.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCompanies need to consider how plus-size consumers might feel about shopping somewhere for the first time,\u201d Thony-Barletta said. \u201cI think there’s some issues in terms of customers feeling comfortable being invited into a retail location that has typically concentrated on a range of smaller sizes.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Though it takes more work to create extended sizes, many companies choose to do it anyway. Size-inclusive businesses are usually owned by plus-size women and employ people of different shapes and sizes, Holliday said. \u201cFor the brands that actually care, it’s pretty evident,\u201d Holliday said. \u201cIt’s coming from a place of need and want. When you see the bigger companies taking initiatives, there’s usually somebody behind it that is diverse.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Holliday, who helped H&M expand its sizing, said businesses need to invest in the community and pay close attention to what consumers want from their clothing. For example, many of the clients at Next Level Wardrobe are going through body changes. Sethi said she prioritizes understanding customers and their needs on a deep level to provide them with proper support while revamping their closets.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re asking a lot of questions, and we’re tuning into what they’re saying,\u201d Sethi said. \u201cWe take the approach of, \u2018You’re this size, great. Let’s figure out the best way for you to feel confident and feel good.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Growing up curvy is isolating<\/b><\/p>\n

Plus-size women feel underrepresented and alienated by what\u2019s available. \u201cWhen I became the age where a lot of girls were interested in fashion, I found I was very limited in what was accessible to me,\u201d said Taylor Olsen, 30, a caseload manager for a public defense firm in Bend, Oregon, who was a size 14 her freshman year of high school.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Popular stores like Aeropostale and Buckle didn\u2019t carry her size. So, she resorted to shopping in\u00a0 men\u2019s sections or at places like Maurices and Walmart. She mostly wore sweatpants, sweatshirts and jeans until she graduated from college and realized she needed professional clothes for work.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At the time, she only knew about plus-size brands like Lane Bryant and Torrid, which she felt aged her. To get by, Olsen said, she purchased \u201cbare minimum basics\u201d like plain shirts, blazers and slacks. Then during the pandemic, Olsen found TikTok and other women who looked like her and whose style she admired. She learned where they shopped \u2013 including Old Navy and Abercrombie.<\/span><\/p>\n

Williams said curves run in her family. \u201cI don’t think I was meant to ever be a thin person,\u201d she said. Yet, she grew up watching shows like \u201cAmerica\u2019s Next Top Model\u201d and, as a kid, enjoyed wearing unique outfits, like colorful fishnets under shorts and dresses over jeans.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Williams remembers going as a little girl to JCPenney and being unable to wear clothes from the \u201cnormal\u201d girls area. \u201cI had to go to this whole separate section,\u201d she said. \u201cThe clothes weren’t the same. That’s not how I wanted to dress, and it’s really hard not feeling like you belong in a store.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Later, she also tried Lane Bryant and Torrid, but their dowdy styles weren\u2019t for her. \u201cYou could go to those places, and find something that fits you, but is it cute?\u201d Williams said. \u201cIs it even fitted well to your body, or is it just a peplum top or a big graphic T-shirt with flowers on it?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Curvy women guess their size\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Many women prefer to shop in stores with their friends and family, but brick-and-mortar locations rarely carry above a size 14 or 16, only selling extended versions online. Women\u2019s sizing in general also varies drastically from company to company, so getting the right fit is a challenge.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Some women compare their body measurements with stores\u2019 online size charts to purchase whatever is most similar. Others buy one item in multiple sizes to try on and return whatever doesn\u2019t fit. \u201cIt’s a total guessing game,\u201d Olsen said. \u201cThere’s just so many more obstacles.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s becoming increasingly difficult to find quality options for plus-size clients, even those willing to spend extra money on luxury fashion, Hurwitz said. She struggled with this herself while searching for a dress for her sister\u2019s wedding.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was willing to spend money on a dress, but I couldn’t find anything that didn’t look cheap,\u201d Hurwitz said. \u201cI didn’t want a plus-size dress, I wanted a dress that happened to be in a plus size. There’s just not as many options, and you have to be happy with what there is.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Curvy women also rarely get to try on formalwear in boutiques because sample garments are almost always in a standard size. \u201cThey’ll hold it up to you and be like, \u2018Imagine this in your size,\u2019\u201d Hurwitz said. \u201cSo, you’re taking a huge gamble on a very expensive purchase, and you’re just supposed to trust that it’ll fit the way you want.\u201d Some companies offer customization options, but it generally costs more and takes anywhere from a few weeks to a few months for the clothes to arrive at the store.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s also difficult for curvy women to buy more sustainably due to elevated prices and lack of larger or fashionable items. Access to affordable clothing for all bodies should be prioritized before plus-size women can focus on shopping sustainably, Holliday said. \u201cWhen people have these conversations, I understand where they’re coming from,\u201d Holliday said. \u201cBut for a lot of folks, Forever 21 might be their only option.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Clothes as opportunity<\/b><\/p>\n

Fashion can do more than cover peoples\u2019 bodies. It can help them fit in or stand out \u2013 and even launch a career. May used to wear a uniform of black leggings and a Target T-shirt every day. She only expressed herself through accessories, like scarves, shoes and earrings, that she knew would always fit her.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When May moved to Los Angeles, she worked as a creative director on photoshoots of clothes she couldn\u2019t wear. \u201cI remember being like, \u2018This sucks to be around that standard of beauty all the time and know that I could never be a part of it,\u2019\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Then, May met Gabi Gregg and Nicolette Mason, the curvy founders of Premme, a plus-size clothing brand that opened in 2017. They looked stylish, wearing colorful jumpsuits and patterned skirts, and exposed her to a world of fashion she hadn\u2019t known existed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shortly afterward, May purchased her first plus-size outfit, a shiny gold pantsuit, from Eloquii \u2014 one of the only brands making fashionable plus-size clothing then. While wearing the suit to an event, someone snapped a photo of her. To her surprise, she liked the photo so much she posted it on Instagram.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When Eloquii saw her 2016 post, they hired May to model for a campaign they were shooting, and then for one of their swimsuits. These jobs officially kicked off her current full-time career as a model and content creator.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI believe in the power of walking into a room wearing something that draws someone’s attention,\u201d May said. \u201cIt actually can change your life to dress in a way that represents the true version of yourself.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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A post shared by Alexandra May (@alexmichaelmay)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n