Why ignoring trendy fat women is a bad deal

Do most major clothing brands hate fat people more than they love money? Because that’s what their sizing options tell me.

There is probably the most male, pale and stale CEOs who run these great brands (only 12.5 percent of clothing companies on the Fortune 1000 list are run by women) are deeply capitalist.

Their OM seems to be to make money, often without considering working conditions or environmental sustainability. From the outside, it looks like they will do almost anything to increase their profits.

But if so, what is their excuse for not responding to 1 billion women in the world who are plus size? (Although I don’t like the term, for the purposes of this article I have used the term plus size as an umbrella phrase for women with a body deemed larger than the slim ideal widely championed by diet culture. )

Plus size brands just make up 6.7 percent of $ 16.5 billion clothing industry in Australia but according to abs, around 67% of Australian women are considered overweight. While technical overweight doesn’t necessarily correlate with a person’s clothing size, we can still see that something doesn’t add up here.

Regarding size in particular, the average clothing size in Australia is 14 to 16, depending on reports. But judging by the continued barrage of phobic headlines about the rise of the “obesity epidemic,” that number doesn’t seem correct.

And the overwhelming majority of brands, including almost all high-end Australian fashion brands, don’t even come close to those sizes. You just have to ask former Vogue Australia editor Kirstie Clements.

Regardless of what you think about health and weight, it’s simply bad for the fashion industry to ignore plus size people. This raises the question of whether there is such a clear unmet need, why is this market not being served?

Well, there are a myriad of potential answers. Most have been covered in this article, with the most common belief mentioned that it is more expensive to manufacture larger sizes. But I can tell you firsthand, it absolutely sucks.

First, if this were a hindrance, the oversized trend that exists now would have affected normal prices, and it absolutely does not. You can still buy an oversized t-shirt on Asos for $ 12 (no shade at Asos, they’re a savior for us plus size women).

Second, this is such a strange excuse. If it was really more expensive to manufacture larger sizes, brands could just incorporate it into their pricing model. I guarantee you there are a whole bunch of fat people willing to pay higher prices for clothes that really fit us. Take the example of American designer Christian Siriano. In 2018 he tripled his income by including a “large size” range.

I am preparing to launch my own brand of sportswear including size, Club Melon. Throughout this time, the most common excuse I’ve heard from brands that don’t stock large sizes is that it is indeed a cost issue, but it doesn’t. is not what you might think.

The higher cost does not necessarily come from the manufacturing side, but the higher capital required to store a wider range of sizes. If you want to sell, say, a size six to a size 30, you will need to make, house and ship twice as many items as a brand that stocks sizes six to 16.

But this excuse did not suit me. I understand that not all brands have double the bottoms to store double the size range, but if you only have to select a few sizes, why would you choose the smaller end of the scale when the majority of markets carry sizes at the top end?

Some brands claim bigger sizes don’t sell, but I’m calling bullshit about that. They would sell if you marketed them correctly. Show us big models wearing your clothes. Make clothes for our taller bodies, instead of just scaling items designed for a size six.

So, finally and unfortunately, after months of my own research, the answer to the question of why most big fashion brands don’t stock plus sizes seems like sheer fatphobia.

But it is not entirely gloomy. I’m currently working on a solution to the athletic wear needs of taller people (starting with a sports bra specifically designed for plus size women) and so are many other great companies.

So, to leave things on a positive note, here is a list of places tall women can find fashion inspiration that really concerns us:

• If you are a plus size woman who is not already following CurvyAu sure Instagram or is a member of their Facebook group, do yourself a favor and ask to register immediately. There you will find thousands of like-minded women with the same bodies sharing their tips and advice not only on fashion and style, but also on life as a visibly plus-size person.
• Buy from brands that sell up to and beyond a size 28 as Noisy bodies, Billie Loveday, Universal standard, Grump, Good, Fussy gus, Real and Curvature. This listing is courtesy of Aussie Fat fashion icon Katie parrott.
• Download the Australian fashion app My Tyler. Anyone who is plus size knows their way around shopping online, and this app helps take the guesswork out of it further by matching you with other similar women whose style you admire (we call them contributors). I’m working on it part time and I’m a Mys Tyler contributor and I can tell you firsthand, the app is revolutionary.
• Anyone can organize their social media to include a wider range of organizations! Open your eyes and feed to a more diverse range of women and make any social media platform more inclusive. Some great people to help you get started include @thebodzilla @thisismeagankerr @laceyjadechristie @curvynyome @chloeincurve @simonemariposa @sofiehagendk @ meg.boggs @mynameisjessamyn @calliethorpe @tessholliday and @itsmekellieb.

Holly richards is passionate about solving the problems of tall women. She is the founder of the all size sportswear brand Club Melon and is in his final year of a Master of Business Administration (Executive) at the University of New South Wales. Holly is also the Community Manager at Mys Tyler, a fash-tech start-up that matches users of all shapes and sizes with women of similar bodies. She was previously a writer, journalist and marketer for over 10 years in digital, print, television and radio.