Plus-Size

This article discusses the realm of Plus-Size, with words from our respondents and key opinion leaders in the field.

Topic Overview:

• Plus-size consumers know when you are just in it to make money or truly committed to them. Beware.

• Inclusive sizing means all bodies are included in fashion.

• The term ‘plus size’ is polarizing.

• Offering plus sizes is just the start. The nuance of the design, where it is available all show how committed you are.

• Women of all ages want to look stylish, young, sexy and put together in clothes that fit.

Plus-size consumers often feel that companies are just trying to grab a share of the market without a real commitment to or understanding of the community. As the consumers see it, if brands, retailers and designers genuinely cared there would be far more options available and this would have been the case for years now, as opposed to what looks like them just jumping on the bandwagon.

As the plus-size market has opened up, many consumers who have been ignored by straight-size retailers for years are skeptical about this touted ‘embrace of inclusivity’. They may be on to something: marketing experts say that adding these sizes can help a brand appear more progressive and less elitist, and retailers stand to profit from size inclusion as the percentage of consumers who wear plus-size clothes rises.

Aisha Fairclough, the co-founder of Body Confidence Canada, remains wary, however, of companies that have only recently taken an interest in body diversity. “If brands, retailers and designers cared about plus-size consumers, then it wouldn't have taken until now to acknowledge that plus-size and fat consumers exist,” she says. “Fat people have always needed clothing. It's disappointing that companies only started to see plus-size consumers as viable because of the dollar."

Brands that are expanding into plus-size but only online are also quite shameful. It feels performative in the sense that they want to make the money that comes with creating larger sizes, but don’t want bigger women in their stores. It is seen as a brand risk to be associated with them.

Those brands that do offer, or attempt to offer, plus-size clothing, tend to only include the smallest sizes in the category. In today’s world, this is called virtue signaling.

Marie Southard Ospina, a Hebden Bridge, UK-based journalist who covers body-image issues, says she suspected that the popularity of body positivity would lead brands to capitalize on the trend. “When I see brands with a history of either ignoring or outright belittling fat bodies try to get in on the trend by adding a few sizes, it doesn't feel like they care about fat people,” she says. “Virtue signalling is definitely a good term for it.”

There’s concern that the traditional retailers broadening their ranges aren’t truly inclusive because they offer a limited number of large sizes rather than a variety of them all. “Inclusive sizing means that all bodies are included in fashion,” says Aisha Fairclough, co-founder of Body Confidence Canada. “Instead, it's like designers pick a number that they think is big enough to include plus sizes and they stop. Some brands have started to cater to modestly plus-size shoppers, but they have not gone far enough.”

Thomaï Serdari, professor of marketing at New York University’s Leonard N Stern School of Business, says that consumers consider it “a slap in the face” when a retailer launches a plus collection that only includes the smallest sizes in the category. It gives the impression that companies are just trying to grab a share of the market without a real commitment to the community. “This is really even more disrespectful for consumers,” she says.

The term ‘plus-size’ puts everyone into a category, it’s an isolating term. But there are plenty of people who do feel comfortable using "plus-size" to describe themselves. So there's nothing wrong with using that word for them, it makes it easier for them to shop.

Ashley Graham has been celebrated as one of the world's most successful plus-size models, but she would never call herself that. Graham told CBS Sunday Morning that she doesn't like the word "plus-size" and she'd rather we not use it to describe her.

"I think the word 'plus-size' is so divisive to women," she said in the interview. "I think that when you use the word 'plus-size' you're putting all these women into a category: 'You don't eat well.' 'You don't work out.' 'You could care less about your body.' 'You're insecure.' 'You have no confidence.'

While some people do find power in labels like plus-size, we understand Graham's point. Language is tricky and often the words we use to describe marginalized communities can be rooted in the very ideas that oppress them. Like the word "queer" for LGBTQ+ people, which literally means "strange" and was once a slur, the word "plus-size" implies that there's something not quite normal about the people who we describe that way.

It suggests that there's a normal size range that these people fall outside of, rather than an incredibly vast diversity of body sizes. You could make the argument that "plus" simply means greater than the average, but that wouldn't even be true. Some estimates say that the average woman in the U.S. wears a size 20. In stores, plus-sizes start at a 18.

Some shoppers share how they feel about the term:

"I think the term is okay when it comes to finding clothing sizes

[coming from someone who is plus size], but I think plus-size models should just be considered models."

"I prefer the term 'plus-size' over 'large.' Though I did see a great sign one time that said, 'We carry sizes pixie to goddess,' which I thought was pretty fantastic."

There are conflicting views when it comes to the verbiage to describe clothing for full-figured women, but there are many who now find power in saying "plus-size."

Body positive activist and plus-size model Carina Shero who also confidently refers to herself as "fat" said, "Being able to have a term that specifies that there will be larger sizes is helpful."

"As a plus shopper myself, I find it easier to shop when I see the section clearly labeled in stores," said Jill Ryland, Macy's buyer for plus size and style crew ambassador.

"Women are proud of their bodies and are not ashamed, nor should they be," she continued. "In fashion, women expect stylish pieces fit for them, and Macy's is proud to keep offering her more choices."

As a category that is somewhat neutral over the world ‘plus size’, the argument is still out as to whether it’s correct or not. ‘Inclusivity’ and ‘body positive’ are used to reel people in, but it’s not any of those things. Nobody talks about plus-size men, they get ‘big and tall’.

Constantly telling plus-size women that you’re “expanding” your size range for them is expecting thanks for something that should have been done in the first place, and perpetuating the idea that plus-size women are different, rather than the reality that they’re very much the norm. It’s a little like initially drafting for 6′ tall women, then expecting lots of praise for expanding down to an average 5’6″.

The term 'plus-size' originally came from the clothing industry and has tended to be used for women, whereas men have traditionally had the 'big and tall' label applied to them - this of course doesn't actually describe the body shape of all 'plus-size' men, so it can feel very dismissive of men who might be overweight, but not tall, for example.

Perhaps size should just stay in universal numbers, whether 'male' or 'female' clothes. Those measures could be regulated to be the same across brands. Like shoe size in parts of Asia being the actual length of your foot in millimeters.

Inherently, within the category there are existing problems to be addressed, for instance, ‘fat tax’, [charging more for plus size clothing] and clothing coming in different designs/styles to 'straight' sizes. Designs for plus size are sloppy, customers can’t show their personality through their clothes.

By definition, plus-size is used to describe "extra-large" apparel. When companies do add plus-sized options, there are still many ways that they can strike the wrong chord with their target market. The British retailer New Look made international headlines in 2018 and faced accusations of instituting a “fat tax” after selling select plus-size garments for 15% more than the comparable garments in straight sizes. “Charging more for plus-size clothing is offensive and insulting because you are prioritizing smaller-size customers,” says Aisha Fairclough, co-founder of Body Confidence Canada. “What's equitable about that?”

"Misdeeds like charging customers more for plus sizes or speaking ill of women’s bodies require brands to rehabilitate their image. But even as they make strides, companies shouldn’t assume that consumers will forgive them", says Ludovica Cesareo, an assistant professor of marketing at the College of Business of Lehigh University in the US."Just because you launch a plus-size line doesn’t mean they’re going to all of a sudden buy your brand,” she says. “Consumers really care about values, and so they want to buy from brands that reflect the values they believe in.”

Character/traits: Plus size women have to be the appropriate type of fat person + Plus size women are not different, they’re actually very much the norm + an overall feeling that plus-size shoppers are treated like second-class citizens + How a size 24 feels about her body, is a reflection of how the culture feels about that size.

For women above a size 12, there’s invisible labor that goes into putting together outfits that the fashion world will consider stylish. They can’t just pop into a department store or Zara and buy off the rack. They have to hunt down pieces online, spend extra money for shipping, and carefully study measurements to find things their colleagues are able to buy with ease - or are sent for free as gifts from brands. It’s easy to be fashionable when you’re thin.

The industry also needs to change its point of view that plus means old. For decades, plus women have been viewed as post-baby, post-menopausal, or older women who aren’t into fashion. Quite the contrary - women of all ages want to look stylish, young, sexy and put-together in clothes that fit.

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