The average American woman wears a size 16 to 18, but plus size clothing only accounts for 19% of the American apparel market.[1] Why are brands and retailers failing to capitalize on this substantial market opportunity and meet the needs of a significant portion of American consumers?
The answer is a mix of wrongheaded, ignorant assumptions and actual, logistical challenges. Let’s begin with the false assumptions. First, fashion brands and retailers (knowingly or unwittingly) assume that plus-sized women[2] do not have the resources or taste to purchase their inventory. Despite the reality that sizing is increasing for people of all income levels, apparel companies continue to assume that larger women are necessarily poor and unable to afford their clothing. Many women who have the means and desire to shop for higher-end clothing are left with few options (Universal Standard, Good American, and Marina Rinaldi are positive examples) and must resort to shopping at big retailers that lack flattering, high-quality, and sustainably-made clothing.
A second assumption is that larger women are too ashamed of their bodies to shop in-store. Despite their own body positivity campaigns, many fashion brands still assume that there is a high degree of stigma attached to large bodies, and that women would rather try clothes on in the privacy of their home than shop in public. This trend is a self-fulfilling prophecy: with no options to shop in-store, plus-sized women grow to expect online shopping as their only option, and continue to shop exclusively online.
We should also recognize that discrimination undergirds both the assumption that larger women lack taste and wealth, and that they are too insecure to shop in-store. In America, certain ethnic groups are more likely to be plus-sized than others. Meanwhile, most executives at fashion brands and retailers are white. As long as the people designing business strategies do not represent or understand the broader market, fashion brands and retailers will continue missing this opportunity. This is not only an argument of inclusion for inclusion’s sake, but also inclusion for profit’s sake: executive diversity is proven to lead to better financial performance. In fashion, a more inclusive set of executives will lead to a more inclusive offering of consumer goods, as well as wider profit margins.
Perhaps the only real hurdle to expanding the inclusive market is logistical. To create a properly fitting size 18 garment, you cannot simply grade up from size 8: instead, you have to design a new version of the garment that fits a larger body. There is an inevitable production cost increase, as larger garments require more fabric, and creating a discriminatory pricing model risks alienating consumers. Carrying a much broader range of sizes also requires intelligent stocking, which the Old Navy debacle a few years ago aptly illustrates. However, these logistical challenges should not hold retailers and brands back from the inclusive fashion market. Instead, they are quite literally a multi-billion dollar problem to solve.
In order to expand into this market, fashion first needs to overturn its false assumptions. There are plus-sized women who want to wear clothes that are on trend and also flatter their figures. There are plus-sized women who want to buy high-quality, sustainably and ethically-made clothes, and who have the money to spend on these higher quality items. Like most consumers dissatisfied with online shopping, these women want to shop in-store, and they do not want to be relegated to a “plus-sized” section of the store, either: they simply want to shop at stores that sell inclusive sizes.
After we’ve accepted these principles, we need to tackle the logistical challenges, such as garment sizing and stocking strategies. Luckily, there are business models and solutions at hand. Inclusive fashion retailers can use the same data collection techniques that retailers such as Reformation use to optimize sales. Inclusive fashion brands can run focus groups and surveys and open pop-up stores to get a more accurate sense of consumer demand. And the more orders that designers and factories receive for inclusive fashion sizes, the more streamlined the process will become.
By challenging outdated assumptions and investing in innovative solutions, the fashion industry can finally start catering to the needs and desires of all consumers, create a full range of garments from sustainable material and ethical labor, and make a significant profit while doing so.
[1] Globally, plus-size clothing makes up about 16.55% of the overall apparel market. In 2023, the global plus-size market was worth $288 billion, while the overall global apparel market was worth $1.73 trillion. This is by no means an American problem alone, but the American market is particularly illustrative of the seeming disconnect between size availability and potential customers.
[2] We focus here on women, but sizing is an issue for all people, regardless of gender. In fact, brands delivering inclusive sizing tend to leave men and nonbinary consumers out of the picture – yet another problem that the fashion industry must address.