Sustainable fashion needs to be more inclusive.
Size inclusivity is a problem in fashion that creates a challenge for those who want to pick viable alternatives.
If finding plus size clothing in the mainstream fashion industry is difficult, it only gets more difficult as you begin to look for sustainable options and in second-hand markets. "Inclusivity poses a challenge when it comes to sizing in pre-loved shopping," said Carrie Ann Moran, a business professional for sustainability and circular economy. "The fashion model in itself doesn't cater for 16 plus sizing, and that is the system," Moran said. The fashion industry often encourages people to buy clothes for themselves but an idealized version of their bodies. The fashion industry, as it currently is, is unsustainable, particularly fast fashion. Not manufacturing for people above a certain size only adds to this lack of sustainability. A lack of options from production leads to a lack of options when it comes to pre-loved.
Size inclusivity is a problem in mainstream fashion.
"When you think about it logically, what feeds the pre-loved market is all that clothing [manufactured by well-known brands]. A lot of charity retailers are stuck for those sizes," Moran said. While Moran says the clothing options for people in bigger sizes is limited, she sees hope in the body positivity and inclusivity movementsshe sees online. People are also educating others on where to shop for second hand, size-inclusive clothing. "We are breaking down that perfect body look," she said.
However, mainstream fashion continues to refuse to acknowledge the size range it should be accommodating. Moran points to the comments made by fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld about fat and curvy women and that he refused to create clothing in bigger sizes. "We know there are a lot more people in the world that sit outside the size 12 perfect body," Moran said. But when she was trained as a fashion designer, it was on a size 12 model, and she was only taught to grade a size or two above and below that.
"Even the size 12 we used in college was tiny," Moran said. "It's the system. It is how it's been set up and how we're trained as designers." The attitudes around plus size fashion are changing. Last year, Irish model Roz Purcell launched a fashion brand that didn't go beyond a size label UK14-16. There was a huge backlash, and Purcell apologized, saying she felt stupid and inconsiderate. "She got a lot of backlash at the time," Moran said. "but as she said herself, 'it's not that it's not being designed. It's that I couldn't get my hands on it.'"
Nuw deliberately seeks clothing in all sizes
Founder of clothes swapping app Nuw, Aisling Byrne, said that after talking with Aja Barber, her business did not have enough size-diverse clothing. "We did a focus group series with Aja. She did a deep dive into how we make Nuw more inclusive. That was eye-opening," Byrne said. "You cannot just say 'we are size inclusive and a diverse community because we say we are," Byrne said. "The work is on our end to create those spaces." From those workshops, Byrne learned that there was a limitation on the brands that made fashionable items in all sizes. "When you go vintage shopping or preloved shopping, it's really difficult to find pieces that are size 18 plus," Byrne said. "When Nuw does vintage drops on its site, it specifically seeks clothing sizes that are size UK18 and above."
Plus size needs to be part of a sustainable solution.
"If we're going to start a sustainable solution, we need to make sure that everyone who comes on has the chance to partake in that solution," Byrne said. Nuw has run swap shops for plus size people before. One of the issues that came up in the focus groups is that plus-size people have the assumption that they will not be catered for in sustainable clothing. "We need to challenge that assumption, and we need to make it good," Byrne said. "Because if we try to challenge the assumption and it's a shit experience, then that is not good."