"I am a size 16/18 and a fashion lover, two things that are becoming increasingly difficult to reconcile. While I may want to wear the same patterned set, cropped top, or whatever latest trend my straight-sized friends are wearing, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find any clothes that fit my plus-sized body, let alone ones I am actually excited to wear. (No, I don’t want a cold-shoulder top, or an oversized potato sack that hides my curves instead of accentuating them.)
I’m far from alone here. According to a 2016 study done by the International Journal of Fashion Design Technology and Education, the average American woman is between a size 16 and 18, and 67% of American women are considered plus-size (meaning they wear a size 14 or higher). Despite this, many brands don’t accommodate beyond a size 12, and it seems any hope for more options is being shattered.
The Vogue Business size inclusivity report began in 2023 to highlight size discrepancies of the fashion consumer and what was being presented on the runway. The first report for the Autumn/Winter 2023 season analyzed 9,137 looks across 219 shows. The findings revealed that 0.9% of the looks were plus-size (US 14+), 3.9% were mid-size (US 6-12), and 95.2% were straight-size (US 0-4). The most recent report, released in March 2025, showed the number of plus-size models had dropped to a minuscule .3% of looks presented—meaning of the 8,703 looks presented across 198 shows, 24 pieces would fit the average consumer.
“According to the Vogue Business size inclusivity report, plus-size looks made up only .3% of Autumn/ Winter ’25 runways.”
Megan Ixim, a fashion strategist, consultant, and fat activist, says that, sadly, inclusivity seems to be a passing trend in fashion. “In 2018 and 2019, there was a reckoning with the fashion industry that caused brands to emphasize representation, with more diverse models and sizing,” she says, noting that the body positivity movement was strong at the time. Brands afraid of being “canceled” for lack of diversity quickly pushed out expanded sizing, she says. (To Ixim and other experts interviewed for this story, a genuinely size-inclusive line would span from an XS to a 6X.)
Brands like Adidas, Anthropologie, and Athleta joined the plus-size fashion market by introducing extended sizing in 2019. Forever 21, which carried plus sizes online through its “curve” initiative, brought larger sizes to the brand in 2009. But rather than the initiatives expanding, the brands seem to have rolled them back as time has gone on.
Take, for example, Loft, which announced its plus-sized line in late 2017, only to quietly pull the options off its website in March 2021. When grilled by shoppers in Instagram comments, the brand wrote, “Due to continued business challenges from the last year, we have had to make some very difficult decisions, which has impacted our go-forward sizing.” By the fall of 2021, the brand had returned to its original sizing, stopping at size 18.
Similarly, Forever 21 deactivated their Instagram account dedicated to plus sizes during the summer of 2024, which was noted by Stella Kittrell, who modeled for the brand. Like many plus-size women, Kittrell grew up disappointed by the lack of options in her size. When friends were scouring Abercrombie and Hollister for the hottest items, she says she was stuck in blazers and button-ups from Lane Bryant, unable to express herself fully through clothes. When she was hired to model the newly expanded line for Forever 21, she says it felt like a dream come true.
“In hindsight, these efforts feel performative,” she says. “And from an emotional standpoint, it’s like, ‘OK, so these brands never cared.’ Why would I give them my money?”
“From an emotional standpoint, it’s like, ‘OK, so these brands never cared.’ Why would I give them my money?”
Lauren Hope Krass, comedian, fat activist, and creator of the street-style interview series Fat Fashion, is known for her viral videos that blend humor, fashion critique, and body liberation. She says it’s not hard to figure out why brands are rolling back these previously inclusive lines. “It’s fat phobia. It’s anti-fat bias that has leaked into our culture,” she says. “It’s so stupid because there’s money to be made. There’s money on the table for brands to make.”
Ixim says she’s often the only plus-sized person in the room when she helps consult fashion brands on fit and style. So what does she make of the brands who rolled back larger sizes as quickly as they rolled them out? “It wasn’t coming from a real place. Brands launched plus-size lines without investing in fit or marketing. Then they said, ‘It didn’t sell.”
Lauren Gray, a fashion consultant, owns What Lo Wants, a sustainable fashion brand that launched in 2021 with only plus sizes, but that has since expanded to straight sizes as well. She says a problem with the existing plus-size fashion market is that the brands don’t invest in models who wear the specific size of clothing the brand is designing.
“Every single body is different. You can’t just take the proportions of a size small and multiply it to fit a larger body. It’s going to be wonky.” She explains that when brands do this, it results in ill-fitting clothing. “That’s why fast fashion brands like a Fashion Nova or Shein—while they do carry larger sizes, the fit sucks. They won’t invest in actually trying the clothing on a person.”
A common rebuttal from fashion brands that only carry straight sizes is that it’s more expensive to create clothing that fits a larger frame, says Ixim.
“Obviously, more product equals more cost,” says Ixim. “However, that is not how businesses work. Let’s say you’re a size five shoe, and I’m a size 12 shoe. Do you ever remember a moment shopping in a shoe store where there were price increases based on the size of your shoe?”
Krass adds, “You’re gaslighting. Just do a math problem and say, ‘We’re doing sizes small through 5X—that’s 10 sizes. Divide the cost by the number of sizes, everybody pays.’ To make somebody pay more based on fabric is… it’s fat phobic, and I’m proud to say that.”
Gray agrees. While it may cost more in fabric, it’s not a valid excuse for excluding a majority of shoppers. “Sometimes I feel like [brands] think more fabric, more money… which is really sad. Because if you do make clothes that fit larger plus-sizes, how much more money would you be making?”
When it comes to the inclusivity of clothing for fat bodies, the rise in popularity of weight-loss medication can’t be ignored. The use of GLP-1 medication for weight loss has boomed in the last few years, with a study by University of Michigan Medicine showing a 594% increase in the monthly number of adolescents and young adults using the drugs between 2020 and 2023.
“You don’t fix a bias by removing a demographic of people,” Krass says. Ixim adds, “Not everyone can—or wants to—take weight loss drugs. And even those who do don’t magically become a size four. The plus-size population isn’t vanishing tomorrow.”
Brands who want to gain the trust of plus-size consumers need to continue to not only create clothing for larger bodies, but advertise them. “So many brands entered the marketplace and failed because they either didn’t let their consumer know they had clothing available to them, or they created completely different lines for their plus-size market,” said Ixim. She explains that the problem isn’t demand, but poor execution. “Your buyer is interested in the current design framework: the actual cut, the fit, and the quality. But brands divested from all those things and expected consumers to just purchase blindly because they now offer bigger sizes. That’s not how consumerism works.”
Ixim also emphasized that visibility and proper marketing are critical. “If you do not see yourself reflected in a brand—or see someone who looks like you wearing the clothing—what would incentivize you to go out of your way to guess your size and place an order?”
As it stands now, there is a sisterhood amongst plus-size women, says Krass. This is the point of her Fat Fashion series and Belly Laughs podcast: to share her experiences online to let others know what brands are safe to shop. “It’s like being a private investigator. We trade tips on Instagram stories. We thrift. We tailor. We do everything straight-size shoppers don’t have to think about.”
“We’re all worthy. We’re all different. And we all deserve to feel confident in clothes that actually fit,” says Kittrell.
Jackie Tempera, Contributing Writer
Jackie Tempera is an award-winning reporter and writer living in New Jersey. Jackie worked as a crime and courts reporter in New England, covering high-profile cases like the College Admissions Scandal and the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing. Jackie’s coverage of the #MeToo movement made national news and led to legislative changes around sexual harassment training.
Feature graphic images credited to: Adobe Stock, Eloquii, Target, Eloquii, Eloquii, Eloquii