Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the plus-size fashion industry has undergone drastic changes. With 67% of American women wearing size 14 or larger, the plus size market is a massive and growing sector, expected to exceed $260 billion in 2028. Yet plus-size options remain limited, with only 20% of clothing made for larger sizes and brands and investors hesitant to embrace inclusivity.

Old Navy’s 2022 BODEQUALITY campaign initially promised to bridge this gap by offering sizes 0-30 in stories. This groundbreaking move aimed to democratize the shopping experience for women of all sizes. Previously, as is common across the industry, most brands that offer plus sizes relegate them to online-only sales. This made Old Navy’s move a hopeful sign of change, potentially setting a precedent for other stores to follow. Unfortunately, Old Navy didn’t allow enough time to grow its plus-size customer base, ending the program after less than a year. Sadly, Old Navy decided to scale back failing to give the initiative enough time to succeed.

Brands like Universal Standard, launched in 2015, are attempting to fill the gap. With sizes 00-40 and truly plus-size models, they’re a market pioneer. But, their online-only retail model creates delays and their prices are often inaccessible for the average plus-size woman. This leaves younger shoppers, who tend to be trend-driven, more likely to buy from more affordable yet unsustainable fast fashion brands.

Plus-size millennial and Gen Z shoppers, already earning less than older generations, are further impacted by persistent discrimination based on body size in the workforce. They’re stuck with hyper-trendy fast fashion brands being promoted through gluttonous fashion hauls by their favorite influencers on social media.

Though cheap, it is costly for the environment, communities in the Global South and in the long run, the cost-per-wear makes buying fast fashion more expensive. On the other hand, sustainable fashion is not size inclusive — meaning it is rarely available above a size 12, so it’s really just more of the same: white supremacy diet culture in fair trade organic cotton. Given the vastness of the plus-size market, there is no logical reason why investors aren’t jumping at the chance to serve the plus size market beyond fatphobia and discrimination.

In April of this year, online plus size super mall, OneStopPlus, acquired Eloquii from Walmart, citing a misalignment with wider business strategy. Eloquii had been a plus-size favorite since it was released and then re-launched in 2014 as a separate entity from The Limited. Between 2015-2018, Eloquii was the plus size brand to watch, especially on social media. With five physical stores in major cities across the US, Eloquii was changing how plus-size fashion was perceived by non-plus-size customers and it made plus-size customers, like myself, feel incredibly confident.

I’ll never forget the feeling of telling straight size friends, “I’m sorry, but it doesn’t come in your size” when they’d ask where I purchased a cute outfit I was wearing. #XOQs (the hashtag Eloquii used for outfits of the day in their clothing), filled my timeline on Instagram. Then, in 2018, things changed when Walmart bought Eloquii from The Limited for $100 million and sadly led to store closures and a decline in fit and quality. The brand that we all loved seemed to fade away overnight.

Where did our curves go? Plus-size icons shrinking amid limited options

The dwindling options are clear. Recently, plus size style blogger and pioneer Gabi Gregg (@Gabifresh) posted on her Instagram story that she usually prepares for a major closet sale in the spring. But, she doubts she will this year because she “doesn’t know when [she’ll] find cute clothes in her size again.”

Another blogger shared a video of herself scrolling down the product pages of ASOS Curve, a popular UK-based online plus-size fashion retailer. She was dismayed because all that was for sale in plus sizes were leggings, biker shorts and oversized t-shirts and everything was black, white and gray. Nothing was bright, colorful, sequin, bedazzled…those red carpet looks we’ve come to expect from ASOS.

There are honestly countless examples of friends and other creators who have lamented about how dismal plus-size fashion is right now. Our favorite plus-size icons are slowly and noticeably “losing their curves.”

I feel like now is the time when I must address the elephant in the room. The comment I and a lot of plus size women and content creators alike receive is, “If it’s so difficult to find clothing that fits, why not just lose weight?”

Well, for many of us, being fat (yes, using the word – respectfully – is okay as it’s a descriptor, like “skinny”) is not a choice. Many people (especially internet bullies) blame obesity on “laziness” and poor dietary choices. But, the reality is someone can be or become overweight for other reasons, like:

• Genetics and prenatal factors
• Birth, infancy and childhood habits
• Medications and medical conditions (including pregnancy and injuries)
• Hormone imbalances
• Poverty and lack of access to food (living in a food desert)
• Food addiction
• Gut bacteria issues
• Lack of access to nutrition education

Unmasking the roots of fatphobia

America’s “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” mentality runs deep. This mindset obscures systemic issues like our nation’s reliance on “toxic” ingredients and farming methods (hello, pesticides, herbicides, hormones, dyes and farm-raised, just to name a few) and the extreme wealth gap. Millions of Americans struggle to survive while living with mental and emotional distress – about 1 in 5 American adults lives with a mental illness and suicide ranks as the second leading cause of death among people age 10-14.

When you combine these mental health struggles with the reality that, unlike drugs or alcohol, food is necessary for survival and highly processed foods are the only affordable and available option for many, it becomes clear why weight loss isn’t always an easy choice. Not to mention, there are countless people who follow a clean diet, workout regularly, lead a healthy lifestyle and are still considered overweight. Body size and weight are not true indicators of health. And, for the record, there are higher health risks associated with being underweight than overweight.

Last summer, I wrote about the Ozempic craze and its impact on the plus size fashion industry. In just a few short years, we’ve seen a boomerang-type shift: body positivity and the celebration of bodies of every size is OUT and the diet trends we’re all used to and newer weight loss injections is IN. Celebrities like Kim Kardashian are abandoning their artificial curves in favor of slimmer figures.

That raises the question: Which came first – the movement away from size inclusivity in fashion or the seemingly overnight loss of all of our plus size heroes? Have they let us down, or are they just demonstrating the true meaning of body sovereignty? I think it’s about time we stop trying to find heroes on social media and instead recognize the one staring back at us in the mirror.

Amy Stretten (Chickahominy) is a Black Indigenous queer femme journalist, commentator and the creator of cultural fashion platform The Chief of Style. Her intersectional identities are closely connected to her work. She recently completed a fellowship with the Native American Media Alliance’s Native American Unscripted Workshop and is currently an Artist Fellow with The Center for Cultural Power. She has been a guest on dozens of TV and podcast shows and her work has been featured on various mainstream and Indigenous news outlets and books, including featured in queer fashion book DapperQ Style: Ungendering Fashion from HarperCollins. You can find her on Instagram at @ChiefofStyle.