Small, medium, large or extra large? Why does the industry continue to define a variety of body types in such a small range of sizes? If fashion is increasingly about expressing multiple identities, why do we keep being reduced to standards?
The issue of size in the fashion industry is not a new topic and yet one could argue that it is not given the attention it deserves. For decades, people have complained about not being able to find their size in stores, or being confused or even discouraged by changing sizes. The stories of traumatic shopping experiences are endless.
If you think that online shopping can solve this problem, I’m sorry to say that it isn’t. Traditional stores that sell the same clothes online are still making the same mistakes and people are returning their clothes on an unprecedented scale. In the US, the average return rate for online purchases in 2021 was 20.8 percent, up 15 percent from 2020. That corresponds to 218 billion US dollars in returned online purchases, according to an analysis by the American National Retail Federation and the service provider Appriss Retail.
People don’t find their size, don’t enjoy their shopping experience, and don’t feel represented by an industry that was essentially created for self-expression. What shall we do?
We asked three experts in the field of digital fashion and size inclusion how they see the problem and what the future might hold.
This article is a collaboration between The Digital Fashion Group Academy and FashionUnited, written by Dr. Lívia Pinent, Digital Professor of Research at The Digital Fashion Group Academy.
Do you know your plus-size customers?
For Virgie Tovar, body positive activist, author and Forbes contributor, it all starts with recognizing and acknowledging how poorly body diversity is portrayed in fashion: “We need to start by acknowledging that in the United States 70 percent of women are plus sizes. It’s really hard to accept when we consider how the structures, not just in fashion, are actually created. And they are created to cater to what is in fact the minority body type.”
Tovar gives an example of how GAP Inc., with the brands Old Navy and Athleta, began researching the plus size market by conducting market research into what the plus size people wanted: “The brands said they didn’t have market data and that these women are not buying clothes, and if they are, that they are not repeat customers. But the problem was the feedback loop: they weren’t seen as desirable or legitimate customers. For example, a brand launched a plus-size collection or launched a plus-size brand without promoting it. As a result, business is not going well. That, in turn, translates to data.”
What can we do to change this scenario? “We need to fundamentally change how we think about plus-size customers. The dominant view in the fashion industry has long been that ‘the plus-size girl’ “doesn’t want to be plus size, she doesn’t want to invest in a wardrobe because she’s always trying to get skinny. We’re dealing with a culture shift here,” said the activist. Adding, “There’s nothing to suggest that plus-size people are mass-cutting into slimmer people. Instead of going for it, there’s body positivity, the idea that you can have a great life with your size.”
FashNerd editor Muchaneta Kapfunde agrees: “The worst-kept secret is that fashion brands have been guilty of pushing their standards to make customers feel thinner. This is the rise of the so-called vanity sizes.” She illustrates this with a personal experience: “I was shopping at French Connection and they fit me in a size 10 and I was like, ‘Oh great, I’m a size 10.’ And then I went to Topshop and it was a 12 to 14. I didn’t remember what dress size I was because it was so different. Kapfunde knows some brands are using this as a strategy, changing sizing standards to make women feel better and buy more. Clothing size is generally a very emotional issue for this target group.”
Technology can help, but at what cost?
Muchaneta, who has been covering fashion and technology for years, has worked on many exciting projects designed to help consumers struggle to find the right size, but she also understands the challenges facing the industry: “There are technologies that help customers to buy the right size. But there is the problem of data protection because data is collected in the process. Even if these innovations help the industry, especially with returns problems, this creates another problem, namely that of privacy.” And Kapfunde raises the question: “How comfortable do we as women feel about having all the information about the actual size to reveal our bra? This is the information we like to keep to ourselves. It’s the kind of innovation that fixes a problem but also brings one to the fore.”
“The data belongs to the customer,” said Nicole Reader, CEO and founder of Modern Mirror, a fitting system that uses 3D scanning and body motion tracking to improve the shopping experience. “The customers determine with whom, when, where and how this data is shared, when it is deleted, that it is not collected on servers and then sold. But how can we use this data and share it as aggregated data, not people’s personal data? What can we empower brands to do so they can start making clothes that fit our customers better?” She adds: “We have to be very careful about how this data is shared, who owns it and how we can support our consumers.”
For Reader and her company, data protection is a key issue, not only in terms of data collection, but also because the fitting is a delicate moment: “I’ve had clients who didn’t want to go to the fitting room and I understand that. I’m also not comfortable going into the dressing room and seeing myself. We weren’t taught to accept the way we look.” That’s why Reader understands that it’s not just about size: “We have to move beyond the size issue. It’s about how our clothes fit us. It doesn’t matter what size we wear, as long as we have the right outfit and it looks good, we’re comfortable in it and it fits our body, that’s what really counts.”
A modified modus operandi
For the fashion industry, returns in general mean not only a loss of profits, but also a significant environmental impact with every transaction. But why do people return so many items? Reader explains: “More than 30 to 40 percent of people admit to buying the same garment in three different sizes, knowing full well that they will return two out of three garments. In 2019, before the pandemic, Revolve had sales of over 450 million [US-Dollar]but losses exceeded 500 million [US-Dollar] due to returns and exchanges. Quite apart from the loss of profits, from a sustainability point of view, this is a significant carbon footprint for round-trip transport.”
Muchaneta Kapfunde adds: “A company called Precise found that only two percent of shoppers actually find the perfect size garment. That number really shocked me. You might think of 30, 40 percent, but two percent?” And what is the solution? For the editor of FashNerd, the solution lies in a strategic collaboration between the fashion industry and technology companies: “The industry still has no idea about innovation. This is something very new, something very scary for them. This is where cooperation comes into play. Why not work with one of the startups that are bringing these solutions and see how you can get numbers better than 2%?”
“Power should not be left to retailers alone,” said Kapfunde. “I would love for consumers to be able to take back that power and shape it themselves. Imagine creating your own avatar through an app with your exact measurements that only you have access to. So when you shop online, use this app to get as close to your size as possible. It’s no longer the retail store that has your information, it’s you. At the moment, many people don’t trust brands. You must win back our trust.”
Since the first industrial revolution, the fashion industry has ruled the system: sizes, colors, fabrics – the hierarchical structure of a pyramid. It’s hard for companies used to this to grasp that consumers actually have their own bodies, sizes and ideas. Digital fashion could finally bring about a change in which consumers act as co-creators. But is the fashion industry ready for this? We hope so.
This article is based on the webinar “Digital Design & Sustainable Futures: The Sizing” hosted by the Digital Fashion Group Academy. You can watch a snippet of the discussion below and the full webinar on the TDFGA website.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah-BMLzf4uY
This article was previously published on FashionUnited.uk. Translation and editing: Barbara Russ