Op-ed: Sustaining Size Exclusivity

Sustainable fashion is all the rage… for skinny people. But what about everyone else? Most sustainable fashion brands only carry Small, Medium, and Large sizes, but the sizes usually run incredibly small. For people with mid-size and plus-size bodies, fast fashion can be the only option, even if they want to wear sustainable brands like Realisation Par and Reformation. Fast Fashion has mostly negative qualities. However, the one thing these brands have going for is size inclusivity. Fashion Nova, for example, not only carries XXS-XXL but also has a plus-size line going up to 6xl, forcing women with bodies that do not fit the Western beauty standard to sacrifice ethical consumption and their morals so their clothes can actually fit. 

No one understands this struggle better than me. As a girl who is not a size 0-4 and values ethical consumption, I have often struggled to find clothes that fit our morals and bodies. Fitting rooms become nightmares, and online shopping reminds me that the clothes I want to wear aren't made for me. However, this dilemma has left me wondering: If these brands genuinely value shifting fashion culture from fast to slow, why would they only want to include some bodies in this movement? Wouldn't offering more sizes lead to more people buying sustainably made clothes?

A woman's average size in America is 16 to 18 in the US. So these brands, which usually only care up to a size 10 or 12, exclude the majority of who their consumers could be. This is rooted in blatant fatphobia. These brands would likely make way more money if they offered size-inclusive products. However, this would also mean hiring mid and plus-size models and having mid and plus-size people shopping in their stores, which does not fit the trendy look of skinny girls who love saving the environment these brands flaunt. 

The solution is a lot simpler than it seems- making more sizes. While these brands value avoiding mass production, increasing their size range to 4 or 5 sizes wouldn’t make that much difference, and the financial gain would balance out any losses caused by increasing production. Lack of size inclusivity is not rooted in anything other than fatphobia, and the only benefit is excluding people who do not fit the beauty standard and punishing them for being different. 

Not only that, but fashion brands are destroying our planet to uphold meaningless beauty standards. According to Rebekah Clarke of the Carbon Literacy Project, Fast Fashion is responsible for 10% of global pollution and releases 1.2 billion tons of carbon emissions annually. The lack of size inclusivity forces the majority of women to participate in this toxic cycle of environmental destruction. It leads me to wonder why companies that aim to help the environment would exclude so many women from participating in sustainability. Our society thrives off hierarchies and values people by their physical appearance, and we have turned sustainability into an exclusive club that only skinny people can get into- literally.

By Layla Blue Rudolph

March 3, 2022