RTW Explained: Why Size Inclusivity is Not Always Practiced
Posted by Betsy C on
We should all have clothes that fit. No one group should be left out. But they are.
This is a problem not only limited to ready to wear, but we also hear the same discussion in the world of home sewing patterns. It’s an issue that encompasses both worlds.
Women come in all shapes and sizes so why are there not clothes for all? It’s a crime that "Fill in the blank"——designer only goes up to a size 12.
Trust me, the fashion industry (and independent sewing companies as well) hear loud and clear there is a huge market for bridging the size gap. However, there are obstacles in the way that aren’t so black and white. I'm going to focus on the plus size aspect of this issue, but the same principles can be applied to other categories like petites, talls or other specific fit initiatives- regardless of whatever size is chosen to start from.
Grading:
Anyone who thinks they can grade up a fitted bodice from a size 4 to a size 28 has no business making plus sizes. Yes, they may be saying they are inclusive but they are not going to fit well. It can be done for some styles, but 90% of the time you need a brand new pattern that is drafted specifically for a plus sized body. The plus size body has different proportions and fit considerations so anything above a 16- 18 really needs a fit specific to a different body type.
Cost:
When you make a second pattern automatically your development costs and time invested double and can easily add up to many thousands of dollars more to add to the product development cost.
- Two patterns
- Two samples (at least)
- Two patterns for grading
- Two separate model fittings on multiple occasions
- Double the amount of fabric you need to buy for samples (or triple).
Fabric Required to Mass Produce
Then there is the fabric. Plus sizes take more yardage and in some cases wastes more because the space they take up on a marker, leaves gaps that cannot be used. So before the designer even makes a sale, she is already counting on adding more cost to the fabric she is purchasing. For designers on a shoestring budget or those that work with very high end fabrics that cost $$$, it is a big investment gamble.
Expertise
Most RTW is produced overseas in countries that have no concept of what plus size looks like and have no point of reference. But yet we rely on them to make a garment that fits. Trying to develop a plus size range this way can be the stuff of nightmares and is not for the faint of heart.
Not everyone can make a plus size pattern. It’s an oddity but a reality. RTW is not that old (I'm talking around 1940/1950 ish). Drafting methods and formulas have been developed based on a traditional misses size 6 or 8. With a fairly proportional body this was easy to formulate. However, body shapes have changed dramatically in the past 50 years to include plus sizes (yes, there were before but that was probably more in the category of "custom"). With that in mind, if a patternmaker was taught to draft according to a size 6 they are used to approaching the fit from this point of view. Depending on the patternmakers eye, they may not know how to make the transition to plus size. Case in point- I spend a better part of my life (I'm not even being dramatic here) just fixing plus size patterns made by different patternmakers around the world. It was initially thought that if you showed them photos and described problems then they would know how to fix it. It didn’t work, so here is where I fit in as I work to improve patterns that often make the following assumptions:
- Chest is a lot bigger in the front than the back
- The front body needs to be wider in general
- Bust darts need to be especially deep
- If her hips are big the rest of the leg must be also
- If she’s bigger than her shoulders are wider
But here's the thing: I wouldn’t say that these are incorrect assumptions of a plus size body, but when it comes time to fit a pattern that looks like this, it’s going to be a hot mess on a live person.
Plus size is not standard
Finding a plus size fit model is a hard task. When you get above a size 18 there are more figure types. Do you fit a pear shape or an upside down triangle? It’s hard to know what group to cater to. You can aim to fit many but you have to average it out. But how and where? This can be a hard call to make and each company decides who they want to cater to and it may not fit all plus sizes. Oftentimes year long studies are done to determine who a plus size customer actually is.
Every company that I have worked for has at one point been on the quest to find the right plus size fit model. A process that could take months, even in NYC where there are lots of agencies that represent plus fit models. The right ones are few and far between and you will pay top dollar. Typically a plus size fit model makes more than a misses model (so factor that back into the budget as well).
Will she buy?
I hear this from some of the smaller designers that have direct access to their customer base. The customer is in love with a style, but it is an investment so she wants to make sure she will get a lot of wear out of it. However, she’s planning on losing a few dress sizes and will come back after she’s lost the weight. She never does and the plus size dress hangs on the rack, and eventually the sale rack just to get rid of it. There are many women out there that embrace their size, but even more that are always looking to change it.
Please don’t judge designers too harshly if they aren’t offering an extended size range. Most designers that I work with who have added larger sizes have done so slowly and thoughtfully to make sure they were putting the best product out there. It’s not just about grabbing a new corner of the market, it’s about doing it right and ensuring the business model can absorb the doubling of all supplies and labor.
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18 comments
As a plus size person who sews I was interested to read this post, having recently set up the challenge #12patternplus2019 on Instagram – a monthly sewing challenge that is size inclusive, aimed to bring awareness to pattern designers that we are there and wanting more patterns we can fit into.
It is therefore with sadness that I absorb this article. I hear nothing but excuses. If people do not know how to fit the full range of bodies/create patterns for everyone then they can learn. The saddest thing I see, and I’ve done this myself, is plus size people parting with money because they like a pattern and then have it sit on their computer never to be used. I am feeling pretty confident when I say that if all the people outside of the range of a designers sizes stopped buying their patterns they would invest in themselves pretty quickly to develop a plus size range.
You may consider there to be double the outgoings when developing a plus size range, however I feel this is disingenuous. Initially yes but once those blocks have been created you can develop many styles and shapes from them, you would not be starting from scratch with every pattern. And, also bear in mind profits would go up substantially if you are catering to a wider audience.
In terms of fabric, toiles can be made with cheap fabrics and if a designer has to use expensive fabrics, she only need make one or two in those textiles, I dont see a massive rise in fabric costs tbh. Also big people dont use that much more fabric than ‘normal’ sized people, I know because I am one.
Plus size actually is standard, even if the types of bodies within a plus size range varies more.
My stance is while I appreciate it is more work, and there are some costs incurred, that is no reason to discriminate against a whole section of the community.
Interesting article, some people have a very large bust but small shoulders and a narrow back. I go with fitting for the shoulders in this case and then altering a pattern for a full bust. The problem is of course that this option is only possible for making for yourself or having made to measure clothes. Otherwise it’s a case of buying to fit the bust measurements and altering the shoulders. I wonder if we need
To be teaching at least basic sewing skills again for those of us who don’t fit the standard sizes, ie about 99% of us..
I was part of the fat-o-sphere (aka, the group of body-positive blogs that has their heyday from 2007-2010 or so). A huge topic during that period was talking about fashion, particularly RTW items and how there were literally two places you could go for plus-sized clothing. People would email clothing manufacturers and receive the exact same list of reasons you posted here… and the result was that fat people just had to deal with far fewer clothing options than their straight counterparts. AGAIN.
Now, there’s more than a few RTW companies who offer plus size options, AND we’re starting to see plus size models in fashion shoots. Companies didn’t go massively bankrupt and the fashion world didn’t end when they started to offer more plus size options. But when you read posts like this, it sounds like you expected them to! I’m also extra confused when I click through and see you’re a company SPECIALIZING in plus size patterns? This post reads like your sympathy is entirely with people who say making plus size patterns are just too hard and expensive, and not with your customers!
Hi Shannon, Just so we are clear, I have no biases in the matter and I am not looking to take a deep dive into society’s or the fashion industry’s issues at large or get into semantics on the topic. I’m just a pattern maker who makes what is asked of me, regardless of size. This was merely intended as a different point of view on the matter and I am in no way saying anyone is wrong or right and what should or should not be done.
Good point on Lane Bryant! I had no idea :)
I appreciate that you’re drawing attention to the fact that there is less education and fewer resources for designers to use in drafting plus size patterns, from drafting standards to fit models. However, I would encourage you to consider some of your information and biases that reproduce the idea that fatness/being plus-sized is somehow abnormal. For one, fat people have always existed as have clothing that fits us. For one brief example on the RTW front, Lane Bryant began producing RTW for “stout” women in the early 1920s! Suggesting that plus size clothing was only ever made custom until recently feeds into the historical erasure of fat bodies that suggests we’re a “problem” of the contemporary moment. I would also push back on your use of the word “proportional”; as you say, it is true that body morphology varies more as size increases, but fat bodies are not “less proportional.” Normative body proportions are pseudo-scientific notions that have been used to promote white supremacy, amongst other things, and literally anyone who uses sewing patterns and has to grade between sizes knows that being “proportional” is a fiction that doesn’t actually describe real bodies. It’s so important that we talk about the systemic problems that make it more difficult to find and use resources for drafting plus sizes, and the fact that different decisions need to go into making plus sizes than making small sizes. However, we can’t act like fat people are a brand new thing — the fashion (and the sewing) industry has a vested interest in ignoring fat bodies, because the fatphobic world at large says that being fat is one of the worst possible things, and fashion (and all capitalism) works through creating aspirational ideals.