No more slogan tees please and thank you.

Why does plus-size fashion so often feel stuck in a strange parallel universe of oversized black tunics, random cold shoulder tops and slogan tees covered in glitter wine references?

In Episode 2 of Not Your Size, Amy Abrahams dives into the frustrating reality of plus-size fashion design and why so many women feel disconnected from the options available to them. From the rise of online-only shopping and the emotional exhaustion of constantly returning clothes, to the technical challenges of designing for plus-size bodies, this episode unpacks why “inclusive sizing” and genuinely great fashion are not always the same thing.

Amy explores why plus-size fashion often defaults to shapeless silhouettes, why mainstream brands still struggle to see plus-size women as fashion consumers rather than fashion problems, and why small independent brands are often doing a far better job at creating clothing that actually feels stylish, modern and joyful.

Part fashion commentary, part therapy session for every woman who has rage-scrolled through another disappointing online drop.

And yes, we absolutely discuss the ugly slogan tee problem.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 2:26

Fashion has always told women who deserves to be seen. This podcast asks why. Welcome to Not Your Size. I'm Amy Abrahams, the woman behind Wear the Damn Dress and founder and director of size inclusive runway event Revel the Runway, based in Canberra. And today I want to ask a question that plus size women have been asking each other in fitting rooms for years. Why does plus size fashion so often look very the same? Why are we still being offered endless oversized black dresses, cold shoulder top slogan tees about wine, and floral tunics that look like your aunt's curtains from circa 1994? And more importantly, why does fashion still seem to confuse covering bodies with actually designing for them? Complex questions. Let's see if we can get some answers. Let's start by unpacking the world of online only fashion. One of the biggest differences between straight size and plus size shopping is that plus size women are so often expected to shop online. Entire brands exist without physical stores. Mainstream retailers test plus size ranges online only before deciding whether bigger bodies are worth investing in, assuming that they are designing at all. What you will often find, particularly when it comes to plus size fashion, is that there is an activity called white labeling, which is where multiple retailers or brands will purchase the same stock from a supplier and attach their own label to it. This is all completely above board. However, what you often find then is when you're thinking about plus size fashion and you're looking at the variety of stores online usually who tend to stock plus size garments, they're all coming essentially from the same place, which is why you get that feeling of deja vu each time you check out something different, because essentially it is all the same thing. So you've got the sameness of white labeling, you've got the fact that you can't go into store and try it on, and that online is your only option. And while online shopping sounds convenient in theory, the reality is it often means spending hundreds of dollars up front, guessing your sizing based on inconsistent size charts, which as we know can involve the moon, the sun, the stars, uh, your horoscope, and whoever was doing the measuring on the day, waiting for parcels, trying things on, and then navigating the emotional exhaustion of trying to return most of it, if you do, in fact, do that. Depending on where you shop and your online retailer, uh, you may or may not be charged for postage, and then you may or may not be charged to return those garments as well. So it becomes a really risky and expensive business. And I like to call this the fat tax. The reason I call this the fat tax is because it is something that our straight and mid-size counterparts often don't have to deal with as much, because our straight-size shoppers can walk into stores, touch fabrics, experiment with trends, and leave with what worked for them that day. If something's a bit small in terms of the sizing, they can usually try the next size up. Because if you're a size 10, there's a chance that there's a size 12 next to it. If you're a size 16 to 18, and that is the largest they stock in store, and anything else is online only, then you have no option to try and test and see what those next sizes look like. Plus size women are often forced into a much riskier and more disconnected shopping experience. And over time that sends the message too, that your body is not considered standard enough for the main floor. It always amuses me when you go into stores and you look at their clearance racks, for example. So if you head into Maya or you head into David Jones or you head into your Portman's or wherever it is you're going, often when you pour through the sale racks, there will be a lot of size sixes and a lot of size eights sitting left on those racks there. And when, but when you ask retailers why they don't want to stock their plus sizes in store, they'll say that there's because there's no retail space, there's no floor space for it. Now, I'm not a maths person, but I would say if you think back to our last episode where we talked about the fact that only 9.1% of Australian women are wearing a size 10 and below, and 33.3% of women are wearing a size 18 and above. Why would you not want to make retail space for that demographic instead of saving it up for 9.1% of the population? Now, caveat, caveat, caveat, definitely not saying remove all size sixes and eights. And I can understand that people who are petite and smaller often find it hard to find clothes. What I'm challenging though is the idea and the justification about why these particular sizes are the only ones that should be online when 9.1 of the popul percent of the population deserve the ability to go on and try in store. That doesn't make any sense to me. Um, because often these brands are online only, they play it safer with the sort of fashion that they put out there, uh, particularly brands who are testing a toe into the plus size market. So not only do they offer less of a range, they don't want to put it in store, and it's usually pretty safe and bland uh to try, in theory, to appeal to the majority of customers. So what happens is you end up with a lot of very vanilla early type styles coming out, and then shock horror, they don't sell and we lose the plus size options. I think one of the biggest misconceptions people have when it comes to plus size fashion is they assume that it's simply straight-sized clothing made bigger. But designing well for plus-sized bodies is actually technically more difficult because bodies change proportionally across different sizes. And the extremities of those changes and the disconnect between your top and your bottom half, uh, where you carry your weight on your body can significantly impact the way that clothing is designed for you. Bust, hips, stomach, thighs, and arms all interact differently with fabric, tailoring, and structure. A dress that works beautifully on a size 8 can sit completely differently on a size 22. And because tailoring plus size garments properly requires more expertise, more fittings, and often a higher production cost, brands frequently default to what feels like, again, that commercially safe oversized silhouette, stretchy fabrics, flowy cuts, and shapeless styles that skim the body rather than truly designing for it. And I know that we've all seen the really common sort of dress style at the moment is a V-neck and it has a drawstring that comes under the bust and it's flowy down and it's got usually sort of a flutter sleeve type scenario. That is not a coincidence. The reason those dresses are so popular is because it is an easy design to make for plus size bodies because you can still get some shape around the waist, but you don't need to think too hard about the different tailoring requirements to get things to fit bodies properly. So as a result, plus size women are constantly offered these camouflagey oversized type options instead of fashion. And honestly, don't even get me started on brands that will make an oversized piece for a size 10 that will fit a size 18, but just can't fathom the idea of extending their size range. Honestly, make it make sense. Um, there's brands out there, for example, dish is a really common one in the plus size community that is known to not offer above, I think it's a size 16, but you'll often see women and content creators who are size 20 to 22 fitting into the size 16 at dish. So then the question becomes if you can make a size 16 that fits a size 20 to 22, why would you not just extend your sizing to a size 20 to 22? Because again, your argument about the cost of designing it or the cost of these particular pieces, the cost of manufacturing, if you're already actually almost making for that size, that argument to me becomes null and boy. And then we need to talk about the truly baffling aesthetic choices happening in plus size fashion. Because why in the year 2026 are we still being offered rhinestone slogans, cold shoulder tops, random leopard print panels, and t-shirts that say things like rose all day? I mean, I do love a rose, and if I drink it all day at this point, I probably have a nap. It all sounds very funny, but underneath it is something deeper about how the industry actually perceives bigger women. If you think that you would feel confident in a t-shirt that says rose all day, or, you know, Paris with a picture of the Eiffel Tower on it, that's great. But that's not for everybody, and that is consistently what we are offered. Plus size fashion is often designed with the assumption that women want to hide, minimize themselves, or drink dress safely. Or maybe it's just to make sure that we shrink ourselves to escape the horror that is the plus size fashion department in most stores. Straight size fashion gets trend-driven tailoring, editorial styling, and fashion forward risk. Plus size fashion too often gets motivational quotes in glitter font and another oversized black tunic. But don't worry, sweetie, you can belt that. Women notice the disconnect immediately because we're consuming the same fashion media and trend cycles as everyone else. We see what's out there, we see what's coming, we see what is on trend, we see what is out there on the runways. We don't want a completely separate aesthetic universe. We want access to that sort of style to be able to express ourselves. It is wild to me that it can be so hard as a plus size person, and on the smaller side of plus size, so I'm a 16 to 18, it is just wild to me that it can be so hard to find something that seems so readily available everywhere else. So for an example, I have been looking for a sheer chocolate brown type shirt. They're everywhere at the moment in so many different brands. But as soon as you tip over into that 18, that plus size, it becomes really, really hard. Really hard to find something that is on trend without necessarily having to go to the nastiness that is Sheen and Timu and other horrible fast fashion options. When you're looking for something that is quality and for something that reflects what your straight size counterparts can purchase, it becomes really hard. And that becomes it becomes isolating. And sometimes it forces you to be creative and that can be a cool and a good thing, but also sometimes it just becomes upsetting and depressing, and you connect the availability of the options with your self-worth, and you start to think about the idea of well, maybe if I was thinner, I'd have more options and more availability. Which statistically is true, but that shouldn't be the option. We shouldn't have to shrink our skills to be able to find the clothing that is available to our smaller counterparts. So a lot of doom and gloom, a lot of misery, a lot of considerations around the access to style that we want. But there is a silver lining. What's interesting is that some of the most exciting things happening in plus size fashion are not coming from our major global brands. They're coming from small businesses and independent designers, those who have stepped into the mix and are founded often by women who have lived this experience for themselves. They understand what it feels like to walk into a store and realize nothing was designed for you in mind. And so they design differently. And often they're self-taught. They listen to their communities, they take creative risks, they understand that plus-size women want fashion, not just functionality. And while mainstream brands still often treat inclusive sizing as an extension strategy or a commercial experiment, small businesses are actually building entire brands around visibility, self-expression, and joy. At Revel this year, it was mind-boggling to see how many incredible brands were on that runway, showcasing fashion from sizes 12 to 24. Some of those brands went up to a size 32, and they are making beautiful pieces. They are making fashion forward pieces, and they are putting options out there for a market that has otherwise largely been ignored by our major retailers. They're not asking plus size women to be grateful for basics. These designers are recognizing us as worthy of great style in the first place. And for me, that's ultimately why this conversation matters. Because women know when clothing was designed for them, and they know when it was designed simply to accommodate them or to tick a box. And those are two very different things. One says, you deserve style, creativity, and visibility. You deserve to feel confident in the way you present yourself. The other says, here's something to cover yourself with. Be grateful for what we're putting out there. Plus size women have spent decades being told that they should simply be grateful to have options at all. But we're no longer asking just to be included. We're asking for better, better design, better representation, better quality, better imagination. And honestly, it's about time. If today's episode resonated with you or you think that it would resonate with somebody you know, please feel free to share it or leave a review about the podcast. In next episode, I'd like to discuss more about the way that we can get creative with our styling and thinking about developing a style personality that reflects who we are and who we want to be.