Australian fashion brands Fkd lack one size fits all | Popgen Tech

It should come as no shock to anyone that the Australian fashion industry suffers from fatphobia. But the fact that brands usually get by not only with incredibly narrow sizes, but with the wrong sizes is disappointing.

I’d say a fairly standard Australian size 14. However, in recent months I’ve found it almost impossible to find clothes that fit me, especially when ordering online. Each brand seems to have completely different size guides, and some brands go as small as a size 14.

A number of my favorite creators and writers are fat activists that I follow. Their work, which shows how deeply ingrained fat phobia is in our society and how it is rooted in racism, colonialism, classism, and patriarchy, is frankly one of the important, radical vanguards of social justice today.

And while thanks to these creators we can finally have the much-needed conversation about fatphobia in fashion, Australian brands still deserve to be called out for both their size narrowness and their lack of consistency.

In the last month I’ve ordered the following items online: a size 14 skirt (a little too big but cute so I kept it), a size 16 top (so small it didn’t zip up), and a pair of size 14 jeans that were too small. I exchanged them for size 16s which were too big. Literally make it meaningful.

I understand that no item of clothing will fit two bodies alike, even if the two bodies are the same size. There are probably some clothes that will never fit me in a way that makes me feel good, no matter what size I order them.

But the fact that two items of clothing – sometimes from the same brand – can be very different sizes is deeply disappointing. It’s also the height of capitalism, with brands charging tens, if not hundreds, of dollars for clothes but not fitting the size. It’s not your job!!!

There’s also the significant fact that a number of popular Australian brands don’t stock any size other than a size 14, which has been a source of disgust, embarrassment and rightly shamed by activists for decades. My body should not be the biggest body you serve, to say the least.

These brands often lack a truly accessible size range, but also fail to create clothing that consistently fits true to size. This is a great indictment of the Australian fashion industry. I don’t care if I’m a size 12, 14, or 16, but I’m tired of playing a wild guessing game between the three every time I want to order online or bring an item into the fitting room.

What’s even more frustrating is when brands labeled as ethical and size-conscious also do this shit.

I have a size 12 pair of shorts from a popular Australian brand, particularly known for their size variety. I love these shorts. I’ve worn them about once a week since I bought them a year ago. So when I saw the brand’s new print on the shorts, I thoughtlessly ordered a size 12 again.

In the brand’s defense, I should have checked the size guide. If I were, I would order the shorts up a size or even two. But I thought no need because I have other clothes from this brand!

Imagine my disappointment when I pulled the new shorts out of the package to find they were a few inches smaller in the waist than my older pair. There may be a chance that there was a manufacturing error or something beyond the store’s control. But what I don’t understand is when brands change their size guides, why?

Is it so bad if your clothes are huge? Is it the end of the world if shorts fit the biggest person in that size group and not the smallest?

I’m not going to call on brands to do better, because fat activists have been asking for it for decades and brands, by and large, have done nothing.

And while I hope that the Australian fashion industry will really make an effort to be consistent and accessible, I’m far from certain that it will be.

Image: Mean Girls