Photo: oldnavy.com
There are serious controversies going on in the plus-size fashion industry – is either the high fashion brands are hesitant to make plus-size clothes or nobody wants to affiliate with plus-size fashion, making the plus-size women feel a bit inferior.
Just a couple of weeks ago, it was reported that American store, Wal-Mart mislabelled their plus-size section as “Fat Girls”, Calvin Klein casting a size 10 model (who isn’t necessarily plus size but called herself so); Victoria’s Secret’s “Perfect Body” campaign; and more. Today, Old Navy is now added to the list of plus-size offenders.
According to Yahoo Style, American retailer, Old Navy has been called out for inflating the price of their larger clothes. There is now a Change.org petition circulating that calls for the company to “stop up-charging for women’s plus-sized clothing.” The report says that the retailer are being sizeists and sexists.
“I was fine paying the extra money as a plus-sized woman, because, you know, more fabric equals higher cost of manufacture,” Renee Posey wrote to Gap.Inc. “However, selling jeans to larger-sized men at the same cost as they sell to smaller men not only negates the cost of manufacture argument, but indicates that Old Navy is participating in both sexism and sizeism, directed only at women.”
However, a spokesswoman from Old Navy’s parent company Gap Inc. told BuzzFeed News that the higher price point reflects “unique fabrics and design elements” from “styles and apparel designed specifically for our plus-size female customer, which includes curve-enhancing and curve-flattering elements such as four-way stretch materials and contoured waistbands, which men’s garments do not include.”
The report further stated that over 17,000 people already have signed the petition against Old Navy’s “discriminatory pricing practices.” It is now a clear indication that the plus-size fashion consumers are not happy with the level which they are placed by the manufacturers.
