One of the biggest battles of fashion inclusivity is getting more plus sizes in retail stores.
Last year, the CEO of Eloquii told CNBC that while 65% of American women are over a size 14, plus-size clothing only accounts for 17 to 18% of total apparel sales. To boot, as plus size e-commerce grows, the number of physical stores that carry larger sizes are actually shrinking.
Personally, I shop exclusively at retail and online stores that cater to plus-size women. And up until yesterday, that did not include Zara.
Who knew that Zara had extended its size range? Not me. I heard about it from blogger Kelly Augustine, who noticed 2XL sizes on Zara's racks.
"As I stumbled into Zara on NYC’s Fifth Ave. the other day after a photo shoot for work, I was mentally prepared to get shoes/jewelry (the usual as a plus-size girl). As I peeled through the racks, I found an item that was a size XXL. And in the next rack? An XXL. The rack after that? You guessed it, an XXL," wrote Augustine.
Even though I wear a 3X, I immediately ran to the Fifth Ave. Zara.
Before I ran to Zara, I did a little digging and found that Zara had quietly announced the XXL size extension in May of this year. It came on the heels of a Change.org petition from a Spanish teen who implored the retailer to carry an XXL (or size 16) in its stores.
I asked the sales clerk where the XXLs were. "They are all mixed in," she said.
I searched through every single rack and grabbed the only six tops they had left in XXL.
Tags specify whether an item is carried in XXL or not.
Even though it sucks that the entire inventory isn't offered in XXL, it's nice to know whether an item is carried in the size or not — so you don't go searching through the whole store hoping to find the last XXL of something that isn't even carried in that size in the first place.
The first top I tried on was this patched button-up. I was so careful and scared to put it on. But the top slid comfortably onto my body, my arms weren't restricted, and my boobs weren't playing peek-a-boob.
I was in complete shock and was more than excited to try the other items on.
Next I tried on the top Kelly had worn in her Instagram. I got the only XXL left! A lot of good it did me...
This did not fit my arms at all, which is weird since the other one slid on so well. Zara's XXL was starting to feel more like a 14/16 than a 16/18.
This cat printed top buttoned up and fit my arms — until I actually moved them. #restricting
To show the difference between an XL and an XXL, this is me trying to put on an XL top.
The rest of the XXL tops barely buttoned. At this point, my excitement had decreased by a good 50%
When I asked about bottoms in an XXL, the sales clerk said she'd seen a trouser or two somewhere... It was as if she was talking about a mythical creature who only appears once a year.
When I browsed through their Women's and TRF collections, most XXL sizes seemed to be sold out.
The sad part is, the onus is on us. If we don't buy Zara's extended sizes, they probably won't expand or even continue to sell them.
But with options like these, I'm hardly inspired to pull out my wallet.
