The fashion sector is in full swing. And the results are already being perceived in the segment where ordinary mortals buy the most, the 'low cost' or affordable. The main fashion retailers have been incorporating into their catalogs garments and accessories made ethically, without animal skins and with recycled or natural materials at a good price. For example, Zara sells t-shirts of this type for less than 6 euros.
But another change is looming on the textile horizon. Although we could rather say that it has already arrived. For some time now, society has been demanding greater inclusion and diversity from fashion firms in their campaigns and in their garments. That is to say, that they not only show 'perfect' bodies -often retouched with Photoshop- and make garments of all sizes. Especially in this more affordable segment, where until recently it was difficult to find a size beyond 42.
But in recent months we have seen a significant change in the main 'low cost' firms in this regard. A greater range of sizes is making its way into the main operators in this segment and it is already possible to find large-size garments at the same price as the rest of the numbers and with the same design. From online portals like Asos to the big ones in the sector, like Zara, H&M or Mango.
From XXL to size 56
The battle for diversity in the main 'retailers' began, like almost all revolutions of this century, on the Internet. It was the British Asos, a fashion e-commerce giant that had a turnover of 1,130 million dollars (964 million euros) in 2017 and that dispatches more than 20 million orders a year, the first to take a step forward with the launch of its Asos Curve lines for large sizes.
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But it did not stop there, because it opted for full inclusion and also has sections for petite and thin girls, La Petite; for tall, the Tall; and of course, Maternity. In these sections you can find the same type of clothing as in the others and with the same price range. It should be noted that Asos is a multi-brand portal, so, depending on the firm, the clothes have one price or another. In general, their products cost an average of 40 euros, although some can exceed 200 euros, especially party clothes. In addition, his models represent all that diversity of bodies that he claims.
But despite this progress, visibility in physical stores was still practically non-existent. Only H&M has maintained a "wide" size range since its inception. And we say "large" because you could find garments in size 46, something that was not usual in the rest of the 'low cost'. But now, that fork has outgrown him and he has extended it to 56.
The Swedish giant, which has had several years with difficulties in its accounts - it only grew by 4% in 2017, to almost 20,500 million euros, and its profit fell by 13%, to 1,655 million euros-, is betting on a new business model based on a higher quality of its garments, with the aim of making them 100% sustainable in the medium term, and giving space in its stores to all women, whatever size they are -aspects that imply a higher price -. At the moment, not all the garments are in 56, only some selected ones, like these jeans.
Faced with this demand from society, the most powerful 'low cost' group, Inditex, has had to surrender to the evidence and has also begun to introduce more sizes in its stores. Especially in Zara, which is its star brand with 16,620 million in sales last year. The firm has been introducing a greater variety of sizes in its products for a few months and, in addition, changing the type of sizing, since it is now much broader than in the past.
In this way, most of Zara's garments already have sizes up to XL and in some specific ones you can find up to XXL, like this dress from the Woman section. Although in the numerical sizing it stays at size 42, so in jeans and skirts it is more difficult to find diversity in the Galician brand. It also has size XS for the slimmer clients.
In the rest of its stores, the most common is that there are up to size XL, especially in the youth stores -Pull&Bear and Bershka-, where it is rare to sometimes find this size. For his part, Massimo Dutti, aimed at a more mature woman, does have clothes up to size 44.
Finally, Mango created its Violet banner a few years ago, for large sizes, which has just launched a new line up to size 54. His designs are practically the same as Mango's, as are the prices. In addition, the XXL is totally common in their garments.
