Why do smaller sizes cost more?
I started Shop Softcore with the intention of making alternative clothing for plus sizes. As I grew I got a lot of custom requests to sell my designs on smaller sizes. I want to keep my brand plus size focused but don't mind if a straight sized person wants to wear my clothing. Here are the reasons why it costs more for my straight sized customers.
1. Have you heard of the fat tax?
If you're not plus sized you probably haven't. The fat tax is an outdated, fatphobic, arbitrary extra charge on plus size clothing. It can cost upwards of $10 extra to buy a plus sized version of a clothing item. Many people incorrectly assume this is because of the "extra" fabric used in plus size clothing. Fabric is bought in bulk when creating apparel. The more fabric a company buys, the larger the discount they get on that fabric. Large companies waste much more fabric than would be used to create a plus size clothing item. This logic falls apart when you realize, if they price clothing by the amount of fabric used, then why isn't a size XS cheaper? Why don't they charge a small amount more on every size as they go up? A size XS to size L is roughly the same amount of "extra" fabric used from a size XL to a size 5XL. The fat tax is simply a societal punishment for the "crime" of being fat. Plus sized customers are expected to accept this extra cost because of how poorly we've been treated by the fashion industry.
2. Its much harder to find trendy plus size clothing.
Because of this, I want fat people to feel prioritized by my brand. There are very few places fat people can go to have a shopping experience catered to them. Stores continuously roll out new size inclusive lines only to get rid of them with little to no warning. Most of the plus sized focused stores skew older in style and rarely put much thought into their clothing line. When you go shopping with plus sized friends have you ever noticed that we can usually only shop the accessory area? This is why I will only ever use plus sized models in my store. I want fat people to know that I create for them.
3. Fat people on average make less than their straight sized counterparts.
The fatphobic biases of our society bleed over into the workplace. There have been many studies showing that fat people are paid less, here's one from the National Library Of Medicine. The stereotypes that fat people are lazy, unintelligent, and are weak willed are seen as fact by many. Just think of how many fat characters in media are portrayed this way. This makes it much harder for fat people to gain employment and raises. Due to this, I make sure my clothing is priced at a mid tier range for my plus size customers without using sweat shop labor.
You can help make up for the sizing gap in the fashion industry!
If you still want to support my brand as a thin person you absolutely can but, it will cost you slightly more due to the reasons above. Even some of the manufactures that I work with charge me much more to make plus sized clothing. To help keep the costs down for plus sized customers I've added a reverse fat tax (I guess you could call it a thin tax) to sizes XS - L (expect for L sized graphic t-shirts as the fit is a little larger and some plus sized people like to size down). There are some designs that I have made exclusively with fat people in mind (such as my Body Anarchy T-shirt) and will not be offered in straight sizes. Every dollar that a customer spends at my store helps me to expand my plus size focused line and supports a working queer, fat, woman artist.