You shouldn't pay more if you're plus size

Pfft. What is plus size anyway? As someone of fairly average build, I vary in clothes size, often ranging from a size 12-16 in bottoms (those hips of mine are just so unforgiving) and a size 8-16 in tops. Yep, I know. How unreal is that?

Plus size is generally anything over a size 16, although some websites do differ on where they begin their plus size range. Recently, there has been some debate as to whether clothes in a plus size range should be more expensive than those in the 'normal' range, because they use more material, following a scandal from New Look. 


Sigh. Anyone who can't see straight through that as yet another scam to discriminate against those who don't fit into Westernized societies idea of an acceptable body type needs their eyes tested, and perhaps their head checked too. 


Honestly, it's just a way to embarrass people who are considered plus size, discriminate against them and generally make their life more difficult. Not only that, but it's an utterly absurd idea. 

I'm sure a lot of people think that this probably makes sense - after all, in any other industry, if we want more of something, we pay for more. A large bottle of perfume is more expensive than a small one, a large portion of chips is more pricey than a medium portion, a double vodka and coke is definitely more expensive than a single... so why not the same for clothes?

Well, it's just different, isn't it? Since we stopped wearing handmade clothes where we actually had to purchase the correct quantity of material we needed to make an item of clothing, and started to wear clothes that were manufactured on a large scale, you pay one set price for an item of clothing in any size. Size 6 right through to an 18, the price remains the same. It's been that way for some time now, so why change it? As the saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. 

Additionally, we need to acknowledge the focus here being on "bigger clothes". People want clothes in bigger sizes to be more expensive - and yet currently, clothes from Tall ranges aren't more expensive than normal clothes, and clothes from a Petite range aren't cheaper. You only have to walk into Topshop to see that no matter what kind of plain black Joni jean you're buying, the price remains £36.00 across the board. 


To only boost the price of "plus sized" clothing would be nothing but discriminative. 


And if you still disagree with me, let's take a look at a better example from the fashion industry - shoes. The only price difference in shoes is between children and adult sizes. Once we reach adult sizes (any size beyond a UK size 6) the price remains the same for one type of shoe. You don't find the prices increasing with size, due to more material being used. So why should this happen with clothing?


Well, it shouldn't. You don't see that kind of increase in price with an increase in shoe size because having big feet doesn't mean that you're fat, and so society doesn't care if you pay more or less for more material. Because it's not about being fat, so there's no reason to be discriminative towards you. We don't care.

As a society, we are so against fat people. There's no denying that sometimes being fat comes with additional health issues that might need to be addressed but that is nothing to do with anyone else in the world other than the individual is fat. Some people are fat due to an illness, some people are fat due to choice. Some people are fat because they just like food. And when people feel comfortable in their fatness, society feels uncomfortable, completely unable to accept somebody who appears to be so different to what the mainstream media promotes as 'acceptable'. 

Let's not forget about the in between people either. The people who, like me, find their sizes ranging from a size 8 to a size 16 depending where they shop. The people who are never considered in any way because they're not fat and they're not thin, they're just awkwardly lingering somewhere in between. Why should these in between sized people pay for more fabric in one store and less in another, just because the world has a problem with fat people?

Let us also not forget that buying a bigger size or from the plus size range might not just be down to someone being fat, either! The clothing industry is rubbish at catering the the actual, real life shape of a woman's body. I could easily wear a size 10 top but my boobs on their own need at least a size 16 - and I know I'm not alone in that! Similarly to jeans, I could fit into a size 10/12 but by the time the jeans get to my hips, not to mention my arse, it's a complete no go. I simply need a bigger size to accommodate all of the natural curves, lumps and bumps of my womanly body. You could need an item of clothing to accommodate for height or size of any of your features, but you want to charge us more because we don't all fit into one small, standard size and automatically assume it's because we're fat? Okay, makes sense. 

Not.


The fact of the matter is, it doesn't matter what size clothing you're buying - the only price difference you should see is between children and adult sizes. It doesn't matter if you're buying a size 6 shirt or a size 16 shirt - if it's the same shirt, it should be the same price. There are so many reasons people might need to buy a bigger size, and it's not just as simple as being 'fat'. Even if it was, it wouldn't matter. Leave every item of clothing with a standard price for that product.

Love from,
Florence Grace