Size Inclusive Sustainable Fashion Brands

While it's gotten easier to find fashion brands producing sustainable clothing, finding size inclusive ranges hasn't. Size inclusive clothing is a niche within a niche making it very difficult for customers to shop ethically and find a style in a size that fits them. Being 'size inclusive' means catering to women larger (and smaller) than the average. There are a couple of legitimate reasons why brands might not cater for larger sizes. Larger women are often reluctant (or unable) to spend more on sustainably made clothing, while the development costs for expanding a range of clothing can be crippling for independent designers. It can be difficult for brands to be size inclusive and still turn a profit.

That doesn't explain why so few brands go up to size 16 though, which is the average dress size in the UK. I'm shocked to find that a lot of brands don't even stock size 16 clothing, using it instead as the cut off point for their range. When brands are catering to women four sizes smaller than average, you'd think they'd also cater to larger women too but there's a severe lack of brands doing so.

As I encourage people to shop sustainably and to buy clothes second-hand, I'm often asked for recommendations for size inclusive sustainable brands. So I scoured my sustainable fashion directory to find them, looking for those that cater for women larger than the average dress size. All the brands listed below stock diverse and inclusive clothing. Since brands are more likely to stock smaller sizes than larger ones, I've focused on the latter rather than the former.

If a brand's website didn't have a clear sizing guide or an obvious sizing structure, I didn't include them. Customers shouldn't have to click around on a website trying to find that information so I may have missed some due to poor website design.