One of the buzzwords touted by online shops lately is “size inclusive”, for some brands it means they’ve added an XXL for others it means they offer plus sizes (it very rarely means they offer sizes for every imaginable shape). The term has roots in inclusivity movements but it’s been distorted into a marketing tool online I think, a way to be found in search engine results as a store offering more sizes than the average.

Gloomth is not size inclusive, but that’s something I am working diligently to move closer towards. Without custom sizing there’s no true “inclusivity” as someone will always be left out.

Offering larger sizes in our core range is something I have always been dedicated to with my work. For over 9 years we offered custom sizing but as we grew it became less and less practical to continue with. Changes to our studio space meant letting that aspect of what we do go, but it doesn’t mean I’ve stopped trying to make my work as accessible to as many bodies as I can.

Gloomth’s designs come in sizes XS-5XL, and we are adding 6X+ to restocks as items sell out (available currently in our Claudia, Victoria, Ghost Queen, and Bathory designs). It’s a slow process as a small business to expand our sizes, and there’s a limit to what we can do without offering 10000 sizes of each style. I know it is difficult to find creative styles in larger sizes and I fully intend to keep expanding ours as much as I can.

I don’t trust when brands adopt political language to sell things. Inclusivity is rooted in real activism, and using it to market things feels as disingenuous and pandering as every Dove ad to me. But as someone working online and promoting her art I realize resistance only harms my visibility. Fashion has deep roots in size-discrimination so unpicking the decades of excluding differing bodies will take time to become industry wide (while existing in a society that continues to discriminate and marginalize people for their bodies). Using out-dated buzzwords like “plus size” or “size inclusive” is necessary from a marketing standpoint these days, even if both make my teeth grind. I long for a world where we can all just exist and every brand carries a vast range of sizes as the standard, no silly marketing terms needed.

xo.

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