Two students have solved the poor fit issue that plagues most plus-sized clothing: Brandon Wen and Laura Zwanziger, apparel design sophomores at Cornell University, have a theory about why most plus-sized gear has such a crappy fit.
This is great news. I would love to have all of my clothes either custom made or tailored because I'm just not the "standard" build (whatever that is). I have been thinner and now I am less than thin and I have to say that finding a good fit is even harder when I'm heavier. Why is that? Well according to these two students, the answer is quite simple…
Read more on ¿Qué más?: Finally someone is honest about how ugly "plus-size" clothes are
The reason for the particularly poor fit of plus-sized clothing is that so few clothes are made exclusively for the plus-sized market that there is a scarcity of plus sized mannequins and the ones that are available are unrealistic up-sized versions of the thinner-sized models.
If you've ever gained weight, you know that you don't necessarily gain weight proportionally, so proportionally up-sizing a smaller size of clothing makes no sense and will provide an uncomfortable and probably unflattering fit.
Wen and Zwanziger may have just taken the first step to fixing this issue. For their product development class, the pair decided to create a line of clothing specifically designed for full-figured women and when they couldn't find a mannequin to suit their needs, they created one.
The students analyzed thousands of 3D body scans and they used the information to create a mannequin that most closely matches the median-shape of a size 24 pear-shaped woman. This approach to designing for larger-sized woman is revolutionary and is more of a celebration of shape, than the body-shaming most women are used to. Professor SusanAshdown points out the uniqueness of her students' project: "Instead of just scaling up something designed for a different-sized woman, or even thinking about clothing as something to disguise a body or make a body look different than it is, the students sought to celebrate shape as it really is."
Of course this all new way of approaching clothing design for larger women has yet to be adopted by the fashion industry, but I hope they get on it ASAP. The students' research found that plus-sized women have 28 percent of the purchasing power for clothing and accessories, but their spending makes up only 17 percent of spending. Wasted opportunity.
All people, regardless of size, deserve to find clothing that fits properly.
Image via Thinkstock
