To think clothes shops should have more plus sizes available?

[somekindoflife]

I am going shopping soon with one of my friends and she is plus sized (about a size 26.)

It's going to be difficult as she has to get most of her clothes online which means a normal activity most people enjoy is in a sense denied to her.

Most shops only go up to an 18. AIBU to think they should introduce a range of plus sizes?

I think many people who are obese are in denial about how bad things are. I put on a great deal of weight last year through significant grief and two major orthopaedic operations that left me housebound and immobile for around 3 months. I was in denial about what I was doing to myself, and the addictive roots that it had.

A wake up over Christmas and as much reading as I could and starting a wonderful low carb diet has changed all that. I have several stone, and clothes sizes, to go.

Clothes were quite a big part of it - once you are bigger than a 16, IMO, clothes are harder to shop for. And as you get bigger, they look progressively worse on (obvious reasons) and they are shapeless because your shape is lost. The people you are willing to shop with decreases. Your mobility decreases (although with added orthopaedic and neurological problems this happened much sooner for me) and a shopping trip, with changing rooms, gets harder. OP I suspect even your "big and happy" friend gets some of this.

Where it kicks you into action is different for different people. I was clothes shopping yesterday with a friend who is a size 6-8 - a close friend who I can be honest with and she with me. I probably couldn't have done before I lost the over 20lb I have done this year, before my thinking changed and I took action.

Sorry for the long post. Supply and demand is fair enough - I think the sizes are getting more popular, but for some of the reasons I mention, the larger you are the greater the draw of the internet.

Perhaps the bottom line is that over a certain size you'll just not look good in any clothes?

Harsh but true?

It is a very personal issue weight - and weight loss - I am not a fan of shopping - hated it when I was 14 hate it now - my dress size is irrelevant to that - shopping is boring with the exception of trawling through charity shops which I find enjoyable (and TK Maxx). If I was slimmer than I am presently then it would not really change that feeling.

If shopping is something you enjoy then maybe fewer clothes available in your size range would be a motivation to lose weight - but it isn't exactly a positive and life affirming one! If you are an emotional eater then feeling depressed about looking shit and having no nice clothes to wear - is more likely to be a de-motivator. I wonder at the thinking behind these 'tough love' approaches to changing people - it doesn't seem to be conducive to long term positive changes. I would think looking nice and feeling good at the size you are could motivate you to go out and be more active and then lead to weight loss through a long term life style change - different folks...

Being active, eating moderately, having lots of interests and activities is in my opinion (other opinions are available) the answer - rather than focusing purely on a diet plan that may lose your unwanted weight but leaves you floundering when the weight is lost as you still feel rubbish about your self and the underlying reason you are overweight / inclined to overeat, has not been dealt with.

Therefore plus size clothes in high street shops probably won't lead to an entire society turning into fat zombies... there are other factors at play.

too true suzanne - my dh has often told me I look better naked

I understand supply and demand - but take larger shoes, they are always the first to be sold out. While they may have less in stock, the amount of times I've gone to buy some and couldn't shows they could be stocking many more.

I hope that none of you who say larger people shouldn't be able to buy clothes at all never put on weight. I absolutely thought it wouldn't happen to me either before I was hit with severe health issues.

Having no clothes at all still wouldn't enable me to lose weight. It would just make me feel more miserable and subhuman than I do already.

I used to be large and hated shopping for clothes and the lack of choice. It was one of the main factors that I lost weight. Now I can go into virtually any shop and have loads of choice at a size 8.

It definitely is a motivation to lose the weight so you can look good and have a better choice of clothes

I feel the need to clarify.

Size 26 isn't a common size, its an unusual body shape like being particularly short or tall or very petite.
I'm not saying that there shouldn't be nice clothes for people to buy, but just that as an unusual size, its going to be a bit harder to find them sometimes.

Shops are businesses. They have to stock what sells. They want stock that gets bought before they have to put in the sale & sell it at a discount. Unusual sizes don't sell as well as the more common sizes so they don't stock as many. Simple business practice. They want to make a profit.

Thankfully we have the internet these days & its a lot easier to find clothes you like in any size or taste.
I remember from when I was a child my Uncle had size 13 feet & used to have to travel up to London from Devon to buy shoes.
My Mum found it very difficult to buy trousers short enough for her, she generally had to buy the usual ones & have them altered, as what was available in local shops was all the choice she had unless she was willing to travel.
Fat people had even less choice as far as I remember. It was Evans or the nasty cheap stuff from the market as that was the only clothes that you could get in the very large sizes.
That was only the 1980s.

I hope I'm not being nasty to anyone, because I certainly don't wish to be.
I'm short & fat myself & tend to get stuff altered to fit me if I have to, but there is a lot more available than there used to be.

I'm in 2 minds here as I have the same problem in quite a few shops that only stock up to a 12/14 and I'm a size 16. Having said that I can't understand why your friend would feel comfortable letting herself get to a size 26. I'm not saying this to be rude but I know at a size 16 I myself feel like a disgusting pig and I know I'll have to start doing something about it until I balloon to a size 18. I fully understand that your friend wouldn't want to buy from horrible specialist stores, why can't women have something like jacamo????? Unless your shopping for something in particular I would stick to shoe shops or handbag shopping. I always tell myself you're never too fat for a pair of shoes, it saves sanity rather than ending up crying after spending hours in shops trying on clothes that refuse to fit. Doesn't new look go up to a size 28? Anyone? I think they do an inspire line maybe worth looking online? X

Women do have something like Jacamo.
It's called Simply Be & owned by the same parent company 'N Brown Group'.
They also own Marisota, JD Williams & Ambrose Wilson amongst others.

In fact if you have an account with one, you can use it at all of them.
I have one

Men's clothes tend to be available in a much wider range of sizes on the high street, especially business wear.

It's really hard to find good suit jackets above a 14 on the high street or online.