Standing Up to Fat Tax: an Interview
Blog post by Lukman Awad
I sat down with Debra Buchanan, a Body Liberation Ambassador at Current Wellness, and her daughter, Sylvia, to ask them about their experience with sizeism in the T-shirt industry.
The "Fat Tax" at Bandelier National Monument:
Lukman: Tell me about your recent experience.
Sylvia: We were hiking in Bandelier National Monument and we visited the gift shop. I wanted to get a T-shirt so I was looking at the various options. One brand only went up to size XL. It wasn't size-inclusive. Another brand had sizes up to 2XL, but charged one price for S-XL and a higher price for 2XL. A third brand offered sizes up to 2XL and charged the same price for all of the sizes.
That influenced my decision on what shirt to get because at first I wanted one from the brand that had different prices on the sizes but I wasn't comfortable supporting that. So I ended up getting one from the brand that offered the same prices up to 2XL.
Debra: For the brand with different pricing, the S-XL sizes were $35.99 and 2X was $38.99.
One common metric for inclusive T-shirt sizing is for brands to offer at least up to a size 5XL, although many clothing designers who advertise size-inclusivity offer 6XL and 7XL sizes. Brands that focus on being size-inclusive do not charge more for larger sizes than smaller sizes.
Lukman: Why don't you think it's reasonable to charge more for a larger size?
Sylvia: If we’re charging the same for S, M, L, and XL, then it doesn't make any sense to charge more for a 2XL. I guess the argument you hear a lot is that it takes more fabric to make the bigger sizes, but between a S and an XL there is also a fabric discrepancy. Clothing should be accessible to everyone regardless of size. It doesn't make sense to have bigger sizes cost more just because they're outside of the “straight sizing.”
In clothing design, each size that is being produced requires its own pattern and each pattern costs money. It follows that a supplier would pay more to offer 8 sizes than they would if they only offered 4 sizes. However, passing on that cost only to customers purchasing larger sizes is an example of fatphobia, often called the “fat tax.”
The difference in amount of fabric used is often considered negligible compared to other costs of clothing production. And, as Sylvia points out, creating prices based on the amount of fabric used would mean all sizes were priced differently, not just the largest sizes offered.
Debra and Sylvia Take Action:
Lukman: Absolutely, yeah. It’s unfortunately not uncommon, but it’s rough to see that. So I understand that you all didn't just walk away. What did you end up doing?
Debra: Sylvia, even though she liked the T-shirts that had differently-priced sizing, made a decision to not purchase that one. I hate to say it but I even said, “it's okay if you want that one,” and Sylvia said, “no, I’m not doing that,” which I thought was great.
Later, I posted a story on Instagram about it. I don't think I reached any of the companies. Then Brit Guerin suggested I might consider reaching out to the companies.
I emailed Bandelier National Monument and the company that made the T-shirts. It turned out the company that makes the T-shirts with higher pricing for the larger sizes is a North Carolina company based in Asheville.
Debra: I also emailed the Western National Parks Association, because Bandelier is part of that organization. Their Instagram bio reads, “Western National Parks Association helps make the national park experience possible for everyone.” I mentioned this in my email to them - that I didn't think the pricing structure supported their stated mission, not to mention only going up to a 2XL means a lot of folks couldn’t buy a T-shirt there if they wanted to.
Lukman: Did they respond to your emails?
Debra: They did. The T-shirt company contacted me and it appears to be a family-run business. The first response was rather comical. Did I show it to you?
Lukman: I don’t know that you did.
Debra: I think the first response was an accident. The owner's name is F.H.* and the first email was from an A.H. who I think is the owner’s daughter. I believe they accidentally included me on it.
*Names removed for privacy
Debra: A.H. apologized in another email and then F.H. scheduled a call with me and we had a chat.
Lukman: How did that go? What was the outcome of that conversation?
Debra: F.H. was very knowledgeable about the clothing industry but communication-wise, it was a difficult conversation to follow. I think sometimes people who are quite knowledgeable about something use their language as a barrier. So it felt like a lot of talking in circles. The bottom line that I understand, to put it in a brief, simple answer: they are charged more for larger sizes. The cost increase comes in on the manufacturing side.
Lukman: Someone else is doing to him what he's doing to all his customers.
At Current Wellness, we sometimes encounter T-shirt suppliers who unfairly distribute their costs by charging more for larger sizes. We fundamentally disagree with this “fat tax” and we always price our merchandise consistently across sizes.
We also face challenges from the manufacturing side. Many manufacturers do not offer as many sizes as we like to provide to our clients. Oftentimes, manufacturers who do claim to be more size-inclusive will list a shirt as available in sizes up to 5XL, but only certain colors (usually black and white) are actually offered in the larger sizes. Although we are not always perfect, we strive to make our merchandise available to as many sizes as possible - and we aim for fun colors too!
Debra: He initially said he agreed with me about the cost disparity and that he thought it was problematic but that he was unable to do anything about it. I did a little digging on his LinkedIn account and I found a couple of online t-shirt companies he's involved in that were selling small through 2XL all for the same price. So I asked him about that and that didn't go over well.
Lukman: It sounds like he didn't expect you to have real information.
Debra: I don’t think so. He didn’t respond well to that and went off on a tangent about whether he was truly involved. It was word salad.
Lukman: That’s so frustrating.
Debra: I've heard back from Bandelier a couple of times. I’ll show you their messages.
Lukman: It essentially says, “we strive to do better and we're working on it, but this is what the industry is like so we can't do anything about it.” Basically. That checks out.
Debra: And they told me they introduced the newest design in a 3X, which still doesn’t really get to a size-inclusive space.
Lukman: It’s one more step, but what did you say, up to 5X is generally considered size-inclusive?
Debra: That's what my understanding is, just from poking around a little. I’m not an expert.
Lukman: That makes sense, a lot of people want to purchase those sizes.
Debra: Right.
Lukman: Well, I think it's important to add that even though this didn't end with a flashy outcome where they made big changes or you explicitly changed the T-shirt shop owner’s mind, I do think that it's inspiring that you saw this instance of sizeism and chose to do something about it. And I also think it’s important for the people who will be reading this to know that doing stuff like this is not part of your job as a Body Liberation Ambassador. It’s just something that you're out here doing because you're a cool person and also because anyone can take steps like this. So is there anything you'd like to say to someone who might witness examples of sizeism out in the world like you did?
Debra: I think the more people who bring it up, the better the outcome. Continue to ask or inquire about it.
Lukman: And I think it's cool too that you, Sylvia, just decided not to put your money there.
Another Real-World Example:
Debra: Yeah, it was. And this comes up everywhere. We were at a well-known local outdoor clothing company here in Raleigh recently and in that store, they are carrying brands that offer larger sizes but the store is not carrying the larger sizes. There was nothing beyond an XL in the store, while some of the specific brands offer up to size 3XL. Again, this doesn’t get us all the way there, but I do think it communicates outwardly to the community what size of person they want to see in their stores.
Lukman: Interesting, especially with the knowledge that these brands make larger sizes - they are just not in the store.
Sylvia: There was another big brand in the store that was probably 60% of the women's section but that brand doesn’t offer sizing past large or XL.
Debra: With that brand, I purchased a gift and the sizing was so off, we had to size up twice from what the person usually wears, and it was still too small. The entire brand is designed to be worn by a certain body type, and in our local store, it’s, as Sylvia said, 60% of the floor space.
One idea I've been tossing around is to visit stores locally and have those conversations. To say, “What are you doing?”
Lukman: I think especially locally, it’s easier to get through to people who run a small business where you can talk to a real person who makes those decisions rather than a big company where you're not going to talk to the person who gets to decide, or maybe it's a bunch of people who have to come to an agreement together.
Debra: Definitely.
Lukman: Well thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me about your experience!
Debra: Thank you.
Sylvia: Thank you.
Looking for size-inclusive programming? We offer fitness and yoga classes in-person and online and all of our instructors create classes that cater to bodies of all sizes. We offer options for movements so that you feel good throughout your workout or practice, and we plan classes with larger bodies in mind to ensure our offerings are size-inclusive!