The New Look 'Fat Tax' Row

As I’m sure most of you will have seen in the news this week - once you get through all the royal wedding drama! – New Look have been found out. They have been selling some of their plus size ‘Curves’ at a higher price tag than their ‘normal’ sizes.

If you have not seen the article, you can read it here.

The headline from BBC News this week

Before this news came to light, I had intended on writing a blog to rant about plus size clothing ranges anyway but this week has really made me feel like it is more important now.

I was walking around a well-known high street store with a friend the other week and we happened upon their ‘Curve’ section. Firstly, it was tiny in comparison to the rest of the store. It was roughly the same size as their maternity range which I classed as inadequate considering the lack of shops selling maternity clothing in the area but I’ll leave that particular rant for another time! Secondly, and more importantly to me, I found that none of the clothes in this ‘Curve’ section had any shape to them and commented to my friend that if I had wanted to buy a tent, I would have gone to Millets! This is a trend, I have found, with a number of ‘plus size’ sections of stores. They seem to think that curvy women don’t want to show off their curves and instead want to hide themselves under tent-like garments at all times!

One of the tent-like dresses on offer at a store I visited recently

Now I personally haven’t had any experience with New Look’s ‘Curves’ range as to be honest I label it as a ‘no go zone’ for buying clothes that fit me. My husband will no longer go into New Look with me even if I was to go in and here is why.

A couple of years ago, I took my husband (fairly newish boyfriend at the time) out to do some shopping. I wanted to buy some t-shirts. Every day, regular t-shirts with fun slogans or colours to wear with jeans. Nothing fancy or out of the ordinary about those requirements I didn’t think. It was, of course, too much to ask. Having 38GG boobs means I usually have to buy tops between size 18 and 22. After failing in a few shops, we moved on to New Look. They had just what I was looking for, just not in my size. At this point I felt like I had asked too much of the stores in the shopping centre and began to cry in despair. My husband isn’t good with tears but he did his best to console me and we gave up for the day.

Anyway, I digress. Back to the New Look news article. How New Look have managed to get away with this so far baffles me. Has no one noticed until now?

Here is the example that was used. The same pair of green striped trousers. You can have them in ‘normal’, ‘tall’, ‘Curves’ or ‘petite’ sizes. The ‘petite’, ‘tall’ and ‘normal’ sizes all cost £19.99 each. Whereas the ‘curve’ sizes cost £22.99. Where is the logic in that? Surely the solution to this (and what they should have done in the first place) is charge the average price they need to sell the trousers for. This would mean no unfairness, no ‘fat tax’, no issues. I know some will argue that more than the average amount of material is needed to produce the larger sized trousers but surely making the size 6 and 8 size trousers uses a less than average amount of material which would naturally balance itself out? I assume this is the case with the ‘tall’ and ‘petite’ trousers and the reason they can sell them for the same price.

An example of New Look's outrageous pricing

H & M for example are currently selling a gorgeous, lace dress. They sell it in their regular sizes and also in their plus size section. The exact same dress from size 6 – 30. And the same price regardless of the size you buy. So it is doable. It is financially viable to sell the same dress at the same price in a large range of sizes.

I have naturally bigger boobs. It’s not a choice and isn’t a reflection on how well I eat or how many times I go to the gym each week. And yet I feel like New Look charging more for larger sizes is a punishment and reflection on me as a person. How is that fair?! Does that make me feel confident and happy to go shopping in New Look? No of course not.

My overall feeling is that whoever is in charge of the ‘plus size’ sections of all of the high street stores needs educating on the feelings and needs of what they regard as plus size women. They need to take some time to get to know us and listen to how their current systems make us feel about shopping with them.