The decision of Selfridges, one of the biggest British retailers, to stop selling clothes for larger women seems to me very unreasonable. Taking into an account the fact ladies get bigger and taller year by year the store will be losing lots of its customers.
Selfridges have announced they no longer offer the Marina Rinaldi range, which includes sizes from 14 to 26. As a result, the largest size a woman can get now is 16, or 18 in some fashion lines, though those are scarce.
The retailer explains the decision stating that the ‘company does not believe larger lady customers, who often struggle to find clothes in their size, are good for its image’. This means that now plenty of women might be feeling hurt as they aren’t good for the image of Selfridges.
While Selfridges refuses to dress their larger customers other retailers seem to recognize modern people’s needs better. For example, in 2005 Topshop chiefs admitted the necesity to ‘inflate their sizes in order to cope with the fact that Britain’s young women are ‘blossoming’’. The same thing was done by Marks & Spencer.
The new policy of Selfridges immediately provoked huge discussions among ordinary people and fashion executives.
Cheryl Hughes, who runs plus size modelling agency Hughes Models, said:
Half the country need size 16 or bigger. It’s disgusting that Selfridges won’t sell them.’
What do you think about the news?
