Out of Size, Out of Mind: Ethics, Accessibility and the Plus-Size Wardrobe

In the last two decades, clothes shopping for plus-sized customers has improved significantly because of the body positive movement of the 2010s and the rise of social media. However, shopping whilst remaining ethical and on a budget is still increasingly difficult.

Most clothing garments are made from cotton-blend polyester, which contains plastics that harm the environment over time, not to mention the unethical conditions such fast-fashion garments are being made in. For plus-sized customers, finding clothing in their size means that fast-fashion is one of the only affordable options, which creates an ongoing ethical dilemma every time someone needs to buy new clothes.

The Current Landscape of the Fashion Industry

Fast-fashion is understood to represent easily accessible and affordable clothing. While this seems like a positive for customers, especially plus-sized customers as it can be difficult finding styles and comfortable clothing in their size, fast-fashion is actually one of the most exploitative industries on the planet. As of 2026, fashion is second only to technology as the largest industry to support modern slavery.¹

In terms of fashion, fast-fashion garments are often produced in sweatshops situated in the Global South where workers endure inhumane working conditions; working upwards of 16 hours per day in factories that pay far below the minimum wage and often don’t cover healthcare insurance costs.

The clothing items themselves are often made of polyester, which exudes highly toxic fumes to workers creating the fabric – often working without proper protective clothing or masks – and the fumes and microplastics are harmful to the environment as they are completely non-biodegradable. ²

The alternative is using recycled synthetic materials, which some high street brands do use in production, but this is more costly to brands. As such, rather than using more environmentally friendly materials like cotton or linen, clothing brands will often resort to polyester as the material is cheaper and thus will naturally yield more profit.

Covid-19 and Slow-Fashion

As the pandemic hit the UK and people were at home due to the nationwide quarantine, more people were exposed to how unethical fast-fashion is – in both a humanitarian sense and an environmental sense. This was mostly due to the fact that people were spending more time on social media, and due to being unable to access the high street- many began to use reselling platforms such as Vinted or Depop. Alongside the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, the pandemic has led some people to shop more ethically for their clothing as it is more affordable than shopping with their go-to high street brands.

Sustainable brands coined the term slow-fashion in direct opposition to fast-fashion sweatshops, offering ethically -made clothing, but at a slower manufacturing pace than brands like Zara or Primark.

Shopping second-hand plays a critical role in saving clothes from going to the landfill and reduces carbon emissions. In 2017, WRAP estimated that just a 10% increase in second-hand clothing sales could reduce:

• 3% carbon emissions

• 4% water

• 1% waste per ton of clothing³

This choice to shop second-hand and sustainably is fine of course, unless you’re plus-sized or looking for affordable options.

Bigger Sizes + Smaller Wallet = Scarce Options

The issue with buying sustainable, ethical garments is that due to the worker conditions in making the garment itself being more humane; offering better wages and better working conditions than sweatshops that fast-fashion brands use, the final products are much more expensive. 

Popular slow-fashion brand Lucy & Yak claim to create ethical garments using sustainable materials such as organic cotton and cater from a UK size 4-30. They are known especially for their dungarees featuring different colours and patterns, which retail at around £79.^⁴ In comparison, fast-fashion brand Shein sells similar garments for a much lower cost at an estimated £15-20.^⁵ It is evident which is the more affordable of the two.

It can be difficult finding appropriate clothing for your age, fashion taste, or size in high street charity shop (or thrift stores, as people outside of the UK call them), which leaves people who are outside of the standard sizing metrics (UK sizes 6-16) feeling unconfident about their appearance due to their inadequate wardrobe.

The Shopping Experience

Second-hand shopping through charity shops or online reselling sites such as eBay, Vinted and Depop seem to be the more ethical and affordable way to shop, although that too has its problems. Clothes on reselling apps or even in charity shops are subject to availability and plus-sized customers may not find what they are looking for at all, since there are more clothes available for straight sizes.

In an academic article about plus-size shopping experiences for Fashion Practice, several interviews were conducted in order to understand the current issues and barriers to accessing plus-size clothing second-hand.

One experience was described where a plus-sized customer overheard slimmer customers and even staff talk about plus-size clothing and customers insensitively. The customer felt so judged and upset that they left the charity shop without making any purchases.

“They said things like, ‘These people, they just eat and eat and eat. They let their bodies get this way. They don’t care about how they look, so they have to dress in sacks.”⁶

Outside of academia, people regularly post on social media sites seeking advice for shops that will sell clothing in bigger sizes- it seems that even finding decent fast-fashion options is becoming increasingly difficult, in comparison to 5-10 years ago.

The following are anonymous responses taken from users on r/PlusSize and r/PlusSizeFashion on Reddit, from many posts seeking advice:

“Honestly as a plus sized person, I’ve given up the fight to source ethically. It’s a small miracle if I can find clothes that fit me; that also actually look nice on me, that I genuinely like the aesthetics of, and that fit within my price range. Trying to do all of that and source ethically feels an impossible task. The best I can do is make secondary purchases from thrifts and take good care of the clothes I do have to make my clothes last as long as possible before they wear down.”⁷

“I lost weight so now I can wear straight-sized clothing but for years I only bought clothes on Shein. I sure didn't feel great about it for obvious reasons but that's the only place I could find plus size clothing for all occasions - including for work!”⁸

Summary

While this article does not offer a solution to the current problems that plus-sized customers face when clothes shopping, hopefully it will bring attention and provide nuance to the underrepresented issues around plus-sized clothes shopping.

It is easy to look at fashion with a black-and-white moral lens; fast-fashion is bad, slow-fashion is better, but second-hand is best – but the truth is more nuanced.

Customers who need bigger sizes may not be able to find their own size in regular high-street shops and thus resort to well-documented, unethical retailers such as Shein in order to access adequate clothing.

Alongside this, slow-fashion brands that pride themselves on using environmentally friendly materials and providing good working conditions for garment workers must increase their clothing prices to maintain workers’ living wages, which in turn makes it more difficult for financially struggling customers to access ethical garments.

While second-hand shopping is the best option for those on a budget, it may not always stock larger sizes or, if they do, the shopping experience may be impacted negatively by insensitive staff or other customers.

Overall, it leaves people who need larger sizes with the constant ethical dilemma of where to shop in a time where the consequences of the fashion industry are becoming more apparent with climate change.

References

1. Unseen UK (2023). Modern Slavery in Fashion.

2. FabricSight (2021). Unexpected Sustainability: Recycled and Biodegradable Polyester and Polyamide.

3. WRAP (2017). Valuing our clothes: The cost of UK fashion.

4. Lucy & Yak (2026). Cotton Dungarees.

5. Shein (2026). Cotton Overall Jumpsuit.

6. Scott & Wu (2025). Exploring the Impact of Retail Atmospherics on Plus-Size Consumers’ Fashion Thrift Shopping Experiences.

7. r/PlusSize (2026). Plus-size clothes shopping experiences.

8. r/PlusSizeFashion (2026). UK shop recommendations for plus-sizes.