Mango completes Violeta integration, Shein tops plus-size inclusivity list

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Aug 23, 2021

As the plus size segment continues to be incorporated into the wider fashion retail offer, a report has named the retailers that are the most inclusive in terms of the depth of their plus size offer.

Heading the list is Chinese retailer Shein with Silkfred, Debenhams, PrettyLittleThing and Next completing the top five.

The study comes as more and more retailers move to incorporate their plus sizes into their main lines rather than pulling them out as separate product offers. Spain’s Mango, for instance, announced earlier this month that it has completed the integration of Violeta by mango and enlarged the size range of the general collection.

The company is maintaining the number of models available up to its biggest sizes and widening the rest of the Woman collection to include larger sizes. With this integration, the firm said it’s “reinforcing its commitment to inclusivity”.

Meanwhile, the new study comes from online discount platform WeThrift and said that Shein offers an impressive 88,850 plus-size options, ranging from a UK size 6 up to a UK size 26. It came to that conclusion after analysing more than 100 of the most popular, fast fashion, mid-price and premium stores available in the UK.

WeThrift suggested that Shein’s popularity “could well be linked to their inclusive clothing range that appeals to so many”.

Second-placed Silkfred had 15,900 options available across its 800 independent retailers and Debenhams had 14,762 plus-size options available. 

The campaign also aimed to determine which of the UK’s favourite retailers sell the biggest offering of wide fit shoes. Shein was again in the lead here with 41,535, ahead of N Brown’s JD Williams on 2,102, its Simply Be brand on 792, ASOS on 710 and Debenhams on 352.

The research concluded that fewer than half of the retailers analysed currently sell wide fit shoes. Out of the 71 researched, only 35 carried a wide fit collection, and 36 didn’t.