Old Navy shifts to inclusive sizing in all stores and online
A new article on Marketing Dive reports that Old Navy just announced "Bodequality," which will kick in on August 20th and offer all women's styles in sizes 0 to 30 and XS to 4X.
The inclusive sizing will be priced equally. In stores, sizes 0 to 28 will be merchandised together, and mannequins will be featured in sizes four, 12, and 18, according to a company press release.
More sizes (00 to 30) will be available online, where the women's and plus sections will be merged. The site will feature models wearing sizes four, 12, and 18. A toggle feature will allow e-commerce shoppers to display their preferred size.
The changes follow similar measures taken at Athleta, Gap Inc.'s surging activewear brand, early this year. While for years, retailers and brands separated larger sizes if they offered them at all. Consumers now expect clothing to be available for people of any size and merchandised within assortments.
Old Navy CEO Nancy Green said in a statement:
Old Navy's Bodequality effort is its latest evolution in size inclusivity, although so far, it applies only to women's styles. A few years ago, the Gap Inc. value brand placed specialized plus and petite styles for men and women in special sections at a limited number of stores. Before that, extended sizes were available only online; in 2014, the brand had to be pushed to accept plus-size returns at stores.
The creation of clothing that fits well in a variety of sizes requires extra attention in design and production. Old Navy on Wednesday said it took several steps to develop its Bodequality approach, including running fit clinics with a diverse group of models to scale fit blocks, employing body scans of 389 women to create digital avatars and interviewing "hundreds of women about body image and related fashion concerns."
The inclusive sizing will be priced equally. In stores, sizes 0 to 28 will be merchandised together, and mannequins will be featured in sizes four, 12, and 18, according to a company press release.
More sizes (00 to 30) will be available online, where the women's and plus sections will be merged. The site will feature models wearing sizes four, 12, and 18. A toggle feature will allow e-commerce shoppers to display their preferred size.
The changes follow similar measures taken at Athleta, Gap Inc.'s surging activewear brand, early this year. While for years, retailers and brands separated larger sizes if they offered them at all. Consumers now expect clothing to be available for people of any size and merchandised within assortments.
Old Navy CEO Nancy Green said in a statement:
| "We saw an opportunity to meaningfully change the women's shopping experience by making it more inclusive regardless of size. BODEQUALITY is not a one-time campaign but a full transformation of our business in service to our customers based on years of working closely with them to research their needs. I'm proud of the collaboration across our Old Navy teams to evolve the retail experience for women." |
The creation of clothing that fits well in a variety of sizes requires extra attention in design and production. Old Navy on Wednesday said it took several steps to develop its Bodequality approach, including running fit clinics with a diverse group of models to scale fit blocks, employing body scans of 389 women to create digital avatars and interviewing "hundreds of women about body image and related fashion concerns."
