Why has this become the right time to be size-inclusive?

That was the first question moderator Lauren Chan posed to Becca McCharen-Tran of Chromat, Ryan Lobo of Tome, and Universal Standard’s Alexandra Waldman and Polina Veksler at Thursday morning’s CFDA Conversation on Design and Production for the Plus-Size Market.

“We think that fashion is moving in that direction,” Veksler said. “We believe that there is no such thing as just plus-size fashion, just straight-sized fashion or super-plus fashion. There is just fashion. It will take some time but the world is moving in that direction.”

Waldman added, “You know you have something when you are solving a real problem. We knew that that central figure that is shown to be the woman is always in magazines or on television as a size 4-6 when in fact the median is a size 14-16. That’s not representative. It’s not surprising that the apparel industry is in so much trouble when they ignore 70 percent of the population.”

The panel took place at the Universal Standard Showroom in the Garment District.

McCharen-Tran has been noticing change and increasing willingness of retailers to embrace a wider range of sizes than there was even three years ago.

“A lot of it has to do with social,” she said. “With the rise of the internet, people have a voice and are not waiting for editors to decide for them. For us, it’s been important to use plus-size influencers to give people permission to imagine themselves in our looks.”

Fabrics, and where to find the right production facilities to make larger-size garments, are important factors— and sometimes these can still be challenging to find, as was the case for a satin-back crepe that did not work in a larger size, so Universal Standard had to develop it on its own. Another issue is the lack of a universal standard for sizes.

“We very consciously don’t use the terms ‘curvy’ or ‘plus-size,” Lobo said. “Semantics is very important. We are lucky we can say that every size is available and special to us.”

So where is the future of plus-size?

“Fashion has traditionally been very exclusive,” Waldman said. “The world is changing and we need to start promoting more a broader range of sizes as actual fashion and not just clothing and be able to say our peers are not plus-size brands but brands.”

She added that the name ‘plus-size’ fashion doesn’t have a future. As she put it, “It’s going to be just fashion for women.”

Pictured: Becca McCharen-Tran, Ryan Lobo, Alexandra Waldman, Lauren Chan, and Polina Veksler.