Australian fashion label Witchery has been slammed after they dropped a clothing size as part of the recent rebrand in a devastating blow for plus-sized customers.
The much-loved clothing label which operates as part of the Country Road Clothing group unveiled the rebrand on Tuesday with the brand new Bold Awakening collection. However, the flashy new designs were quickly overshadowed by the fact that Witchery quietly axed size 20 from its range.
“So disappointing to see this from you guys. To go from wish listing your items last week as a size 20-22 girl who this brand was my go to for workwear, to being gaslight into “just trying the 18!” is super discouraging to see this level of unnecessary inaccessibility. I would love to see this properly addressed,” one commenter wrote.
“So you’ve ditched the size 20? it’s not a bold awakening if you cannot do the bare minimum for size inclusivity,” another wrote.
“It’s genuinely so embarrassing to be proud that you’ve made your clothing less accessible for people lmao,” a third added.
Many social media users also took to the comments section to allege that the brand was deleting comments about the sizing issue.
The brand previously stocked up to a size 20, but now maxes out at 18. This is particularly concerning for shoppers considering the average Australian woman wears between a 14 and a 16 in standard sizing.
Witchery confirmed the news in a statement to News Corp, noting minimal sales and feedback regarding sizing consistency as the reason for the change.
“Size inclusivity is important for us, and we’re proud to be one of the few high street fashion brands in our category to offer such a wide range of sizes in our main range,” the brand said in a statement.
“After careful consideration, we’ve decided to remove size 20 from our collection. This size accounted for a small percentage of our sales, and when we asked our customers why, the feedback revealed inconsistencies in our sizing between styles.”
Witchery claims that while the size 20 is technically no longer available, the new size 18 fits similarly.
“In response, we embarked on an extensive project to improve the accuracy and consistency of our sizes and fits across our whole collection,” the statement read.
“Our updated design direction means that sizes from 10 and up are now a more relaxed fit, with the new size 18 fitting closely to the previous size 20.
“While size 20 is currently unavailable, we’re committed to learning from and listening to our customers as we refine our sizing.”
When compared to other size guides available online — for example, ASOS — Witchery’s size 18 (110, 97, 120) fell between a size 18 (108.5, 90.5, 115) and size 20 (116, 98, 123.5).
The decrease in sizing comes amid ongoing issues with size consistency, particularly in plus-size ranges in Australia.
