I Write Letters

[Content Note: Fat bias.]

Dear ModCloth:

I love you. I really love you.

Even though I am fully aware of the fact that your exceptionally successful expansion into fat fashion is at least as much (and probably more) just a cynical ploy to make money from a woefully underserved population as it is a genuine interest in treating fat women as human beings who deserve cute clothes, too.

I still love you.

I love your selection of clothes. I love that your site is clean and easy (for me) to navigate. I love your return policy and your frequent sales and special offers to return customers.

I love that you use fat models.

I love the way your listings are structured, and how you've encouraged a community of consumers who post pictures of themselves and leave reviews that include their size, so I can look at the clothes on bodies like mine and read the critiques of women whose bodies are my size.

There's just this one thing, ModCloth, that we need to talk about.


There's something about this that bothers me, ModCloth—sticking "Plus Sizes" at the end of that list. Is it possible, maybe, that "Plus Sizes" doesn't need its own category? Because, really, they're just "sizes." I am a fat lady who would like to just be able to click on "dresses." Or just search by my size, which is something you offer.

When I click on "New Arrivals," it's even worse:


Do you kind of see the problem, ModCloth? Do you see how putting "Plus Sizes" as its own category, separate altogether from the "Normal Sizes" (?) clothing, below home decor, makes a person who needs to click that link feel othered, even in a space that wants to include us?

This is an easy fix, ModCloth. Just rework your menus!

And think about how truly serving fat women as a population should mean genuine inclusion, and what that looks like on a website.

I wouldn't even ask, except I think you can and genuinely want to do better, ModCloth. You've given me reason to have high expectations.

Your Loyal Fat Customer,
Liss