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Every year, premium denim and casualwear label Good American holds open castings across the US to source models of all sizes for its campaigns and events. Last month marked the brand’s seventh in Los Angeles, where co-founder Emma Grede was joined by supermodel Ashley Graham in a hunt for new faces for Good American. Over 2,000 women queued up in the rain.
Good American, launched in 2016 by Grede and Khloé Kardashian, has, from the outset, produced up to size US32. Its variety of denim cuts and its signature stretch have made it a favourite among consumers, who can shop the site by fit. But despite Good American’s growing business (the brand reached $200 million in sales in 2022, up 30 per cent year-on-year) and the potential of the plus-size fashion market (worth $288 million in 2023, per Future Market Insights), brands still aren’t harnessing the potential of serving bigger bodies.
For three seasons, Vogue Business has published a size inclusivity report based on looks seen on the runways during men’s and ready-to-wear fashion weeks. Though we’ve seen representation increase in tiny increments, progress is glacial: the amount of plus-size and mid-size representation continues to regress in the broader fashion market, from the runway to the high street. And as representation of curve models remains low, open casting aims to not only find new curve-model talent (of which there is plenty), but offer curve models the publicity and springboard to become bigger names while securing more jobs.
Ahead of the Autumn/Winter 2024 ready-to-wear season, Graham and Grede sit down with Vogue Business to unpack the industry’s reluctance to change.
Vogue: Do you agree that progress is almost non-existent when it comes to size inclusivity in fashion, and why is this?
AG: Emma and I could talk about this until we’re blue in the face. I’ve been modelling for over 20, close to 25 years. When I first started, there were no curve models on the runway. No curve models in campaigns. There was one token curve girl, and maybe that girl had a running career of a couple of years. Now, there are more opportunities. I am just so disheartened by how slow it has been.
EG: It’s very interesting that in the time we’ve been in business with Good American and had such enormous success, so little has changed in the wider industry. That’s the reason we still do the open casting. It’s really important not just to raise awareness but to keep raising the bar. The industry has been so flippant about this. It’s something [brands] look at for a season, and then it goes away. But the need is there, and it’s so prevalent, and I know that because my community of customers tell us that all the time, every single day.
AG: Yeah, exactly. It’s absolutely awful to see that designers are still looking at curves as a trend. It’s not something they are even trying to normalise. There’s maybe a handful of designers that have committed to the idea of having different types of body shapes and normalising bigger bodies on their runways, but it doesn’t translate to the rest of the fashion world. And it doesn’t translate into the hearts and the minds of the customer because the customer is still screaming from the rooftops: “We don’t see ourselves being represented.”
Vogue: Ashley, some prominent mid-size and plus-size models have said they feel a responsibility to carry size inclusivity in the industry. Do you feel this responsibility, too, because the brands are not making change fast enough?
AG: Absolutely. When one of us steps out of a season, it’s disruptive because unfortunately there aren’t a lot [of curve models] that are at the top. Which is crazy because you could go to the top three agencies that have mid-size and plus-size models and you could find insanely gorgeous women that have been signed for decades. The designers are just incredibly reluctant. But we exist and we are out there. The average American woman is a size 14, 16. It is incredibly possible to put us on the runway, to put us in the campaigns and normalise this.
Vogue: Emma, this is the seventh open casting. How was the response and what did you learn from this edition?
EG: It’s so crazy because it really does get more and more popular every year. It’s a signal to the industry of how much opportunity there is, because I’m telling you that there are very, very few brands that could command thousands of women queuing outside. It’s a signal of what is really needed and what is important to customers in this. They feel it’s representative of them. They really feel like they are seen, heard and represented through what we are doing.
Vogue: When we do the size inclusivity report, one excuse that we’ve heard is that there’s not enough mid-size or plus-size model talent. What do you say to that?
AG: If we peel that back a little bit, what does that mean? I’m sorry. I find that as paltry an excuse as “samples are expensive”. This is not a day and age where we struggle for connection, in the age of social media where you are able to go into the depths of whichever place in the world and find new faces and individuals. It’s not an excuse that can really stand up anymore.
Vogue: Thinking about Good American as a business, how has being size inclusive benefited the bottom line?
EG: I think it’s undoubtable. It really comes down to the dollars and cents of it, right? There’s a lot of excuses around this space. How expensive it is, how tough it is finding the right staff, the right resources. But this comes down to where the decisions are made and what we think is truly important. We’ve always prioritised the bottom line. Good American has been a profitable company from day one. You don’t need to lose money because you decide to service more customers. If you have a brand and the end product is more accessible to more people, chances are you’ve got a bigger stage, a broader customer base.
Vogue: What barriers exist for the rest of the industry?
AG: When you’re thinking about a bigger body, when you’ve notoriously been dressing very small bodies, it’s a completely different system. And yes, you have to put money into it. Are there some legit excuses? Yes. But I know way too many young designers and people who don’t have any money that are doing it, and they’re doing it very well. You have to take the leap of faith and you just have to do it, because people will come and they will buy and they will continue to buy.
EG: I think we all know the barriers to entry. They exist and they’re very real. And we shouldn’t minimise them because they are legitimate. But if you look at the American fashion landscape and think about all the behemoths, from the high street through to designer, the excuses there become a little less relevant. And I think that we’d be remiss not to just say that fashion is still incredibly elitist and there is less of an appetite to actually service this customer.
Vogue: Ashley, thinking about the modelling experience in particular, what changes would you like to see for the next generation of models of all sizes?
AG: I want less tokenism. I could probably name on one hand the top plus-size, mid-size models right now. Whereas I could name on 10 hands the top straight-size models. Also when you think about the clothes, I want more than one option for curve girls. I come in and there’s one option I get to try on. And god forbid if it doesn’t fit. But I know that this is the business and so I’ve gotten a thicker skin over time because of what it takes to make change in the industry. My hope is that the next generation doesn’t have to have all the barriers and restraints that I’ve had to go through.
Vogue: We talk to so many brands and stakeholders about size inclusivity, and I wanted to outline a few points we’ve heard them make. And I’ll let you both respond. First, a brand that doesn’t produce garments above a US10 said, “We do have representation. We had two mid-sized models in our last show.”
AG: I’ve come to a point where I’m not trying to convince every designer to be size inclusive. What I’m trying to do is change the minds of people to stop being fatphobic, to stop looking at my body as a trend. And to start being honest with why you are a designer or why are you making clothes? And if it’s to make women feel good, then do it. And that means going up in sizes.
EG: We’re past the point of tokenism now, right? Don’t talk to me about how many girls walk in the show. Talk to me about how you’re working to up your sizes. Again, not everybody needs to go zero to 32 like we do, but maybe like going up two or three sizes. It shows progression for your particular business.
Vogue: I’ve also heard industry people say that a designer will move away from size inclusivity in order to “elevate” once their brand gets to a certain size, to mimic the major houses.
AG: Oh, I hate that. So it’s like my body isn’t looked at as elevated or elite? I mean, it just goes back to the comment that Emma had earlier that this is an elitist industry. In reality, if you’re not going to design for my body, then I don’t want to wear your clothes.
EG: This reminds me of 10 years ago when you’d talk to fashion brands and they’d be like, “we’ll never sell online”. Or campaigns would have one token Black girl. I think what we will see is just like the brands that embraced different ethnicities, or those that embraced sustainability early on, they will be the leaders. What you’re going to see is a bunch of very old-fashioned snoozy brands fall into insignificance because they’re just not where the customer mindset is.
Some quotes have been shortened or edited for clarity.
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The Vogue Business Autumn/Winter 2024 menswear size inclusivity report
The Vogue Business Spring/Summer 2024 size inclusivity report
The Vogue Business Autumn/Winter 2023 size inclusivity report
