Old Navy Will Offer Plus Sizes for All Women’s Items at No Extra Cost
Old Navy is making major moves in the realm of body inclusivity.
The value retailer will now offer a full range of sizes in all women’s clothing styles via the launch of its “Bodequality” program, the company announced Wednesday. Starting Aug. 20, all Old Navy women’s styles will be available in sizes 0-30 and XS-4X with no price differentiation between sizes.
The announcement represents Old Navy’s commitment to size inclusivity and body positivity. As part of the initiatives, all stores will undergo a process to be outfitted into “fully size-integrated shopping experiences.”
All clothing items will now be grouped together according to style in the stores, with no special sections for larger sizes. Stores will also feature new Bodequality marketing images as well as mannequins in sizes four, 12 and 18. Associates will undergo customer-focused training to make sure every shopper feels comfortable and welcome in stores. Online, Old Navy’s women’s and women’s plus collections will be merged into one feed and each style will be displayed on models in of varying sizes.
In conceptualizing Bodequality, Old Navy’s head of women’s and maternity merchandising Alison Partridge Stickney went straight to the source.
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“The first thing I did was talk to the customer,” Stickney said in an interview with FN. While the average American woman now wears a size 16 to 18, Stickney learned through her conversations that plus-sized women often find shopping to be a chore-like and ostracizing experience.
“There is not a more convincing data point than hearing the same thing over and over again from women of all different sizes, all different walks of life. This is why we need to not just change, but revolutionize the way we work. That’s what Boequality is.”
To launch Bodequality, Old Navy ran body scans and fit clinics with women of all sizes to create realistic digital avatars of women’s bodies. The brand also interviewed hundreds of women about body image and associated topics.
In recent years, more brands have launched initiatives focused on size inclusivity. In 2019, Nike introduced plus-sized models in its London flagship store to advertise the company’s larger size offerings. Victoria’s Secret recently expanded its marketing and product offerings to feature more inclusive sizes.
“We saw an opportunity to meaningfully change the women’s shopping experience by making it more inclusive regardless of size,” said Nancy Green, Old Navy president and CEO, in a statement. “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.”
