A wedding dress is the most important garment a woman will ever wear.  It is something she dreams about her entire life.  So imagine going to try on your dress but there are no sample sizes to fit you.  You have to guess what the most important and expensive piece of clothing you will ever own might look like on you on the most important day of your life. To add insult to injury, you are charged more money because your dress is a larger size. You are paying more for a disappointing experience.

You are a plus-size woman and want to go shopping with your friends.  Their clothing is contained on one or two floors of the local department store.  The plus-size section is located in the basement between the luggage and the clearance section far away from all other women’s fashions.

You are a straight size 16 and there are virtually no clothes in your size range. You are forced to wear clothing that is either too small or too big.  Either way, you don’t feel like yourself, are uncomfortable and are forced to buy what fits, not what flatters you or reveals your style.

You want to buy stylish, current fashions but most clothing lines stop at a size large and you are slightly larger than this. The difference between having new clothing and not is a difference of a few inches of fabric. After going through most of the stores in the mall and trying on dozens of outfits that were too small, you leave exhausted having bought nothing.

90% of our bodies are covered by clothing every day telling the world who we are, what colours we like, what styles we like, what our take on fashion is.  Many women over a size 12 do not wear the style they love, the colour they love or the fabric they love. They wear what fits.

As a young, straight size 14-20, you visit a store to buy a special dress. You are elated to see literally hundreds of styles stretching out as far as the eye can see. Your excitement turns to despair when you go through dozens of racks to find not one dress in your size. The only dresses that would fit are for the mother of the bride.

You are really an XL or a XXL but these sizes rarely exist so you wear the largest size available which is too tight and clings to your shape rather than draping it.  Every day that you wear these garments, you have the feeling one has after having had too much Thanksgiving dinner – that uncomfortable feeling that your shirt and your pants are just too tight.  You feel like this every day.

You are a plus-size teen living in rural North America who wants to be fashionable and wear what your friends are wearing.  Your selection is limited and the few stores nearby cater to the business woman who wears a suit every day. There are very few stores if any where you live that carry hip, junior wear and you are forced to dress differently from all your friends.

As a size 14 woman, you go shopping with your size 6 friend. She tries on a dozen outfits and they all fit her, she just needs to decide which ones she likes the best. You find a couple size 14s that aren’t really what you are looking for but try them on anyway because they are the only items in your size.  They are too small but no larger sizes exist.  You sit patiently by the changeroom and put on a smile as your friend tries on more outfits. You can’t recall ever having had the luxury of selection.