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Universal Standard revolutionized plus-size fashion—now it wants to end it

The brand gained a cult following among plus-size shoppers. It’s now pushing into smaller sizes, upending the industry, and testing its fan base.

Universal Standard revolutionized plus-size fashion—now it wants to end it

Universal Standard cofounders Alexandra Waldman (left) and Polina Veksler want to bring down the barriers between plus and straight size clothing. [Photo: Ben Sklar]

BY Elizabeth Segran8 minute read

Consider the pencil skirt, a wardrobe staple for working women. The ideal version should sit snugly at the waist, hug the hips, and taper down to the wearer’s knees, while still allowing her enough room to stride (rather than waddle) across a boardroom. A good pencil skirt, in other words, requires the right fit, which is precisely what’s bedeviling Alexandra Waldman on a recent morning at the New York headquarters of upstart fashion brand Universal Standard.

The company’s cofounder and creative director is scrutinizing a line of seven models, sizes 6 to 32, all wearing a version of a black pencil skirt with an elegant geometric pattern. “The width needs to be wider on the size 6 so she can walk comfortably,” Waldman says, making notes for the factory, which will start producing the garment in a week. “The pattern is bunching up on size 18. What can we do to flatten it?”

Most brands determine the fit of a piece of clothing on a single model, and then simply increase or decrease it proportionally for other sizes. But when you specialize in making clothes for the 67% of American women who wear a size 14 or higher, this approach doesn’t work: Sleeves that reach a woman’s wrist in a size 6, for example, would touch the floor in a size 30. Waldman and Polina Veksler, Universal Standard’s cofounder and CEO, decided to create a new playbook, one that requires unique adjustments in each size for every new item they produce.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elizabeth Segran, Ph.D., is a senior staff writer at Fast Company. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts More


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