Where did all the XXL clothes go? Fashion brands are scrapping plus sizes in the GLP-1 era

‘It just boils down to the fact that plus-size people are seen as less than,’ influencer Tess Holliday says of the shrinking plus-size ranges at mainstream retailers. Illustration: Guardian Design / Getty Images

In March 2023, the model, activist and writer Tess Holliday announced that she had been working as a size and inclusivity consultant for H&M. The fruits of their partnership felt like “one of the most meaningful things that I’ve done in my career”, she told US Vogue at the time. The fashion juggernaut had committed to an expansion of its sizes, from XL to 4XL, and to increased body diversity of its models.

This bucked a trend, coming at an otherwise gloomy time for plus-sized fashion. By 2023, the fashion industry was in the grips of an Ozempic-fuelled celebration of skinny bodies, after its brief flirtation with curves during the body positivity movement of the late 2010s.