This is going to be uncomfortable, but it has to be done. Despite my best efforts to write nonsense on Al Gore’s internet, to be an irreverent respite from the Filth Reich and Darth Musk, to not shake my spice all over the place—there needs to be a team email dripping with disdain, with God as my witness and Mama Cass bcced. I cannot take it anymore:
WE CANNOT CONTINUE TO CHARGE FAT PEOPLE MORE FOR CLOTHES.
This morning I awoke like I do every morning pumped that I didn’t die and ready to greet the day with a fresh Insta pulldown.
I started scrolling, tapping hearts with wild abandon, and letting it be known I am unhinged through seasonally themed emojis and then…
*record scratch*
A well known-ish local DJ of the ‘80s dance party variety is wearing a sweater depicting the Wanamaker Light Show—an iconic Philadelphia Christmas tradition for the past sixty-five years.
This is outstanding, I think.
The Wanamaker (now Macy’s) light show has been delighting crowds of Philadelphians for almost seven decades. Six times a day during the holiday season, the center court of the department store lights up with thousands of sparkling lights in colorful sequences to the narration of Julie Andrews and Christmas songs like Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer and Frosty. It is lo-fi, it is tacky, I can barely see anything behind the tall people in front of me, and I love every damn second of it.
But that’s not all, the Wanamaker building is also famous for its organ, which plays during the light show. The Wanamaker Organ, originally built for the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, is the largest fully-operational organ in the world with 28,000 pipes.
Every Christmas season, my family goes to the light show.
So, it is an understatement to say I am the audience for this sweater. I tap on through because, thank you Mr. DJ, he tagged the local apparel company that makes the sweater and, whattaya know, a sweatshirt too.
Look at this good fortune! I can be the person who shows up to the holiday concert wearing the holiday concert’s sweater.
OHHHHH WAIT.
No I can’t.
The sweater only goes to XXL and the store is charging five extra dollars for the audacity of larger bodies to, I don’t know, be out here in the world experiencing the holidays in one of the fattest cities in the United States.
I double back and check the Instagram profile again to make sure this place is, indeed, a clothing company and not, say, an airline purposefully making seats smaller and then blaming people when they can’t fit.
Nope, it’s still a South Philly apparel company heavy on Veteran’s Stadium nostalgia (cool story, bro), jawn references (this is the John Denver of Philly slang), and Gritty paraphernalia (one of two fat mascots in the city, irony is dead). This place screams Jared Leto method acting white Philadelphia.
Look, I know local mom and pop shops are not corporate conglomerates, but these decisions are not made in a vacuum, and TODAY I HAVE THE TIME. If an apparel company, regardless of footprint, cannot accommodate a 2X, they’re an exclusionary company with a revenue model built on fat taxes.
Independent shops like the one in South Philly fuck around and never find out because there is no cultural shame campaign for fatphobia. There is no ADL for large bodies or Human Rights Campaign for fat kids experiencing BMI reports sent home from the school nurse. There is no NAACP advocating for standard-extended sizing. Fatphobia is acceptable hate because there is nary a word from the kind of activists who pull up to every phobia and ism like it’s flair check o’clock at TGIF Fridays during the ‘90s.
Importantly, when local proprietors double down on limited sizing and then charge more, it’s not just about the size of a waistband or inches in the chest anymore—it’s also about race. South Philadelphia, currently fighting over a Christopher Columbus statue, is notoriously white within a Black city. Of course there are progressive pockets, but they are overly white too. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 70% of Black youth from North Philadelphia were overweight in 2010. And more recently, Philadelphia’s Department of Public Health released findings that Black women experience being overweight at twice the rate of non-hispanic white women. So, yes, in a city as heavily segregated as Philadelphia fat taxes are about more than weight. Which is why when the Philadelphia Inquirer highlights the sweater in question in a shopping guide, editors should know better. HIRE FAT PEOPLE, damn.
A few months ago, another independent apparel company (but outside of Philadelphia) released a limited edition Albert Brooks t-shirt featuring the logos of all the movies he has written and directed. This was the second release of the artwork. First it was a hoodie, and I reached out about the sizing, which only went to XL. Their social media person told me, through a comment, the company was having issues finding larger sizes with suppliers.
This is what kills me. These people think I’m fat and stupid. Like I don’t have google and can’t type in “gildan hoodie.”
Gaslighting sure is fun, isn’t it???!!
I want to be clear, this is not some Brendan Fraser in a fat suit pity cinema. I have a great life, fabulous clothes that fit me, an abundant sex life, and too many pop culture items bursting from my home. But I am one of the strong ones with two-decades of fat activism coursing through my veins. No one should have to be strong to find something to wear, especially when not being a dick about it is RIGHT THERE for the taking.
It’s not as though either of these independent retailers are offering discounts to small people or charging even more for the intricate stitching patterns it takes for those tight seams. Of course not! Why would they do such a thing. Instead they just raw dog a fat tax and everyone runs with it like, “I guess I’m the problem, better hurry up and ‘get healthy.’”
But it’s not you, it’s them. In every way it is them.
Don’t make your fat friends, especially the radical ones, be the only people who call out exclusionary sizing. If you see it, comment. Something as easy as, “I really loved your sweater, but charging more for larger sizes is wrong so I didn’t buy it. Please do better.”
Even if places sell out of items with exclusionary sizing + pricing, fine. At least it’s not with your money and your support. And then walk a little taller, with snowflake swagger.
CURRENTLY
Reading: If I Had Known: The Collected Essays of Barbara Ehrenreich
The cackling I do as I read her biting class commentary—one of the GOATs to ever do it
Listening: Introducing… Aaron Frazer
Y’all this was released in 2021 and no one told me about it. Frazer reminds me of Amy Winehouse and the Mark Ronson compilation Version. But Frazer is produced by Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys. It’s contemporary retro soul, and incredible.
Suggesting: These Very Merry New Wave and Alternative ornaments
I mean Pine Inch Nails and Wake Me Up Before You Ho-Ho?? SOLD.
Watching: Harry and Meghan
Just like everyone else. I will be writing about this as soon as I’m done watching part 2. The second trailer is out.
Supporting: Del Alma Imports + Mexican artisans
From handmade tassels to table runners and apparel, everything is made by artisans. I have a pom-pom necklace I adore.
If you love reading Flop Era, please make sure to share it with people you know. So they can get good and mad and possibly laugh at the Jared Leto ref up there. BTW, love your shoes—even if they are large, comfortable socks.
So, this has nothing to do with the primary content of your post (which I'm over here cheering loudly about, for the record -- thank you for speaking out about this bullshit), but I am also here to say I clicked through to that new H&M trailer (because I am obsessed with this damn six-part documentary), and the comments beneath it are so pitch-perfectly snarky that they made me laugh right out loud.
"These people think I’m fat and stupid." Never had truer words been spoken. Add in Southern accent here and, well, it's a trifecta of gaslighting and hypocrisy. Technically, creating larger garments means using extra material, which does increase the price point. If brand is buying material in bulk and has a dedicated designing and tailoring staff, crafting a plus-size garment shouldn’t increase the final price. They should charge the same price for the garment across the board, especially when "a study published in 2016 in the International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology, and Education revealed that "the average size of an American woman is now between 16 to 18, which is an increase from 10-year-old data that indicated most women in the U.S. were a size 14." https://www.byrdie.com/average-body-weight#:~:text=The%20Average%20Size%20for%20Women%20in%20America&text=The%20average%20size%20of%20an,reported%20as%20a%20size%2014.