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Feel good, look good: Local fashion brands promote self-love, body positivity
Diversity is inclusiveness, as these Indonesian brands are demonstrating by catering to plus size customers, who often have a hard time finding attractive clothing that fit them amid the prevailing “beauty ideal” stereotype.
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Egale clothing founders Regina Vania and Stefanny Kurniawan want to use their clothing line to encourage women of all sizes to be comfortable in their own skin. (Egale/Courtesy of Egale)
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lus size fashion for women has been around for a while, but unlike international brands, locally made and affordable fashion for this niche market is often seen as old-fashioned or untrendy. It leaves women with so-called nonnormative bodies feeling even more uneasy about themselves and their appearance.
The rise of social media in recent years, especially TikTok and Instagram, has allowed people to be more open and positive in expressing themselves. Body positivity campaigns are run frequently, both on- and offline, readdressing beauty ideals and promoting self-acceptance regardless of body size and skin color, even race.
Monomolly (@monomolly.id), a local brand CEO founder Monica Amadea started in 2016, went viral on TikTok last year after the brand created various sizes of colorful pants for women. Monic said that like most online fashion brands, Monomolly started by selling only free size or all-size clothing.
“However, as we gained more followers and the brand gained more recognition, we kept getting requests to create products that accommodated plus size women,” she said.
For a brand to produce clothing beyond free size is a risk. In addition to increased production costs, brands must take into account the possibility of lower sales for plus size clothing compared to regular sizes, which also means surplus stock and extra storage space.
“To be honest, when we decided to create [a various range of] sizes, I wasn’t sure, since it can be costly. But when we finally introduced them to the market, we received such great response and sold tens of thousands of pieces,” said Monica.
