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Last week, J.Crew quietly added additional sizes to its denim collection. Instead of capping off at 32, a selection of the brand’s jeans now go up to size 35. Today, Madewell announced its extended sizes with a bit more fanfare: An “epic jeans email” newsletter went out to customers with the note “More sizes? We’re on it.” Madewell’s landing page for its spring denim collection also includes what’s implied to be a quote from a customer that says, “I want those jeans in my size.”
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According to Madewell’s size chart, the extension covers women who wear sizes 16, 18, and 20, which is a significant improvement from ending at 14. (It’s worth noting that sizing, annoyingly, varies from brand to brand.) On both sites, the extended sizes are mixed in with the regular denim assortment; J.Crew doesn’t appear to have a separate page for sizes 33 through 35, but Madewell does.
(Neither brand provided an official comment as of publishing time, but a J.Crew spokesperson noted that the company hopes to add more sizes in more categories down the road.)
For all intents and purposes this is a good thing, but there’s certainly room for more sizes and in more styles. Right now, most of J.Crew and Madewell’s denim still only runs up to a 32, and the extended sizes have already sold out in a few styles, though it’s unclear whether or not that’s due to the amount of jeans that were produced for the launch. Even so, there’s absolutely no doubt that plus-size women will spend money for clothing in their size, which should be an incentive to restock — and add more options — soon.