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ThirdLove is on a mission to revolutionize the lingerie industry. First, it introduced bras in half sizes, and Wednesday it announced that it’s introducing 24 new bra sizes that go up to a 38H and a 48D. ThirdLove now offers 70 sizes total, practically double the amount that Victoria’s Secret offers and more than twice what Aerie and Calvin Klein sell.
The brand’s founder and CEO Heidi Zak said in a press release that customers kept telling her ThirdLove didn’t carry bras in their size. Although the average US bra size is a 34DD, the typical mass retailer doesn’t carry cup sizes beyond a D. Even Rihanna’s highly anticipated Savage x Fenty lingerie line faced criticism for not launching with a larger range of cup sizes, as Savage currently doesn’t carry beyond a DD cup; the line does, however, sell up to a band size 44.
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While ThirdLove’s bras include a much wider selection — from AA to H — the company won’t label the extended sizes as “plus” because Zak wanted to avoid singling out categories of customers.
“At ThirdLove your size is your size,” she said in a statement. “Who are we to tell a woman her size is in a different category from the size of the woman sitting next to her?”
The company said that the larger bras, which include enhanced support, cost 45 percent more to produce than the smaller sizes. But all customers, regardless of size, will be charged the same. Just last month, the British retailer New Look faced a backlash for charging its plus customers more, colloquially known as a “fat tax.”
ThirdLove is trying to be equitable not only by offering a wide range of sizes for the same price but also by selling lingerie in different skin tones. Women of color have criticized underwear brands for only making “nude” lingerie in muted tones suitable mostly for white people rather than making rich tans and vibrant browns too.
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With its new collection, ThirdLove certainly seems to be checking all the right inclusion boxes. It’s a calculated move that will earn the company praise and might raise the bar for competitors. That’s good news for consumers looking for more places to shop and more brands to treat them like they matter.
Update: This post has been corrected to reflect ThirdLove’s new sizing options, which go up to 48D and 38H.