The Body Shaming Practice Of Fat Tax & All The Indian Designers Who Still Choose To Charge It
Everyone has a lot to say to plus-size people in India and across the world. It mostly ranges from 'what to eat' to 'how to style' in order to look slimmer or a certain size. Be it your relatives or clothing brands, they won't shy away in giving their two cents on your size adding to the discriminatory fatphobic practices of the Indian fashion industry.
In 2020, anonymous Instagram handle and ¡®fashion watchdog¡¯ Diet Sabya started a conversation around 'fat tax' in the fashion industry, and the responses were...shocking. Two years later, nothing much has changed. Designers small and big, luxury and homegrown, most of them are still charging and 'fat tax' and it's not okay.
What is 'fat tax'?
Historically, the fashion industry has been discriminatory against anyone who's doesn't fall within whatever's considered the 'normal' range of body sizes. This normal isn't actually based on facts.
To put it in the simplest of terms, it¡¯s the extra tax/amount a designer charges for making a bigger size garment for their plus-size clients. It¡¯s the extra charges that the designer bills up for the excess fabric and embroideries that they use in making a bigger garment.
Basically, ¡®plus sized¡¯ individuals are charged more for garments that are available at a standard price in ¡®regular¡¯ sizes. Even though clothing brands may be getting plus-size models and spreading body positivity, they are charging you way more for it.
So, how much are they overcharging?
In the name of being ¡®inclusive¡¯ by catering to their plus-size clientele, many luxury fashion brands are pricing their products at a significantly higher rate.
According to Diet Sabya's Instagram stories that crowd-sourced personal experiences related to this 'fat tax,' brands can charge anywhere up to Rs 7,000. The account has quite an audience ¡ª it racked up 18,000 followers within a month of its first post in March 2018, and it now has more than 3,00,000 followers.
Indiatimes did some digging and tried to find out what are designers charging. For example, this Black Embroidered Jacket in size 'XS' retailed for Rs 5,94,990 on ace designer Rohit Bal's official website but size '4XL' costs Rs 8,92,485. That's a difference of a whopping Rs 2,97,495.
Similarly, Delhi-based designer Nitika Gujral retails their Midnight Blue Taffeta Lehenga in gota work for Rs 1,42,000 for size 'S' but the price goes up to Rs 1,63,300 for size 'XXL'. That's a difference of almost Rs 20,000.?
We looked up some of the websites, most had size option only till 'L', so we took to other websites selling designer wear. For example, Dolly J, a global luxury bridal fashion brand's Red Silk Lehenga Set in size 'S' is being sold for Rs 4,95,000 on Pernia's Pop Up but a size 'XL' is sold for Rs 5,44,500. That's a difference of almost Rs 50,000 for only a few inches extra.??
Now, where does the problem lie?
Firstly, only a handful of the big luxury designer websites have displayed size options over an 'L' which basically means that you'll have to place an enquiry in order to even know the cost of a bigger size. And if you do enquire, the brands/labels will either charge you extra for ¡®customisation¡¯, or claim they don¡¯t keep such sizes stock because they won¡¯t sell.
Second, while body positivity and inclusivity are the latest buzzwords for the fashion industry, the ground reality remains far from ideal. For sure, brands are hiring plus-size models for their shows and campaigns, but that's it. There are little to no changes in the actual pricing policies leading to higher prices for a certain section of the society. From lingerie to gym wear to lehengas, women who identify themselves as plus-size face a lot of overt and covert shaming when they demand the fit of their dreams.
What's their justification for it?
Designers claim that making plus size clothes costs more because of additional fabric and embroidery that goes into creating the outfit. As per anonymous DMs to Diet Sabya, they also claim that the charges are uniform till 'XL' and are only increased beyond this size.
By this argument, the 'XS' girls should be charged way less and the footwear brands should charge more for bigger feet, jewellery brands should charge more for bigger ring sizes. The list can go on and on.
It's impact
Back in November 2020, Diet Sabya's crusade against the discriminatory tax had made a certain impact, seeing how two big design houses ¡ª the label Gauri and Nainika and Mumbai-based e-commerce platform Fuel, came forward to acknowledge their role in perpetuating the practice and took a stand to discontinue their differential pricing system.
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Plus-sized women make for a large chunk of the population and when they do find the right size, they have to pay extra money. Seems unfair, doesn¡¯t it? But no matter how far we¡¯ve come, we still have miles to go and this is a step in the right direction.?
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