Size is just a number.
By: Chloe Tham, Stephanie Chang, Yrika Chan
You are browsing through a rack of clothes in one of Singapore’s busiest shopping streets. As you flick through each hanger, the attached tags display sizes that you do not regularly purchase.
Turning to the salesperson, you inquire about this – only to get the response you feared:
“Sorry, we don’t have those sizes here.”
In Singapore, most clothes at retail stores range from sizes XS to XL.
For a majority of people who do not fit this standard sizing, the next best options are usually to shop from thrift stores and e-commerce. However, these avenues are not always convenient options. Identifying this gap in the local fashion market is 28-year-old Sarah Lai En, the founder of home-grown clothing brand Playhood since 2017. The unisex fashion label champions inclusivity with its colourful knitwear that goes up to size 6XL in Asian standards. According to a 2020 survey conducted by YouGov, one in five Singaporeans wear a size XL or larger – proving a significant demand for plus-sized clothing.
How it all started
Playhood began with an opportunity to design a jacket for popular American rapper based in South Korea, Jay Park. But, Sarah’s fashion journey started way before this. She studied fashion design at Central Saint Martins in London, England, for six years. Afterwards, she worked in the fashion industry for three years and subsequently returned to Singapore. Here, she continued to work as a fashion designer.
Jay Park wore the jacket she had designed at one of his concerts, which garnered tremendous attention. Sarah saw this as an opportunity and decided to quit her job to pursue creating her own fashion brand. However, it was not always smooth sailing.
At the start, before she put her full focus on Playhood, she was juggling multiple side jobs such as being a cartoonist for another company, doing business-to-business wholesale and uniform design.
From then on, Playhood grew from designing hand-painted denim jackets to a range of items which includes cardigans, sweaters, dresses and tees.
As the brand grew, she saw a demand for larger sized clothing. Though she isn’t plus-size herself, she recognised the need for size-inclusive brands in Singapore and fulfilled that demand.
“Yes, I may not have that body, yes, I may not have those struggles – but why can I not empathise, and why can I not see that this is a need?” she reasoned.
In her opinion, she shared that plus-size fashion isn’t accessible, and there are only a few brands that offer actual inclusive sizings. She added that many fashion brands that use flawless and perfect-looking models promote the idea that “that is real beauty”, but she sets herself and Playhood apart from the rest. Playhood promotes the idea of beauty that the public can also attain, instead of selling the idea of “looking perfect”.
Size is just a number
In order to focus on being size-inclusive, Playhood launched their ‘Size is just a number’ campaign. As a fashion brand, Sarah has received some feedback from overseas customers on the difference in sizes. For example, a 6XL in Asia could be 3XL in the UK/US.
The campaign’s aim is for people to be comfortable in what they’re wearing, no matter the size.
“If it fits you, there’s nothing wrong with being a 2 or 3XL,” said Sarah.
Sarah has recruited models with different body types, including various plus-sized models, to represent her brand as she wants consumers to relate to what they see in the campaigns.
One of the faces representing Playhood includes Hidayu Malek, a theatre graduate from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.
The 26-year-old first received the opportunity to be photographed in the brand’s clothing when her Instagram profile caught Sarah’s eye. She was then scouted to front several Playhood campaigns, alongside other models with different ethnicities and physiques.
When asked about her thoughts on inclusivity in fashion, she says: “In this day and age, equality is important. You don’t have to be a certain size or shape – and everybody should be able to feel beautiful in their own body.”
Having a wide range of sizes available at Playhood, Sarah ensures that the fittings cater to each body type. It’s not only about increasing the measurements for the sake of having a bigger size, but about the details such as armhole and bust measurements and even the logo placements. However, she shared that getting the fitting for larger sizes was a challenge.
Ensuring these measurements actually fit are crucial and important to plus-sized individuals as it can lead to the clothing having an awkward fit or not hugging one’s figure well.
In a viral TikTok video posted earlier in January by user @gladyslxr_, she pointed out how her XL dress had several odd details. This included the zips popping up, a gap at the side of her bust and a tear when she sat down.
She called out the brand and other fashion brands in her caption to “do their homework” if they want to include bigger sizes. Gladys doesn’t seem to be alone in this problem as many comments back up her claim and resonate with the issue.
This is one example of how the issue is prevalent in Singapore’s society. Many mainstream fashion brands in Singapore only offer up to an XL size and often, the accurate measurements for larger sizes are not taken into consideration.
Challenges faced
Although Playhood is advocating for a good cause, she has faced some bleak online feedback about offering larger sizes.
Three in 10 Singaporeans think that plus-sized fashion encourages an unhealthy lifestyle, according to a YouGov survey in 2020.
Sarah is often accused of encouraging health-related issues like obesity. As somebody who has questioned her own self-worth based on her physical appearance, she finds it unreasonable to make baseless judgement towards those who are full-figured.
“If (people) want to lose weight, gain weight, or stay themselves, they should do what they want. We are just here to make them feel beautiful at every single stage of their lives,” she explained.
Besides dealing with internet trolls, Sarah grapples with her own set of internal struggles.
She admits to feeling a sense of imposter syndrome when she scrolls through social media, as she is often exposed to certain ideals of success as a young designer.
To combat her self-doubt, she is currently pursuing a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in tandem with managing Playhood full-time. This allows her to gain more expertise in operating Playhood and widen her skillset.
Future plans
Moving forward, Sarah’s short-term goals consist of relaunching previous collections up to size 6XL. She also intends to develop Playhood’s social media platforms to reach more local and international audiences, while simultaneously venturing into new mediums like Lemon8.
A proposed long-term goal of hers involves gathering smaller like-minded fashion labels under Playhood. Sarah hopes to provide the owners of these businesses with resources and training to guide them to success.
Like any other local fashion designer, she also yearns for the day when a large billboard of Playhood’s designs are plastered along the streets of Orchard Road, with her models gracing the advertisements.
Current efforts towards inclusivity
In terms of inclusive sizing efforts from brands in the current fashion scene, Sarah acknowledges that there has been progression. However, it does not feel like they are heading towards that direction with moral intentions – which can be seen in the way they segregate plus size girls from being in their official campaigns.
A UK-based fashion retailer, Missguided, faced backlash online due to their use of non plus-size models for their plus-size clothes.
Additionally, X (formerly Twitter) user — @that_girlred — pointed out how “there’s also pictures of the (plus-size) clothes with no models at all.”
Facing criticism from the public is part and parcel of doing size inclusive fashion. Hence, she feels that brands should stick it out and face the backlash head-on, instead of following through with the public’s demands - removing plus size girls from the campaign.
Complying to the demands and having diverse models removed from a campaign attributes to the brand validating the connotations of ‘promoting inclusive fashion equates to promoting obesity’, when this is not the case.
Brands in Singapore are progressing to be size inclusive but more can still be done.
“Still a long way to go, which is fine – but let Playhood be the spearhead!” Sarah concludes.
Hi there team! Zaina here and honestly after having to read your article and go through your slides during the class and I feel that it was a wonderful topic to talk on! As we always walk through every day here and there, we tend to see lots of designs of clothes and when we find something we love, for those who are small to medium size or even large would instantly to think that we would want to get that and this thinking makes us feel even more happy as we know deep down that we can easily get many clothes in such sizes. However when it comes to plus size, we know that most of the times, it…
Hey team, ash here. I really love the story angle and the movement/message you are trying to showcase in this article. As for statistics i understand why it could be difficult to find but maybe you could have found statistics on which mainstream clothing options in singapore offer plus sizes above XL, just a thought! I also think the impact to us as a generation could have been elaborated on but i understand the topic and movement and i am here for it!! Really enjoyable read, good job guys!
Hi team :)
Syaqirah here <3 Firstly, I would like to say how much I LOVE your story angle! As someone who is part of the plus-sized community, I understand the struggle of shopping for apparel due to the limited sizing offered in SG :( And when we have to shop for our size, we have to resort to SHEIN which has a lot of controversy..
Now that I know that we have a local brand that offers inclusivity sizing, I have an option to shop at Playhood! #supportlocalbrands hehe!
I also LOVE this quote: “Yes, I may not have that body, yes, I may not have those struggles – but why can I not empathise, and why can I…