Why The Fashion Industry Excludes Me
Picture this: You’re at the mall on Black Friday and you see the perfect dress for winter formal in the window of your favorite store. The sign advertises it as being 70% off and they actually have your size in stock for once, but you can’t buy it. The issue isn’t the fit or even the fact that you don’t have the money. The material the dress is made out of could actually kill you, or at least make you really sick, if you wear it for too long. You read the tag and have to walk away, resorting to the other dresses that you don’t like nearly as much. Unfortunately all but one is made of the same material and that one isn’t available in your size. You leave the store empty handed and spend three times as much to get a lower quality dress you don’t like even half as much from another store.
This is what happens to me every single time I go shopping. My latex allergy runs way deeper than just condoms, balloons, and band-aids. I have to meticulously check every item of clothing for spandex, elastane, or rubber. All three of these things, which are kind of the same thing, cause my skin to break out in hives and my throat to swell. Thankfully, I have some type of tolerance and I can wear 3% or less spandex in my socks and pants, but nothing else. I’m well aware there are many people out there with latex allergies that don’t face this problem at all, but I also know I’m not alone, even though it feels like it every time I go shopping.
If you’re wondering just how much of an issue this is, you can start by comparing men’s and women’s clothes. Tight and well-fitted clothes are the centerpiece of women’s fashion and if you look into that, spandex is almost always the reason for this. Compare that to men’s clothes where it’s almost difficult to find spandex outside of athletic wear and socks. I guess you could consider this a good thing. If all else fails, I can always shop in the men’s section, right?
Now’s the fun part. Go online to your favorite clothing store. Find a cute shirt or a nice dress. Click on it and look for the breakdown of the material it’s made out of. Did you find it? If you did you’re on one of the good sites. Many don’t break it down and there’s nothing that says they have to (just plenty of people like me who think they should). Online shopping is a nightmare.
For added fun, you can go find your favorite bra or your cutest pair of undies. I’m no expert, but there’s a very high chance they’re at least 5% spandex or elastane. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can hop online and try to find something comparable that has no latex in it. You’ll either want to block out a large chunk of time for this or give up before you start. This is typically a task that takes a variety of stores, hours of time, and more than a handful of tears.
The most frustrating part of this isn’t necessarily to search or even the fact that most people don’t understand. It’s the fact that I have found cute shirts, bras, and dresses without spandex in them that fit exactly the way clothes with spandex do. The spandex is literally unnecessary. I’m not suggesting a boycott of spandex and elastane in the fashion industry. I’m just suggesting that these clothing companies making bras without spandex stop discontinuing their designs after three months so I can actually replace things when they fall apart instead of searching for three months for a replacement.
It’s incredibly difficult to feel confident, beautiful, and feminine when I’m limited to 4 options in every store that might not even fit. I’m literally powerless in my shopping efforts. It takes me hours to accomplish what many others can do in 10 minutes. Pile the stress of finding clothes that won’t kill me on top of typical body image problems and you have a recipe for full on mental breakdowns in the dressing room.
I know there isn’t an easy solution to my problem. Nothing I say is going to change the way the fashion industry makes and produces women’s clothing, but I really wish it would. The only thing worse than body image issues and struggling to find ways to express yourself is being almost completely cut off from the most basic form of expression: fashion.