This Weekend Briefing takes a look at the legacy of Alex Waldman, co-founder of the size-inclusive brand Universal Standard, who passed away last week. Don’t forget to subscribe to the Glossy Podcast for interviews with fashion industry leaders and Week in Review episodes, and the Glossy Beauty Podcast for interviews from the beauty industry. –Danny Parisi, sr. fashion reporter
Alex Waldman was a leader in size inclusivity
I want to use this edition of the Weekend Briefing to remember Alex Waldman, the co-founder of Universal Standard who passed away last week due to cancer. I’ve known Alex for years, interviewing her at least half a dozen times for Glossy stories, moderating panels on which she was a speaker, and welcoming her as a guest at in-person events and on the Glossy Podcast.
Every time I spoke to her, she changed the way I thought about the fashion industry. Her clear analysis of fashion’s shortcomings and her vision of how it could be better for people of all body sizes and shapes was much needed in an industry that still struggles with being truly inclusive.
Under Waldman’s leadership, alongside her co-founder, Polina Veksler, Universal Standard became one of the torchbearers for the size-inclusive fashion movement. The brand’s version of size inclusivity, in which clothes are offered in a wide range of sizes at the same price point and without segregation, was influential. When Old Navy made its big foray into inclusive fashion, the model followed Universal Standard’s to a T.
Waldman was a critic of the inauthenticity with which brands and retailers often approached inclusive sizing. She told me once that when brands do a one-off plus collection, separating it from the rest of the clothes, they clearly signal to larger consumers that they are an afterthought.
“Larger people search for plus-size clothing, smaller people just search clothing,” she said.
In the years since she started Universal Standard in 2015, there have been strides toward a more inclusive industry. Brands like Tanya Taylor and Revolve have expanded their plus offerings in the last few years.
But difficulties still remain. Just last week at NYFW, multiple designers told me that casting a fashion show with an appropriately size-diverse group of models is still a headache-inducing process, for example. And many perceived a less diverse NYFW in February, compared to the year before.
Still, Waldman’s memory lives on, both at Universal Standard and among other brands and designers inspired by her vision of a more inclusive industry.
Aubrey Bohn, director of global communications and social media at Universal Standard, sent me a statement over email.
“Amidst an exclusionary fashion landscape that perpetuates antiquated beauty standards, Alex saw the potential for a brighter future. She optimistically challenged the status quo, pioneering industry-shifting initiatives that have revolutionized fashion, and making it a more accessible and inclusive space for all people, regardless of size. Though she [recently] stepped away from the day-to-day business to focus on treatment, her founding mission remains at the core of everything we do.”
Alex herself put it best in an interview I did with her in 2019: “All people, whether a size 2 or 32, deserve to shop in the same way.”
