Petite: (of a woman) having a small and attractively dainty build. I am petite. I am small-boned. I love to shop. Shopping is all fun and games until I go to try on the apparel. I excitedly tried on a pair of pants for work the other day, only to look down at my feet and see them completely covered by the fabric of the pants. In fact, the pants were so long that they went at least 5 inches past the tips of my toes – just like any pants I try on. Of course the store I was shopping at neglected a petite section in the store, let alone any petite sizes. Not having a petite selection seems like a trend retailers continue to follow.
Retailers consistently overlook petites and I’m sick of it. We are given very little to no attention whatsoever. For example, I’ve been to many stores that has a section for plus-sizes but none for petites. I have nothing against plus-sizes or pose to think I am better than them--my anger is directed towards the retail industry. I am not usually someone who believes in fairness and equality. However, if plus-sizes can be in almost every store, why can’t petite-sizes be too?
It’s almost as though we live in a world where being petite and small is shunned and being plus-sized is praised. Just like those who are genetically bigger boned, us petites are genetically smaller boned. We can’t change it. I didn’t choose to be small. In stores such as T.j.-Maxx, a petite selection is nonexistent which is understandable because it’s a discount department store—but why is there a plus-size section; shouldn’t plus-sized and petite-sized go hand-in-hand? It’s beyond me that this doesn’t occur.
Another negative aspect of being a petite consumer is that the stores who do carry a petite selection typically only offer it online. Shopping for clothes via online is already risky. It seems as though every store has a different idea of how sizes are measured; chances are you’re dissatisfied with the way whatever you bought fits when your package finally arrives. Ordering a petite article of clothing offline only increases the chances of dissatisfaction; this is because of how different the measuring and sizes are for petite clothing.
For example, I am two sizes bigger in petite clothing than in normal clothing, but it’s likely that the fit of an article of clothing in your size at one store is completely different than the fit of an article of clothing in the same size at a different store. It’s already disappointing for a petite to spend the entire day at a mall looking for something as simple as dress pants and never finding a pair that fits right—how can we trust that the petite pants we order online will fit right if we’re so used to being let down?
So many of petites settle for normal-sized clothing. With settling comes extra charges—hemming and other alterations necessary. Once again, petites will receive the shorter end of the stick and have to pay the additional fees.
Now, I am not here to shame anyone; I’m here to simply call out the inconsiderate and irrational retail designers who seem to have forgotten about us petites, or who have blatantly ignored that we exist. Petite women are still in existence and speaking on behalf of those who can relate, we are over having to go through the trouble of finding clothes that actually fit us correctly.
