WMC FBomb

These Women Are Fighting for Standardized Clothing Sizes in Uruguay

WMC F Bomb shirts keagan henman unsplash 9821

Have you ever tried on a pair of jeans that were a bit loose in one store, then, in a different shop, tried on the same size of pants and found they were too tight? This is one of the problems a recently proposed law would solve for consumers in Uruguay.

On July 6, a diverse group of women in Uruguay presented a proposed law to the country’s parliament that would create a standard guideline to establish the same set of sizes for all clothes and other items (including shoes and underwear) produced in or exported to the country. The "law of sizes," as it has become known, intends to make fashion brands more inclusive and sensitive to all kinds of bodies by creating a body-positive fashion and shopping culture that allows people to feel comfortable in their own skin and express themselves through clothing freely.

Victoria Ripa, a singer and activist who is part of the group leading this initiative, explained in an interview to national newspaper El Observador that “when we do not express ourselves freely, what happens is that we repress ourselves. All this brings with it a lot of consequences that have to do with mental health, emotional health, and self-perception.”

"Every inhabitant of the Republic has the right to express himself through clothing,” the law states in Article 13. “Clothing shall be considered a means of self-perception, identification and expression of the human being as a social being."

To create this standard set of sizes, the law proposes the executive power, through a means yet to be defined, doing a national anthropometric study to understand the range of Uruguayan body types and generate an expanded table of sizes to encompass all bodies and ensure everyone can find clothing that suits their needs and bodies.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance would be responsible for implementing the law and overseeing its enforcement, through the National Commerce Management area - Consumer Protection subset. Clothing companies that don’t meet the law’s requirements in a timely manner would be fined or suffer other restrictive measures, while those that apply the law correctly will obtain tax benefits.

In addition to standardizing clothing products’ sizes, this law would also establish that brands must prepare their staff selling these clothes to make sure consumers are respected and treated with care.

The law would also prevent shops from using the concept of Unique Size, which is a very common concept in South America that defines clothes that are suitable for all body types. However, this “one size fits all” concept is not inclusive to the vast majority of people because it generally considers small and medium sizes only. For ages, people all over the world have felt the pressure to be skinny, which is seen as synonymous with beauty and health in many societies. However, this idealization causes many consequences — such as discrimination and body shaming, which can result in physical and mental problems like depression, anorexia, and others — to those that don’t fit this standard.

This law is not the first of its kind in the region. In June 2020, Argentina’s government approved a law that establishes a general sizing system to regulate all clothing sold to people 12 years and older. Even in Uruguay, the idea behind this law of sizes has been discussed briefly in the past — first in 2007, later in 2009, again in 2016. Unfortunately, after much back and forth, these initiatives ended up archived before they could be voted on due to lack of support.

Today, this law, which incorporates parts of the previous versions of size laws, is being evaluated by a Committee on Equity and Gender, composed of representatives of Uruguay’s parliament. Their goal is to revise the text and make suggestions before moving forward to voting on the law. To be approved, both parliament houses must vote on the law. Should both houses pass it, the implementation process would start, including a two-year deadline for fashion businesses to accommodate their production according to the new size table.

"We must work to avoid discrimination and consider the rationality of real men and women and not the stereotypes created by marketing specialists to generate commercial processes," said Luis Puig, president of the Gender and Equity Committee, in an interview with El Pais.

Although discussions of the idea behind this law have occurred for at least 14 years, the group behind this proposed law is confident they have good chances of finally getting it approved. Valeria Bonet, another activist leading the initiative, said to El Observador that the growth of feminism and the expansion of communication facilitated by social media helped to take this conversation further. In fact, the group created an Instagram account to share their idea for the proposed law, and it soon became a reliable channel to understand why this legislation is necessary and its implications. Some of the comments left on posts on the Instagram account are about consumers’ hope in “finding real sizes,” “being able to trust shops and brands,” and “feeling confident instead of horrified because it’s impossible to find clothes that fit.” As the group concluded to El Observador, “It is time for this to be approved.”



More articles by Category: Body image and body standards
More articles by Tag: South America, South & Central America
SHARE

[SHARE]

Article.DirectLink

Contributor
Regiane Folter
Categories
Sign up for our Newsletter

Learn more about topics like these by signing up for Women’s Media Center’s newsletter.