Alex Waldman is fine with exclusivity. She’s fine with exclusive pricing, she’s fine with exclusive materials, and she’s fine with exclusive designs. But what she’s not fine with is exclusivity in sizing.
As the cofounder of Universal Standard, an upstart fashion brand that makes clothing in sizes 00 through 40, Waldman has made it her mission to not only bring stylish apparel to the women most often excluded from the industry but to bring it towomen. “We don’t even like to say ‘size inclusive’ because it kind of implies this golden inner circle that has to open its gates up to include everyone,” she says. “Size is much simpler than that. It’s size equality, and that hits a little differently.
While recent years have seen size diversity more widely embraced in the pages of magazines and on runways around the world, and the birth of many brands that are built upon body positivity, Universal Standard isn’t interested in activism. “We are not a body positivity brand because we feel we don’t have the right to be. I think body positivity is a very important and very personal thing, and no brand should highjack that idea in order to sell clothes,” Waldman explains.
Since its launch five and a half years ago, Universal Standard has built a reputation as a pioneer in the democratization of fashion, and it now boasts the most expansive size range of any non-bespoke brand. But more than that, the company has encouraged others in the industry to follow suit. Over the last few years, the brand has partnered with the likes of Adidas, J.