WE ARE TALA - SIZES 2XS - 4XL

TALA’s mission is to bring you sustainably-made activewear that delivers on performance, fit, quality and style, without the hefty price tag.

A LITTLE BACKGROUND IF YOU’RE NEW HERE…

TALA launched in 2019 by our founder, Grace Beverley. When Grace started shifting from fast fashion in her everyday clothing, she found a host of sustainable options in every category other than activewear. It quickly became clear to her that the activewear industry - despite booming - was completely underserved when it came to sustainability, especially at a price point that wasn’t eye-watering.

That’s the idea that started TALA: If you could buy the same quality activewear at the same price, but made sustainably and ethically, wouldn’t you? For us, it’s a question of accessibility. Fundamentally, we believe that more sustainable options should be more accessible.

THAT’S NICE, WHAT DOES IT HAVE TO DO WITH EXTENDED SIZING?

If our mission is to make more-sustainably made activewear more accessible, how can we claim to be fulfilling that mission when we only serve customers sized XS-XL? When it is estimated that 67% of US women are plus sized, and the average size in the UK is a 16, there is absolutely no denying it - we are not fulfilling our mission as a brand if we don’t offer a size above XL. So we’re choosing not to opt out of extended sizing - which is what so many brands do. It hasn’t been quick, and it has been complex, which means it’s nowhere near perfect yet. But we wanted to start so we can get this journey underway.

OUR JOURNEY : PROJECT SIZE EXPANSION

We are turning 4 years old in 2023, and although we knew from the start that we wanted to represent more sizes, we started the process of offering a (more) complete size range in earnest in 2020. The most fundamental reason it has taken so long is because we wanted to do it right. In all the research we did and read, the two core issues that plus size women face in purchasing garments are:

lack of choice: US Fashion is almost a $290B market, yet only 8% of brands offer sizes greater than an XL
poor fit: 64% of women sized 16 and up say this is where clothing brands need to improve first.

We are hoping to contribute our own scratch to the surface of the first issue by even offering sizes 2XS - 4XL. But the second issue? Fit? This is our passion. Giving incredibly flattering fits that make you look and feel incredible is core to TALA values. So we had to do it right.

This meant fitting to real bodies, not just sizing up patterns. This meant taking into consideration meaningful feedback given by our models and focus groups to ensure garments would support you while also helping you look and feel incredible. This meant, and means, a lot of trial and error, and a long process to get us here.

We’re not perfect - we know we won’t get everything right, so we’d like to talk about some of those things from the get go.

OUR ROADMAP FORWARD

There’s no magic switch for offering our entire range in all sizes at once. But we are so excited about this journey, furthering our mission to bring the option of sustainable activewear to all. There’s no magic switch for offering our entire range in all sizes at once, so here’s an outline of what to expect:

From launch and over the next 6 months, 78% of the new styles and colours we drop will be available in extended sizing
In the next 6 months, you can plan for these drops in 2xs-4xl sizing, (as well as some surprises along the way!!):

SkinLuxe: Our best-selling buttery-soft, lightweight, made-for-movement activewear.
DayFlex: Think performance qualities inspired by yoga-wear.
Sweats: Our next drop of ultra soft, quality sweats you'll live in and for.
365: The basics that broke the internet, made from sustainable wood pulp.
Swim: Versatile, flattering and wearable styles.

The only exception to the above is our “seamless” products, notably our “sculpt seamless” range where it isn’t technically possible to make our extended size range. We are working with our factories to make the machines necessary, but we didn’t want to hold up the whole project for one collection.

Right now, by definition we don’t have customers size 16 and up, because we have never offered those sizes before. But as we develop our customer base, it is our objective to offer no exclusions on our range solely on the basis of size.

You may still be asking why we aren’t offering all of our collections right on day 1. There are a few reasons for this:

We’re not in the business of creating waste. If we extended to all sizes on all of our products at once, we’d create a huge amount of waste by trying to sell to an audience that we haven’t yet cultivated (because we haven’t yet catered to you!). There are minimum quantities required for every order per size, and we have a back catalogue of nearly 4 years of product that we simply can’t afford to buy all at once. This would not be responsible of us, especially considering our pledge to never send to landfill.

We want to continue to get it right. We have been working with real women giving real feedback through focus groups, fit sessions and more, and this will keep happening. By taking a phased approach, we can also integrate the feedback we receive from our community as you try on each collection as it is launched. We can’t wait.

SOME FINAL THOUGHTS

First, thank you for being here and reading this. It is so important to us that you feel informed and motivated to make accessibility and inclusivity that much more of a reality.

Second, we’ve always said it’s cool to be kind, and we won’t tolerate any negativity on our channels regarding our community. Confidence and building each other up is the most beautiful thing in the entire world.

Finally, this is going to be a massive learning process for us. There are some big questions that will come up, and there are things we won’t get right. We’re never going to hit perfection. But we’re so grateful to have the opportunity to take this step toward becoming the TALA we ought to be.