Old Navy Launches “Bodequality,” Gets Inclusive In-Store And Online
Old Navy is looking to redefine size inclusion through a new initiative that will see the retailer roll out women’s clothing in every size and at no price difference, both in-store and online.
“We saw an opportunity to meaningfully change the women’s shopping experience by making it more inclusive regardless of size,” said Nancy Green, President and CEO of Old Navy. “BODEQUALITY is not a one-time campaign, but a full transformation of our business in service to our customers based on years of working closely with them to research their needs. I’m proud of the collaboration across our Old Navy teams to evolve the retail experience for women.”
As part of the “Bodequality” initiative, the retailer will offer women’s styles in sizes 0–28 across its footprint of 1,200 stores. All Old Navy stores will also offer new inclusive visual cues for shoppers, including mannequins in sizes four, 12 and 18, alongside new BODEQUALITY marketing imagery.
Old Navy is also adjusting how products are marketed on its website by merging regular and plus collections to offer one size-integrated shopping experience for sizes 00–30 while also enabling shoppers to select their preferred default model display size.
The launch of the initiative has required Old Navy to revamp its approach to sizing and fitting. The brand administered body scans of 389 women to create digital avatars, ran fit clinics with numerous models in sizes 20–28 to build new fit blocks based on their unique proportions, worked with full-time fit models in sizes eight through 20 to review every single style on both women side-by-side, and interviewed hundreds of women to learn more about body image and related fashion concerns.
Old Navy originally debuted its plus-size offering in 2004 and since then has aimed to offer one of the broadest size ranges in the retail industry. In 2018, the retailer rolled out its dedicated Plus shops to 75 U.S. store locations and later transformed 30 of those locations into size-integrated concept stores in 2019. Since then, Old Navy has looked to apply its learnings from its research to launch Bodequality.
“Developing BODEQUALITY allowed us to rethink the way we serve women in the retail industry,” said Alison Partridge Stickney, Head of Women’s and Maternity Merchandising at Old Navy. “We set out to understand what women of all sizes wanted from fashion and the shopping experience and were inspired to revolutionize every area of our business — from how we fit and design our products, to how we communicate to customers in stores and online — to ensure that all women feel welcome and represented. This launch is a transformative moment for our brand and the fashion industry.”
Originally published at https://retailbum.com on August 19, 2021.
