News has broken that J.Crew will now offer a collection that is sized up to 5x. All I can say is….its about time! As a J.crew aficionada, I have watched J.Crew exclude their sizes 14 and 16 to online only,  announced  “size 14 now in stores;”  and with the new leadership of CEO, Jim Brett, we are now seeing J.crew and Madewell extending their sizing to include XXL tops and a waist size up to 37 in jeans.  Now, J.Crew announces a collaboration with Universal Standard to offer clothing from  sizes 0 to 32. J.Crew has a history of collaborating with many designers from New Balance to Liberty, with some pieces being limited editions and being sold out online before being available in stores. Launching a collaboration with Universal Standard, makes the look of J.crew available to a variety of women.

The average size of an American woman is 14/16 and many designers ignored this fact for many years, leaving few clothing options for the curvy girls. With many other designers paying attention to this fact, plus sized clothing is now dominating the clothing market from the mini boutiques in Target to New York and Company and many other designers offering fashion in sizes beyond a size 14 , J.Crew is now joining the list of designers that now offer plus-size fashions.

Universal Standard collaboration  makes it debut with  a classic colour pallet in trend setting silhouettes with pricing ranging from $50 to $135, according to an interview with Lisa Greenwald by www.refinery29.com, the collaboration along with future plus sized J.crew collections will be integrated and not a separate section within the stores.

While J.crew has made it’s mark on the fashion map with it’s classic pieces in bold colours and patterns,  I’m excited to see the company is   headed in the direction to include sizing for a variety of women and joining a growing list of designers who are promoting diversity and healthy body images.