Solving the Big Problem with Small Fashion

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FASHION FEATURE SOLVING THE BIG PROBLEM WITH SMALL FASHION

Petite Edits is a one-stop online shop for women 5’3” and under, of any body shape or size.

Unfortunately, most regular sized clothing is measured on women 5’6” – 5’7” which means the length, hem, bust dart position, rise, shoulders, hip and waist, knee position on garments do not sit on the right places for petite women.

For far too long women of 5’3” and under have had to make do with ill-fitting clothes or expensive alterations.

Thankfully in the last couple of years, a handful of established brands and independent designers have recognised the gap in the market and have started offering petite sizes.

Petite Edits aims to bring together all of these in one place to take away the hassle of navigating across several websites giving petite women a wealth of choice so that petite women can stop compromising style over fit.

So far, Petite Edits hosts 1000 plus current and on trend petite pieces of clothing from more than 45 designers and brands including ASOS, Boden, Hobbs and Karen Millen.

ABOUT PETITE EDITS

This is Roshna, the petite (5’1”) driving force behind Petite Edits.

Many years back she worked in banking and finance in the City. Naturally, Roshna wanted to look and feel good in what she was wearing. However, this seemed to be elusive!

“I could not quite figure out why I was struggling so much with finding the right clothes, but back then I didn’t pay too much attention and carried on just ‘making do’,” she explains.

“Years later, clarity and the scale of the problem dawned on me, when I had moved towards founding and running a retro-inspired clothing boutique in London. I witnessed thousands of women in all beautiful shapes and sizes – talking to them, styling them and discussing the fit on ready-made clothes. I realised more than 50% of the women who bought from us seemed to be 5’3’’ or under in height – and officially this is regarded as petite.

After years of having fun running the boutique and learning so much in the process, I then worked in the Marks & Spencer’s womenswear for a year, which further confirmed what I had already known from my experience from the boutique. Even though us petites are spending the same amount of money to buy clothing; we are either having to spend more time and money for alterations or accepting the ill-fitting clothes and making do. Since, availability of petite sizes is not common knowledge among the consumers - most brands do not provide enough retail floor space to petite sizes.”

Luckily, the online market and awareness for petite sizes has been steadily growing for the past couple of years.

Today, there are some of the most well-known brands and independent designers offering products for petite women. However, product offering from individual brands are still limited to a handful of styles and often lack visibility over regular sized products.

“So, here I am today, with petiteedits.com,” Roshna adds. “My company pools together available petite clothing from many brands in one place so us petites have choices too. Petite Edits is born out of my personal frustration over the years and is very close to my heart. I wish a similar platform had already existed when I was spending so much time scouring different brands and their websites to find clothes that fit.”

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Here’s Petite Edits guide to why choosing petite fashion is so important to find the right cut and fit of clothing.

Photos by Aurora Lyddon

HIGH STREET PICKS FROM PETITE EDITS

After 18 months of loungewear, expect to see bold, fearless and vibrant fashion for the A/W21 season.

Us petites can also join in the celebratory eclecticism and optimism of trends in this fashion year. Here are 5 wearable petite pieces from some of the favourite brands at petiteedits.com.