These vendors are making thrift and vintage shopping size inclusive in Ontario

Thrift and vintage are at the forefront of shopping trends possibly more than ever, especially due to rising concerns about sustainability and fast fashion.

But if you’re plus size and try to shop at vintage and thrift stores with smaller friends, you might mostly find yourself hanging around the sections with shoes, home goods and books.

That’s because many vintage and thrift stores still only have sections labeled from S to XL. You might be able to find plus size items by doing some digging, but only with lots of patience and effort, and never in a plainly labeled section.

Thankfully, there are some people in Ontario who are taking notice of the situation, and are stepping up to offer thrifted and vintage clothing specifically in plus sizes.

But it’s not anything new for them personally. Emily Gove of Polyester Plus, Amarina Norris of Ursa Major Vintage, and Rochelle Latinsky of My Clementine Vintage and Plus Not Minus have all been thrifting in one way or another basically for their entire lives.

“Growing up in a thrifty family in a suburban town, I always loved going to garage sales and secondhand stores when I was a little kid. At 16, when it was time to get my first part-time job, my dad took me to a Salvation Army thrift store and I was hired on the spot,” Norris tells YourCityWithIN.com.

“It was the late 90s, and I learned so much about clothing and my personal style working at that store over the four years that I was there. I still have a few pieces from that time that I can’t part with.”

For as long as they’ve been wearing thrifting and vintage clothing, most of these vendors have found sizing and inclusivity to be an issue, which Norris says is “a classic story that many folks in bigger bodies are familiar with.”

“Plus size vintage was a safe space for me as a weirdo teen. I desperately wanted to express myself and explore fashion but I couldn’t fit into any clothing at the stores my friends were shopping at,” says Norris. “I could shop shoes and accessories but clothing in my size wasn’t an option. At thrift stores I’d have to be patient and open-minded but I would find pieces that worked or could be resewn to fit my body.”

“As a plus sized person who loves vintage style, I was still seldomly going into vintage shops to browse as there was so rarely anything available in my size,” Gove tells YourCityWithIN.com.

While all three vendors were experiencing the same issue, they all began selling clothing in different ways. Latinsky started out doing pop-up closet sales, organizing clothing swaps at community centre The 519 and vending at The Vintage Marketplace in Hamilton around 2017.

Gove had been selling vintage clothing online for about 15 years before opening a store in Toronto in 2022. Norris studied Fashion at George Brown College, opening Ursa Major Vintage 12 years ago.

“I had to create a lot of my own tools to adapt to making plus size clothing and I was only the second student to create a plus size clothing collection,” says Norris.

So why go to the trouble of creating your own tools, blazing trails with different kinds of collection and resewing clothes? When asked why vintage and thrift shopping needs to be more inclusive, Latinsky has a simple answer: “Everyone needs to wear clothes.”

“Consumers are recognizing the ongoing environmental and human impact of the fast fashion industry, and seeking higher quality and less harmful alternatives. 68 per cent of women in Canada wear a size 16 or larger,” says Gove.

“However, sustainable vintage and pre-owned options for plus sized people are few and far between. The limited options available in larger sizes have largely excluded plus-sized people from the expression of personal style.”

Even beyond the way consumers are seeking out less harmful shopping practices, Norris has also noticed some disturbing trends in the availability of plus size clothing overall, and wants to offer something better.

“Clothing options are still shockingly limited, some core non-vintage brands have sadly closed their doors in the last few years, and a lot of larger retailers have moved their already limited plus size inventory to online only,” says Norris.

“The majority of clothing that I come across is poorly made, terribly quality, often unwearable fast fashion. I have to sift through more and more to find a few gems that are well made, natural fibres and cute, of course. I often go on sourcing road trips so I can visit as many places as possible. I do worry about what thrifting is going to look like in the next five or 10 years with the prevalence of cheaply, unethically made clothing.”

“So much of what is out there especially in plus sizes is frankly quite ugly,” says Latinsky. “It’s my biggest challenge: not forsaking taste in favour of what’s ‘fashionable.’ My biggest challenge is finding items of good quality and material in a size larger than a 2X to 3X.”

You heard it here: it’s not you! Not only do plus size vintage and thrift vendors act as style fairy godmothers: they can also assume a coaching role, cheering customers on with pep talks letting them know they deserve to feel comfortable and confident in high quality clothes, which some people may not even realize is an option for them.

“People also struggle with overcoming body image issues,” says Latinsky. “I try to be as body positive and body neutral as possible while acknowledging that the self love comes with time.”

“Our biggest challenge is letting our audience know that we’re here, and we stock their size. Plus size folks in general do not expect to go into a vintage shop and find so many garments that actually fit,” says Gove. “There have been so few options for plus size folks for so long that it can feel quite overwhelming and emotional being catered to in this way. Sometimes there are happy tears.”

Those happy tears are the reward for years of hard work. Over time, Gove’s business Polyester Plus has grown from two racks of vintage with just 50 per cent plus size to a 100 per cent plus size retail shop in Hamilton, and Gove has also started up regular Plus Size Market events in Toronto and Hamilton. Latinsky started up the Plus Not Minus market series in 2024, and has thrown successful markets at the Toronto Reference Library and Theatre Centre.

“My goal with Ursa Major Vintage has always been to be that safe shopping space that I wanted when I was younger but didn’t exist at the time. I’m still often one of a few or the only plus size vendor at these markets and people will come up and thank me for offering sizes that fit their body and that is always really validating and motivating for me,” says Norris.

“I have no idea what’s next but I’m open and ready.”