In this episode, Kierstin shares the exciting changes happening at our petite boutique!
We are breaking free from traditional sizing conventions and implementing new codes that will celebrate and empower women — no matter what size. Our mission is to take a fun and lighthearted approach to sizing, and we believe that by embracing our cuteness, we can make shopping online more enjoyable for our rockstar customers.
Tune into the episode as we share the inspiration behind our decision, the challenges we faced during implementation, and the positive feedback we’ve received from our customers!
“Because Fun comes in all sizes, and no matter what, you’re Funsized!”
Links
The Funsized Boutique: www.shopfunsized.com
What’s your snack size?! Take the quiz: www.funsized.life/sizequiz
Follow Kier on Instagram: @funsized.life_
— Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/funsizedpodcast/support
Transcription
Hello and welcome back to another episode of The Funsized Podcast. If you’re new here, my name is Kierstin and I am the owner of a petite empowerment brand called… you guessed it… funsized! I am a fitness and nutrition coach specifically for women under 5’3” and I recently opened an online boutique for petites. We’ve got a bunch of activewear because obviously my existing audience is active and interested in fitness but we also some non-gym non-lounge attire like jeans and one dress. Eventually, I would love to get some more casual and dressy items but it’s barely been 5 months since launching and there’s a bunch of things I’m still learning and figuring out and I want to make sure everything is of high quality and not just anything you can find on Amazon. Overall it’s going well, it’s been really fun to package orders and honestly, it feels like a fun side-hustle even though it’s technically just another branch of the business. But the biggest thing I’ve learned, is that there’s quite a lot of confusion around petite sizing.
Ever Since I opened this store (in November ’22), I knew I wanted to ditch the boring numerical sizes and letter codes because they’re super restrictive, confining, and change depending on the brand or country, or whatever else. From the get-go I KNEW I wanted something different, something unique, and something that FORCES the customer to really check the size chart. But I just didn’t know HOW…
That uncertainty of not knowing what to re-label things simply led to in-action and just defaulting to what everybody is used to, which is the normal XS-XXL. Problem is petite sizing IS different from normal sizing. What I mean by that is, A petite large is and should be MUCH different than a standard size large. I mean, those differences are the entire reason why we need petite sections in the first place. What you have to understand about petite sizing is that the length of an item, let’s say leggings, does not change much across the spectrum of sizes. What changes is the girth and the width. And petite sizing charts are created using the average measurements of petite women. So since we’ve got smaller proportions than the average woman, our size chart tends to run small compared to regular sizing – as it SHOULD. But since most of us are not used to how inclusive petite sizing works, all this confusion causes problems when placing an order.
And I’m 100% guilty of not understanding the petite sizing differences at first. Before even thinking about creating my own store, I was on a mission to try as many petite brands as I could because I just wanted more things that actually fit in length. As someone who normally rocks a small or medium in bottoms – again, depending on the brand or the fit – like I’m a medium in most leggings because of my strong thighs. But on the flip side, I’m usually a small in bikini bottoms because of my narrow hips. So as I was shopping from said petite brands, I just assumed I would be a small or a medium as I normally am. I learned very fast that that was not the case. I remember receiving the medium leggings that I ordered and being like… well, shit, there’s no way I’m getting this over the booty… Turns out, I’m a large in most petite leggings. Now I want you to know that I’m not saying that being a large is bad thing but when I spent my whole life shopping for smalls and everyone telling you you’re small, there’s just something about that word that makes you go… wait what, how did that happen? It’s just super confusing and makes me feel self-doubt and cues the body image woes — all of those feelings are the exact opposite of what I wanted to do by creating this brand!
I know I’m not alone in this because since I opened the store, I’ve had quite a few exchanges. All of those exchanges were for the next size up. And could have been avoided had they read the size chart my carefully. Now, I know some exchanges are to be expected, absolutely, that’s part of the game. IT happens! But I started to see that pattern with the exchanges and so I did something most big brands would probably never do. I reached out to 2 of my most recent customs BEFORE I fulfilled their orders and asked them to provide me with their measurements JUST to confirm their size – to give me peace of mind. And they BOTH ordered one size too small – having defaulted to normal ordering standards.
That right there told me that what I had wanted to do from the very start isn’t stupid or silly. And that it actually will be more likely to help my customers get a better fit.
And so I’m officially ditching the standard numerical and letter code sizing and doing something a little bit more… unique.
My new sizing chart is all about celebrating our cuteness — rather than how big or small it is.
But before I tell you what the new sizes are, I want to share with you how they came abou because I think it’s a cool story. As I said, I wanted something different from the beginning but I just didn’t know WHAT that was. I had talked with my boyfriend, my family, some friends, all of whom just kinda nodded along saying “that’s a neat idea, it’s different, I like it” but not really exploring that can of worms any further. Then at the very end of a consult call with a potential client – whom just happened to be one of those customers who accidentally ordered her normal standard size of the sage green shorts and had to exchange them for the next size up. I had mentioned the idea of changing the size chart but still felt unsure and she was like “What if you use that height chart thing you used a long time ago, you know the one with the small fry and peanut”….
…And I was just speechless. LIKE YES!!! JUST YES!!! What she was talking about was some silly little thing I posted in like 2019 basically asking my audience to tell me how tall they were using an emoji from some height chart thing I completely made up. It was 100% fun, totally whimsical, and unbound to size. And that’s EXACTLY the kind of thing I wanted for my size chart. And since I made it up a while ago, I felt perfectly comfortable pulling it back out front the archives, tweaking it, and making it work for my size chart.
Basically, I’m using cute short girl nicknames as sizing codes. The best part? The theme I’m using is food and snacks. I felt that was 100% fitting given my background in nutrition. And who the hell doesn’t like snacks!?
And so I made a giant list of all the short girl food nicknames I could think of from nugget to shortcake to pumpkin, I just wrote them all. And then came the difficulty of sorting them into a chart that made any sort of sense. Obviously, I wanted to have some organization because I’m not about to just throw spaghetti at the wall. But I also had several doubts. Like what if someone gets offended if their size is “nugget”? – what if that strikes a nerve or stirs up some childhood trauma? I felt like my goal with a unique size chart is to provide a more playful and lighthearted approach to sizing so if I offend anyone then I’m also not helping my customer. And I kept putting this off because I needed to let it sit and really think about it and even talk about it with people whose opinions I value. And after several weeks of mulling it over, I realized something else. The overall mission for Funsized as a lifestyle brand is to change the narrative about being petite. It’s to help petite women embrace everything about their size – including silly little nicknames that they might have once found offensive. For me, that nickname was Shrimp. To me, that was the worst thing someone could call me as a kid. Now I love it, I refer to myself as shrimp and squirt all the time. And it’s just funny and cute now. I did try to refrain from using the lesser cute names. Like I know a good chunk of petites don’t like the word munchkin but there’s also a whole lot of us who do and love the shit out of those yummy little donut holes.
With all that being said, Using food nicknames, to me, gives a more playful and lighthearted approach to sizing. And it’s not to be taken too seriously! For example, a “Peanut” size may be smaller than a “Cupcake” size, but both are equally delicious and worthy of celebration and could be dressed up in so many different styles and still look so freaking good. This approach celebrates diversity and inclusivity, recognizes that there is no one “perfect” body shape or size – we’re all loved!
I know it’s a little different and might take a hot sec to get used to, but trust me, it’s for your own good! I think this will help ensure your clothes fit like a glove and feel comfy. And As a tiny online store, it’s a pretty bold move, but I’m pretty confident it’ll pay off big time for our rockstar customers!
So if you want to know what fun size you are, you could go straight to the website www.shopfunsized.com and click on the sizing tab OR you can take the snack size quiz by going to funsized.life/sizequiz
Thanks so much for listening to today’s episode! I’d love to hear your thoughts about the new size chart so feel free to send me a DM @funsized.life_ on instagram
