Dive Brief:

• Old Navy stores will now take returns of plus-sized clothing (only sold online) and will establish a series of four meetings with customers regarding its policies around its plus-sized garments, including the possibility of selling the alternative sizes in stores.

• Consumers have complained that the Gap Inc. brand was charging women more than men for its plus-sized apparel. The company said that plus-sized jeans for women cost more because they require more design and manufacturing adjustments.

• The company is responding to a petition posted on Change.org early this month. 

Dive Insight:

Despite the fact that Old Navy has not actually met its essential demands to not charge women more for plus-sized clothing, Renee Posey, who instigated the petition, last week called the campaign a success.

“Your voices have made a major retailer stand up and take notice that the way they have been doing business with their plus-sized female customers is not OK and changes need to be made,” she said.

Designer Isaac Mizrahi earlier this year made news when he advocated that designers and retailers forgo specialty sizes altogether, saying that they can be demeaning to customers, especially because the categories are often neglected by designers and retailers.

"If you're going to do clothes, you need to do them in a whole size range,” he said in March.