{"id":278354,"date":"2026-02-11T08:02:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T08:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/278354\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T08:02:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T08:02:07","slug":"fashion-customers-upset-as-nz-designer-augustine-stops-making-plus-sized-clothes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/278354\/","title":{"rendered":"Fashion customers upset as NZ designer Augustine stops making plus-sized clothes"},"content":{"rendered":"

The brand previously offered Stella Royal, a range that went to size 22. It ended that line and extended its other items to size 20 but recent collections have only run to size 16.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe tried for years to dress our curvy babes and in the end we just get left with so much stock that ends up in our outlet store, it\u2019s just not sustainable,\u201d Coe wrote.<\/p>\n

\"RetailRetail expert Chris Wilkinson said the decision helps prevent profit leakages and maintain sustainability. Photo \/ 123rf<\/p>\n

\u201cI know sometimes online it looks like the larger sizes have sold out but usually that\u2019s because we only had a few to start with in that size. Also when we order seven or eight sizes instead of five, our minimums to our factory double, [it is] creating way too much of one style. Our bestselling sizes are 8 to 16 so as a business decision we have decided to only do these sizes.\u201d<\/p>\n

It has been a topic of discussion among Augustine fans online.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is genuinely upsetting and disappointing. It\u2019s not about expecting you to please everyone, but about the sadness of no longer feeling included after being loyal customers for so long,\u201d one wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been trying hard to continue supporting NZ businesses, which makes this feel even harder.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another said she wore Augustine clothes almost every day<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt helped me feel safe after breast cancer and treatment, confident in new jobs and blessed me with new friends. That\u2019s pretty amazing thing for \u2018just\u2019 a piece of clothing to do, and I am so grateful to you for that. And while I completely accept and understand your business decision, I feel a sense of grief for what I have lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

Retail expert Chris Wilkinson said the decision makes sense.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a situation that plays out for all clothing brands in terms of needing to find efficiencies and stop profit leakages to remain sustainable. It\u2019s probably been more visible in Augustine\u2019s case because the brand does have such a strong following, some of their loyal customers will be upset that they won\u2019t be able to continue buying the product.<\/p>\n

\u201cAugustine\u2019s bright colourways and contemporary styles have a distinct following and there are few comparatives, meaning the faithful outside of the core size ranges will have to consider options not necessarily with the same vibrancy and styling that they have loved.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile understandably challenging for some people, it\u2019s better they make this move now before slow moving lines compromise its ability to continue supporting the needs of the majority of its customers.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said making a range of sizes could be more expensive.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt adds complexity as suppliers need to set up for each size and will likely have minimum order requirements. If they don\u2019t reach those, then the products will be more expensive, which the supplier either has to absorb or charge extra for \u2013 a situation that would surely compromise goodwill.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some customers questioned what they should do with gift vouchers if there were not likely to be any new garments in their size.<\/p>\n

Consumer NZ said they would not have many options.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey may be able to sell their vouchers to someone else or see if the business is willing to provide a refund.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plus-size writer and influencer Meagan Kerr said the retail environment was tough for many brands.<\/p>\n

She said there seemed to be a wider shift away from earlier efforts by brands in New Zealand and around the world<\/a> to be more inclusive.<\/p>\n

Kerr said if the most popular sizes were 8 to 16, it could be because of how they were marketed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be a lot of people who are really sad because people who like their brand really like their brand. They\u2019ve got a lot of people who are brand advocates so if they make clothes that are your style and you don\u2019t know where to find an alternative now that they\u2019re not making them, I can understand why people would be upset about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Augustine has been approached for comment.<\/p>\n

\u2013 RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The brand previously offered Stella Royal, a range that went to size 22. It ended that line and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278355,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[806,156336,44997,4381,28145,813,1438,1446,111,43,139,69,63624,75703,812,8496],"class_list":["post-278354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-as","tag-augustine","tag-clothes","tag-customers","tag-designer","tag-edmunds","tag-fashion","tag-making","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-plussized","tag-stops","tag-susan","tag-upset"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}