Frenzy as ASDA to stock size zero :: Wessex Scene Online

Frenzy as ASDA to stock size zero

21st March 2007
Antonia Peuleve

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Britain’s second biggest supermarket, Asda, has made the controversial decision to stock size 0 clothes (UK size 4) in 194 of its outlets, provoking outrage by many health experts and in face of warnings from Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell.

The clothes, designed for women and teenage girls, are being stocked in the G21 range of their clothing line George. Topshop and H+M both stock size 4 restricted to their petite ranges, but Asda has become the first retailer to stock size 4 as a realistic and normal size. The average size 0 measurements include a 31.5 inch bust, 23 inch waist and 34 inch hips, the average size of an eight year old.

Asda’s decision has been condemned by health experts, including Professor Janet Treasure, from the eating disorders unit at Kings College London, who expressed her disgust by writing an open letter to the fashion industry, accusing it of exploiting young women’s obsession with being thin for profit. Professor Treasure went on to say that designers rather worryingly expect women to shrink to fit into their clothes, rather than adapting their clothes to fit today’s larger women. It is suggested that designers are in turn influencing fashion retailers to keep up with the trend of size 0. Professor Treasure attacked Asda, saying: "From the timing of Asda’s announcement it seems like they have seen a market forming. They obviously don’t want to miss out on an opportunity for free advertising, even at the cost of public health."

Marie Heselden, a 3rd-year medical student at Southampton University, commented: "It seems ironic that a supermarket that promotes healthy eating has made such a ludicrous decision to stock size 4 clothes that could potentially encourage eating disorders and consequentially advocate under nourishment and malnutrition."

Asda has argued that it is simply keeping up with latest catwalk trends, however, they themselves oppose using size 0 models in their advertising campaigns, preferring to use the more realistic sized Coleen Mcloughlin. They are also emphasising that: "All [our] adult clothing starts at a size 8 and it is just the G21 range that will have size 4."

Doctors argue that promotion of such sizes can lead to eating disorders such as anorexia, which can then lead to osteoporosis and infertility. Asda’s decision comes in the aftermath of the tragic death of the size 0 model, Luisel Ramos, aged 22, who died from a heart attack after stepping off the catwalk during the Uruguayan Fashion Week in August last year. Dr Dee Dawson, one of the UK’s leading experts on eating disorders, has said: "Asda needs to know that the only grown-up people who can wear this size are people who are ill. It is not natural." Olivia Oldroyd, a 3rd-year English Literature student at Southampton University, shares a similar view, and is worried: " that Asda is going to set a precedent for other leading retailers and supermarkets to also stock size 4 clothes leading to added pressure for women and teenage girls to fit into the smallest size."

This is the main concern of many experts and the general public. However, in a recent Vogue report on the ‘skinny debate’, Daisy Garnett commented: "diseases like anorexia occur for complicated psychological reasons and are not ‘caught’ simply by looking at fashion magazines. On the other hand, common sense is all you need to tell you that idealising a thin body, and using it to the exclusion of all other body shapes to sell clothes and products, isn’t exactly helpful."

Daisy Garnett also defends the media attack against size 0 models: "many of them channel this preoccupation into eating well; because of their uncommon height and genetic make-up, models tend to have naturally fast metabolisms. Of course they do; you can only be a model if you are naturally tall and thin. The question is, how thin?"

John Lewis has taken a different approach, as shown by their decision to use a size 12 model in their swimwear campaign. The department store is also changing all their mannequins to an average size 10. John Lewis spokesman Mark Forsyth said: "We wanted a realistic image and body shape in our shots. The photographs show you can be size 12 and be healthy and beautiful - you don’t have to be super-skinny to model clothes in an attractive way."