Correct me if I am wrong, but the reason the fitness industry exists is to (financially) capitalise on the motivation people have, to lead a healthy life through various exercises and activities.
If this is the case, why do SO many companies only make gym clothes for the people who are already converts, and not to those who actually need to be engaged with regular exercise? We're a country (and world) that is getting larger and larger around the waist.
It seems that fitness clothes made by the larger corporations are only made for those who would look good wearing the brand. Is it a case or conspiracy that these big corporations don't want larger people to wear their clothes? Will the fact that a size 20 woman or a 4XL man wearing a fitness logo detract from the brand image these companies want to uphold? Is it a shaming thing? The fact and irony is, only if larger people lose weight will they be then able to fit into those clothes.
There are some fitness and exercise companies like Lululemon and Lorna Jane that are all about the raaahh, motivating people to get moving and also try to take away the fear or instill a no holds bar attitude. Their t-shirts have emblazoned slogans such as, "Never give up" and "Live Life Love Life". The tragedy is, both these companies only make sizes up to an Australian women's 16, and its not a very generous sized system either! I'm not normally a 16 in clothes and yet I have great difficulty in fitting into the largest size in either of these brands!
Programs like "The Biggest Loser" make me feel uncomfortable and I also feel a sense of shame for the individual 'on display'. How much more motivated would they be to exercise if they had fitness clothes that made them feel good and confident? Why is it that the coaches and trainers get to wear all the latest branded apparel and the contestants are either in a cotton 'Biggest Loser' t-shirt or they're bare? I suppose shaming people is one way to lose weight, I like to think that you can motivate people to do that too.
One of my main motivators to get fit and stay active was investing in good quality gym wear. It was about feeling good and confident while exercising. If only we could only pass that opportunity on to all people.
P.S. The only company that I could see made much larger sized clothes was Nike (available in the US).
Images taken from:
http://info.lululemon.com.au/education/info/sizes?mnid=mn;education;size-chart&icid=cars2;wk24;sizeguide;2013
http://images.smh.com.au/2013/03/26/4140623/729-biggest-loser-kevin-620x349.jpg
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