Old Navy Changes Policy For Plus-Size Returns, Adding Customer Panel To Make Better Clothes

Old Navy will continue to charge more for certain plus-size items — like the jeans seen in the top row here — but will change its return policy and create a focus group of fuller-figure customers.

A couple weeks back we told you about a petition asking Old Navy why it charges significantly more for plus-size women’s clothing but the largest men’s apparel is the same price as the mediums and smalls. The retailer explained to us that its women’s items are specially designed while the menswear is just larger versions of the same items, but there were still lingering questions, like why are there fewer plus-size options and why can’t you return them in the store?

In a formal response to the petition on Change.org, Old Navy’s parent company Gap Inc. admits that there is “a lot of room for improvement in the way plus-size clothes are designed and marketed throughout the industry-at-large,” and while flashing its plus-size bona fides — like offering a line for women for 20 years — the company adds that “we always want to learn and see how we can improve.”

First up is the return policy, which currently requires customers to mail back their plus-size purchases instead of taking them to a store. Gap says that, starting Dec. 5, Old Navy stores will begin accepting plus-size in-store returns.

Then starting in January, the company plans to create a customer panel “to gather insights that will further enhance our plus size collections.”

It’s basically a brainstorming/focus group that will meet quarterly to “test drive” and provide feedback on new plus-size offerings from the retailer.

Gap Inc. is still standing by its higher prices for certain plus-size items, maintaining that these are separate designs that require additional work.

Renee Posey, the customer who created the petition, had expressed concerns about Old Navy’s initial response, but says that the change to the return policy and the new panel is a “huge victory” for petitioners.

“It shows good faith that they are committed to changing policies that unfairly single out full-figured women and opens an important line of communication between their organization and their plus-sized customers that has long been needed,” writes Posey in a statement. “During our discussions, they have assured me that all options are on the table — from price changes to bringing the Plus line back into brick & mortar stores — and I look forward to working together with them to make the long-term, overarching changes to their pricing structure, design process and retail environment that are needed to create a shopping experience that offers plus-sized women the fashionable clothing they want in stores and at a fair price.”

by Chris Morran via Consumerist