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Over the past year, Instagram has become flooded with small shops devoted to selling vintage and gently-used clothing. But this new wave of online shopping has had one glaring problem: the sizing is limited. While Instagram is now a destination for finding unique pieces without having to actually go to a thrift store, most items offered run under a size 10. But Belen's Linens wants to change that. Selling clothing specifically dedicated to plus-size women, the store is, as it refers to itself, "vintage for thiccies."
The Phoenix-based vintage shop, which opened less than a year ago, styles and photographs its pieces on curvy ladies and indicates sizing in each caption (at the moment, its items run from size 12 to 18). With just 500 followers, Belen's Linens may not have the reach some of the most popular Insta-shops do (@courtyard_la and @the_corner_store have 117k and 41k followers, respectively), but it is disrupting a space that for so long has been dominated by straight-size women. Because in the same way the fashion industry is not yet properly catering to the 67% of women who are plus-sized, the vintage market still has a lot of work to do. Let's hope this is the start of a bigger movement on Instagram — and beyond.
Click on to shop some of Belen's offerings, and throw them a follow for their affordable, on-trend pieces.
67% of U.S. women are plus-size. Join as Refinery29 gives these women their own megaphone, doubling down on our commitment as allies, and partnering with them to catapult their powerful conversations into a true historic movement. #WeAreThe67.
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