THE FUTURE OF PETITE FASHION
While the petite fashion industry has come a long way over the past few decades, the fact remains that petite fashion has many gaps to fill before it may be regarded as “up-to-date” with the rest of the fashion industry.
These “gaps” refer to the evident lack of a wide range of different clothing options for petite women. While this is an issue well-known within the petite community, it has nonetheless been left unchanged and unresolved entirely.
As it stands, the majority of petite clothing options comprise of low-quality, fast-fashion pieces, of which are usually found within limited “petite” ranges of bigger fashion companies.
As such, the conclusion may be drawn that existing petite fashion has been the product of an afterthought of bigger brands, with those bigger brands settling on the bare minimum in terms of variety and quality for petites.
We hold a particular view on what needs to change within the petite fashion industry for it to be up-to-date with the rest of the industry, and for it to properly cater to it’s customers and their requirements. These include:
- Clothing with different personalities to cater for customers’ personal styles;
- Variety of affordable, premium and luxury options to select from; and
- Available clothing options to cater to every occasion and setting.
1: Something for everyone & their personal style
A common theme within the petite fashion market currently is the focus on mostly casual wardrobe “staples” (i.e. plain tops and bottoms).
While we can see growing (and emerging) collections of petite “staples”, this alone cannot be regarded as fixing the gap. While most would think a reliable pair of petite jeans from Good American are a staple within every girl’s closet, what if some petites find jeans repulsive, and have a unique sense of style with preference for different kinds of pants?
Where are the classic, edgy, feminine, quirky, vibrant and masculine clothing options for petites? It is simply not enough for bigger brands (you know who they are) to have select items of different styles as part of their petite range.
We love the new petite fashion brand, “The Shortlist”, and commend their unique brand personality. We are also excited for petite fashion brand, “Pro Hac Vice”, which has a feminine, vibrant feel to it. With new, exclusively-petite labels emerging like these, our vision for unique petite clothing options seems in closer reach than ever before.
2: Plenty of affordable, premium and luxury options to select from
We believe it is a complete no-brainer for affordable, premium and luxury clothing options to exist for petites to select from, just as these exist in the rest of the industry.
As we mentioned earlier, the overwhelming majority of petite clothing options comprise of low-quality pieces, of which are usually found within limited “petite” ranges of bigger companies. While affordable clothing options are required by most customers, there is no denying that some petites, just like everyone else, will want to invest in premium and luxury options also.
In recent years, there has been an exciting wave of new petite fashion labels focusing on premium quality clothing, including The Shortlist, Pro Hac Vice, and Fable Petite, amongst others.
Further, the luxury petite fashion market can be regarded as almost non-existent, with the only notable petite fashion brands tapping into this being House of Arti.
3: Something for every occasion & setting
The obvious reality that as petites, we too require plenty of clothing options for different settings and occasions is yet to be understood by the fashion industry.
In the future, we hope to see petite ranges encompassing all occasions/settings, including workwear, casualwear, eventwear, basics, activewear, loungewear, and plenty of seasonal items – all while keeping up with current trends.
At MONA JULIET, we believe petite women should have access to clothing that not only is made just for them, but suits their needs based on the occasion they are purchasing the clothing for. For example, our fashion label specialises in high quality work and office attire for petite women, as we understand that this is a significant gap in the market. If you’re a petite woman (i.e. under 165cm/5’4″) and are in need of some high-quality, timeless pieces for your wardrobe, we invite you to have a browse of our recently launched Classics Collection.