Dia & Co Partners With Madewell For A ‘New Chapter In Plus’

Plus-size company Dia & Co now carries Madewell’s full assortment of plus offerings, from sizes 14W through 28W and 1x through 4x. Customers can try on Madewell tops, outerwear, dresses, and denim through Dia & Co’s Try Before You Buy program. “If you’ve never tried Madewell jeans you can order all five options and try them on at home with a $20 deposit,” shares Nadia Boujarwah, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Dia & Co. Boujarwah says this type of risk-free shopping saves customers the experience of having to purchase hundreds of dollars worth of clothes in order to try them on. This can be especially important for plus-size shoppers who face a wage gap caused by weight discrimination.

Dia & Co is serving as a key advisor to Madewell as they expand their plus offerings. This advisory role includes offering trainings to Madewell’s marketing team and in-store associates across the country. Earlier this year Athleta announced a similar training program. “This is a collaborative process,” shares Boujarwah. “We talked about everything, including our recommendations for in-store fixtures and how to create a seamless shopping experience for customers. There’s a lot of ways that the experience can go wrong. So we wanted to be as thoughtful as possible.”

Boujarwah says that she wanted to use Dia & Co’s reach to ensure Madewell had the widest possible access to a plus audience. Audience, says Boujarwah, is the key to more feedback and product development. “We’re happy to share our knowledge with any brand that wants to work with us.” She says that she hopes that what Dia & Co has learned will help improve the experience of their customer no matter where she shops.

“The team at Dia & Co have been incredible partners and advisors as we have further developed our plus offerings, providing invaluable fit and style feedback. Their input has been a big part of our thoughtful approach to the expansion of our plus collection,” says Anne Crisafulli, Madewell’s senior vice president of merchandising.

Boujarwah says inclusive sizing is a team sport, and that there’s no final endpoint to becoming good at plus-size fashion. She says that this partnership allows Dia & Co and Madewell to focus on what each of them does best. “We’re finally seeing the product and the experience come together. I don’t think historically that these two things have successfully happened at the same time. This is the new chapter in plus.”