Over half of British women wear size 16 or above, and the figure is rising. Yet for years plus-sized fashion was largely an afterthought. 

“Curvier women want the same look and contemporary style as everyone else, but they’ve just felt forgotten,” says Tracy Egan, who for 20 years manufactured quality clothing for high-street retailers with business partner Rachel Heather.  

Sensing an opportunity the pair co-founded specialist brand Live Unlimited, with an inclusive mission to fit and flatter any woman, celebrating their curves. Beginning with their own direct-to-consumer (DTC) site in spring 2017, they secured retail listings on Zalando and Next several months afterwards. John Lewis followed in early 2020 online, and in 16 of its stores later that year. 

These partnerships helped Live Unlimited grow at a compound annual rate of 175% over the past two financial years. Revenues hit £9.9m in 2022, the same year the business became profitable. There’s more to come too: these results predate Live Unlimited listing with M&S in 2023 – a major win for the bootstrapped business. “It’s been a phenomenal success. We’re 100% up on where they expected us to be,” says CEO Heather. 

She and Egan ascribe their rapid growth to a close relationship with their customers, who are mostly over 30, and more interested in versatility, style and quality than following fast fashion. “We want to be known as specialists and our USP has always been around fit. All of our collection is fitted on models across the size spectrum we cover. It’s a lengthy, but vital part of the design process,” adds Creative Director Egan. 

Their other great strength comes from controlling their manufacturing, with factories in Romania and Sri Lanka from their days as a retail supplier. “It means we’re incredibly agile. If we have a bestseller when we look at our figures on a Monday morning, we can react. Conversely, if something has started badly, and we’ve something similar coming in, we can restyle it,” Egan says.

Paths to growth

Live Unlimited is growing on several fronts. In the autumn, it is launching wholesale in Bloomingdale’s and Von Maur department stores in the United States, where plus-sized women are arguably even less well-served.

Profitable growth in Europe is another active goal, and the business recently launched a new video-rich UK website. The aim is to capitalise on Live Unlimited’s impressive customer loyalty – 80% of DTC customers are repeat purchasers – and increase their website’s share of total sales from around a fifth to a half.  

Given the growth rates at M&S, Next and John Lewis, this may take some time. “Between those three brands we’re going to capture most of the right market for us. Then it’s just about finding creative ways to get them onto our site,” says Heather.

One strategy is to open their own bricks and mortar stores. “We want a presence on the high street that’s our own and where people can enjoy styling sessions,” says Heather, who points to the role in-person experiences play in giving people confidence in the fit and sizing. 

The pair, who raised equity in 2020 for another fashion business, Ro&Zo, which they launched with long-term colleagues Rosie Bowden and Zoe de Abreu, add that they would consider taking investment for Live Unlimited to accelerate retail. 

Whichever routes they take, Heather and Egan remain confident in their direction. “Plus size doesn’t have to be cheap rubbish,” says Heather. “We have a market here. I think our growth shows that.”