A Chinese plus-size fashion retailer, sick of ‘very ugly clothes’, launched her own label

Amanda Yao talks openly on Chinese social media about weighing 100 kilograms – and sells fashionable, high-end clothing for plus-size people

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Published: 7:15am, 5 Dec 2024Updated: 8:05am, 5 Dec 2024

Surrounded by racks of colourful dresses and blazers in China’s manufacturing hub of Guangzhou, plus-size clothing brand owner and influencer Amanda Yao is on a mission to promote body positivity.

She is part of a small but growing number of women in China challenging restrictive beauty standards, including thinness, pale skin and childlike features.

A saying circulated frequently online claims “there are no good women over 50 kilograms [110 pounds]”, while social media challenges have women squeezing into children’s clothes or showing off the coins they can stack on their collarbones.

Yao makes fashionable, high-end clothing for plus-size women, offering a vibrant contrast to the poorly cut offerings normally available in “slimming” dark colours.

A worker photographing a clothing item at the workshop of plus-size clothing brand owner and influencer Amanda Yao in Guangzhou. Photo: AFP

Designer and company co-founder Sun Jiaqi steaming clothes at the office of plus-size clothing brand owner and influencer Amanda Yao in Guangzhou. Photo: AFP

“I want my customers to have clothes that express who they are inside, rather than soulless pieces that exist only to make them look thinner,” the 35-year-old says.