Michelle Suter has worn principally large and saggy clothes for years. The 63-year-old retiree who lives in a suburb of St. Louis gave away her favourite sundresses and different form-fitting outfits, pondering she’d by no means be these smaller sizes once more.
Now, after shedding about 28 kilos whereas taking GLP-1 drug Wegovy, she stated she has began to dream of her new wardrobe.
“That is a part of the joy — to put on issues which can be new and match somewhat than outdated garments you can tie the drawstring tighter,” she stated.
Michelle Suter, a retiree who lives close to St. Louis, has been taking a GLP-1 drug and is midway in direction of her weight reduction purpose. But already she stated she has purchased some smaller T-shirts and a pair of Hoka sneakers as her dimension dropped and she or he went on longer walks along with her two canine.
As extra U.S. shoppers take weight reduction and diabetes medication and shed important kilos, style manufacturers and retailers may have a contemporary alternative — promoting to buyers like Suter who plan to refresh their closets.
Gross sales of larger bra sizes have fallen, market analysis agency Circana stated, referring to that as a number one indicator that can seemingly carry over to different clothes classes. Some retailers, together with private styling service Sew Repair, have already seen a soar within the variety of prospects mentioning weight reduction as a motive why they’re looking for new outfits.
A few of the key limitations to the drugs have begun to fade: the medication can be found in capsule kind, and costs have fallen for folks with out insurance coverage protection for them. This week, Eli Lilly‘s GLP-1 capsule, Foundayo, began transport from the corporate’s direct-to-consumer platform, and it’ll quickly be accessible at pharmacies and on some telehealth providers. Novo Nordisk launched its Wegovy capsule in January, and greater than 600,000 prescriptions have been written for it by February.
Because the medication develop into extra accessible, some analysts and market researchers anticipate demand for clothes will develop — although there are nonetheless questions on what number of of these on GLP-1s will take them long run.
“We are able to debate the magnitude of it, however what is evident is that there’s going to be a tail wind to attire spending in the usas a results of the uptake of those medication,” stated Aneesha Sherman, lead analyst overlaying U.S. attire and specialty retail for fairness analysis agency Bernstein. “Up till now, it was actually small, and now could be the place we begin to see an inflection.”
About 1 in each 8 U.S. adults, or almost 13%, are presently taking a GLP-1 drug like Ozempic or Zepbound, based on the KFF Well being Monitoring Ballot performed from Oct. 27 to Nov. 2. About 18% of respondents stated they’ve taken a GLP-1 remedy sooner or later.
Some estimates are even increased. GLP-1 adoption within the U.S. grew from 11% in November 2024 to 16% in November 2025, based on Bernstein’s annual survey of buyers. These surveys have been each taken earlier than capsules hit the market.
By 2030, greater than 30 million Individuals may very well be on a GLP-1 remedy, up from 10 million in 2026, primarily based on JPMorgan estimates.
A pharmacist shows a field of Wegovy capsules at a pharmacy in Provo, Utah, Jan. 15, 2026.
George Frey | Bloomberg | Getty Photos
Extra folks dropping pounds may gas a purchasing spree. About 80% of GLP-1 customers stated they anticipate needing new clothes as a consequence of dimension adjustments, based on a survey in January by Circana. It discovered that 55% of energetic GLP-1 customers have bought new clothes or footwear, pushed primarily by altering sizes, whereas about 25% up to date their wardrobes to refresh their look.
If GLP-1 customers every drop roughly three sizes and every individual buys 5 to eight objects per dimension they drop this yr, that may translate to between 150 million and 700 million attire objects bought, or a roughly 1% to 4% increase to the full unit quantity of clothes offered within the U.S. per yr, Bernstein estimated in a report in late March.
That would imply as a lot as $13 billion in further attire spending per yr, the fairness analysis agency discovered. It primarily based its math on the typical promoting worth of attire objects within the U.S., which is about $18, based on market researcher Euromonitor.
But that may very well be a conservative estimate, Bernstein stated, since GLP-1 customers have tended to skew increased earnings than the remainder of the inhabitants and should go for costlier objects or manufacturers.
Bras on the market at a Victoria’s Secret retailer on Fifth Avenue in New York, US, on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025.
Gabby Jones | Bloomberg | Getty Photos
Early indicators of clothes refreshes
GLP-1 medication gradual digestion and suppress urge for food, which can assist folks shed weight together with addressing well being situations together with weight problems, diabetes and coronary heart assault threat. Already, meals and beverage manufacturers and eating places have taken word of the rising variety of folks taking the remedies and tried to get forward of weight loss plan adjustments by emphasizing or including elements like protein and fiber. For instance, Starbucks debuted a protein chilly foam.
Some magnificence retailers have additionally added or promoted merchandise that may assist tackle potential negative effects of the medication, corresponding to sagging pores and skin. For instance, L’Oreal-owned La Roche-Posay launched a cream and serum, which it examined with GLP-1 customers, to assist pores and skin look firmer.
However for attire retailers, the GLP-1 impression on purchasing is within the early innings.
Thus far, the intimate attire class has seen sizing shifts, based on Circana. In bras, these band sizes of 42+ and cup sizes of D are shedding market share, whereas midrange and smaller sizes together with band dimension 40 and B and C cups are gaining share, the corporate discovered.
“Up till this level, we have not seen so large of a shift as a result of there are a whole lot of classes the place you will get away with happening a number of sizes and never having to shift,” stated Kristen Classi-Zummo, an attire trade advisor for Circana. “Bras have to suit.”
Victoria’s Secret has seen related traits, based on CEO Hillary Tremendous. She stated the intimates and pajama retailer has seen a few 3% swing downward within the bra band sizes and underwear sizes which can be promoting, which she attributed to GLP-1s in an interview with Fortune in February.
During the last three months, there’s contemporary proof that sizing adjustments are spilling into different classes, Classi-Zummo stated. Plus-sized clothes for ladies is shedding market share to girls’s attire that is round dimension 12 and below, a change from the prior months when plus-sized was rising sooner, primarily based on Circana knowledge.
Classi-Zummo stated she expects attire demand from GLP-1 customers to speed up over the subsequent six months.
Vacation spot XL, a specialty retailer of massive and tall males’s attire, has seen “a whole lot of volatility” due to GLP-1s, too. On the corporate’s earnings name in mid-March, CEO Harvey Kanter estimated that as a lot as 25% of its prospects are utilizing the drugs. He stated GLP-1s are impacting the enterprise greater than anticipated.
Prospects are purchasing, however are “extra needs-driven,” he stated. For instance, he stated, some are shopping for shirts from its private-label model, Harbor Bay, that price about $20 as an alternative of shirts from Ralph Lauren that price about $120 as they proceed to shed weight. Others are sizing out of the objects it sells. And nonetheless others have misplaced weight on the medication, however have gone again up in dimension as a result of they stopped remedy.
“Sometimes, weight loss of any type — up or down — is a good friend of ours,” he stated on the earnings name. “However I believe proper now, we’re in a sample the place they’re dropping pounds and so they’re on a journey and so they’re making an attempt to to not purchase garments till they’re performed with that journey.”
Sew Repair was early to acknowledge the chance of GLP-1 medication. The corporate has a devoted touchdown web page for people who find themselves on the load loss drugs.
Courtesy: Sew Repair
A flip to Sew Repair
Sew Repair has seen maybe essentially the most noticeable impression of any attire retailer up to now. CEO Matt Baer stated the corporate acknowledged the chance of weight reduction medication early. Since September 2024, it has run particular advertising campaigns, working with influencers who take the drugs and making a devoted touchdown web page on its web site.
Baer stated the corporate’s enterprise mannequin, which handpicks objects and kinds for patrons, can assist buyers going via a serious life change. Prospects pay $20 for a private stylist to pick out clothes and accessories primarily based on their sizes, tastes and worth ranges, which known as a “Repair.” Then, shoppers preserve and pay for the objects that they like and ship again the remainder.
“As individuals are experiencing a fast bodily transformation, they want assist,” he stated. “They’re on the lookout for assist on the subject of feeling and looking their greatest as their our bodies change, and we’re uniquely positioned to fulfill them at this second.”
Shopper mentions of weight reduction of their Repair request notes has tripled over the past two years and shot up by 75% yr over yr in the latest fiscal quarter, he stated.
Plus, the corporate has seen a pronounced shift in each prospects adjusting the sizes listed of their on-line profiles and requesting smaller sizes, Baer added.
Nonetheless, he stated, “there is not any one-size-fits-all method to how folks navigate their weight reduction journey.” Some purchasers have paused their orders and waited to overtake their closets till reaching a purpose weight, whereas others have requested for core objects to put on at every stage of sizing down.
On-line resale firm ThredUp has additionally seen indicators that prospects wish to promote and purchase clothes due to weight adjustments. Denim has been the highest class for GLP-1 customers, based on the corporate’s knowledge, with the speed of customers shopping for smaller waist sizes of denims accelerating since early 2025.
Then again, the usage of GLP-1s has elevated ThredUp’s stock and gross sales of plus-sized clothes as extra folks on the medication put their outdated wardrobes up on the market. Buy quantity for giant, additional giant and plus-sized attire mixed grew by 6% in March 2026 in contrast with the year-ago interval, at the same time as the acquisition quantity of small-and medium-sized objects dropped by 6% over the identical time interval.
CEO James Reinhart instructed CNBC that the resale platform tends to attract folks at moments of transition, and GLP-1 customers are “squarely in that camp.”
“It is a chance for us to achieve success each on the purchase aspect and on the promote aspect, as individuals are rotating out of wardrobes that they now not slot in,” he stated. “We now have alternatives to seize some share there.”
A large swath of shops may gain advantage from GLP-1 customers looking for clothes, together with off-price retailers like T.J. Maxx and athletic attire manufacturers like Lululemon, stated Aneesha Sherman, an attire and specialty retail analyst at Bernstein.
Lechatnoir | E+ | Getty Photos
The retailers that might profit most
For retailers, the nudge for some prospects to purchase new outfits comes at a useful time.
Gross sales within the attire trade within the U.S. are projected to develop solely modestly this yr, with an anticipated enhance of 0.4% yr over yr, pushed by a 1% rise in common promoting worth, based on Circana. That is higher than the prior yr, when attire gross sales have been roughly flat.
That slowdown has come from U.S. shoppers watching their budgets, as they purchase lower-priced objects from discounters and prioritize classes with innovation, corresponding to magnificence, Circana’s Classi-Zummo stated.
A large swath of shops may gain advantage from GLP-1 customers looking for clothes, Bernstein’s Sherman stated. She stated she expects the most important winners to fall into a number of main classes. Off-price retailers like TJX-owned T.J. Maxx and Marshalls and big-box retailers together with Walmart and Goal may gain advantage as folks dropping pounds search for worth whereas dropping a number of sizes.
Athletic attire manufacturers, corresponding to Nike, Adidas and Lululemon, might promote extra clothes as a result of their stretchier leggings and tops are usually extra adaptable to altering our bodies and since weight reduction might spark GLP-1 customers to develop into extra energetic than earlier than. And bespoke clothes providers, together with Sew Repair and rental providers like Hire the Runway and City Outfitters-owned Nuuly, may achieve prospects in search of styling recommendation or outfits they’ll put on throughout a interval of change.
Large-box retailers and warehouse golf equipment that embrace pharmacies, corresponding to Costco, Goal and Walmart, may gain advantage for one more motive, too. Prospects might toss an merchandise of clothes of their basket whereas choosing up their remedy, Sherman stated.
As extra folks take GLP-1 medication, retailers may see a lift within the variety of prospects who’re looking for smaller sizes.
Yurii Klymko | Istock | Getty Photos
To draw buyers, manufacturers and retailers “want to consider each the bodily change and the emotional transformation that customers are going via” and converse to them straight about how they can assist, Circana’s Classi-Zummo stated. For instance, a secondhand retailer may emphasize the worth of shopping for well-known manufacturers for much less whereas altering sizes or a retailer may provide assist discovering the precise match as folks’s measurements change.
Suter stated she’s about midway towards her purpose of shedding almost 60 kilos. But she stated she already feels happier and attire in another way. She dusted off outdated pairs of denims from her closet and purchased a number of smaller T-shirts on Amazon to tide her over as her weight continues to drop.
She purchased a pair of Hoka sneakers to put on as she had the power and stamina for longer neighborhood walks along with her two canine, Odie and Bentley.
When Suter hits her purpose weight, she stated she’ll splurge on contemporary outfits to put on to her upcoming highschool reunion. She stated she’s going to spring for some swimsuits, too.
“It may be onerous to not strut,” she stated, with amusing.