Gender-Affirming Shapewear Highlights Important Market Niche

Gender affirmation (the act of aligning your physical appearance with your identified gender) is something everyone does to an extent, but is an especially important way for trans and non-binary people to combat gender dysphoria and express their sense of self. This often includes amplifying or concealing certain features or body parts, or dressing in a specific way – which is where gender-affirming apparel comes in.

US musician Lizzo, who rose to fame singing about self-love and championing body neutrality, launched her inclusive shapewear line Yitty via a Fabletics partnership last year.

Her new Your Skin range includes gender-affirming breast binders and tucking thongs – and, like the rest of Yitty’s product range, it will also be size inclusive, available in XS-6X.

Gender-affirming apparel differs from gender-neutral and gender-fluid product offerings. While the latter promote a blurring of gendered clothing categorisations and empower people to dress and shop without restriction, the former is intended to specifically affirm the wearer’s gender identity. For this reason, it’s paramount that brands identify the key needs of their consumers, instead of using ‘gender-neutral’ or ‘unisex’ as blanket terms.

Currently, the gender-affirming apparel market is largely served by smaller independent labels, including Play Out, UrBody, Kirrin Finch, GenderBender, Rebirth and TomboyX (all US-based). Which means there’s huge commercial opportunity for bigger brands with wider reach and more mainstream commercial appeal, like Yitty, to get on board.

Expect to see other inclusivity-led and celebrity-fronted shapewear labels like Kim Kardashian’s Skims – which last year expanded into adaptive underwear – follow suit into the gender-affirming space.