(upbeat music) - I've always loved thrifting and I've always loved the hunt.

I think my favorite part about, besides connecting with people, is like actually finding the item.

So for me- - Yeah.

- It's the dig, it's the hunt.

- [Veronica] Maura Hampton is the owner and curator of Ethical Bodies, a plus-sized fashion brand.

And though she and her brand manager, Tricia Stoecklin, love thrifting, they say it's not always accessible for plus-sized people.

- In general.

- Shopping in general as a plus size person, especially in store, is hard.

We are very limited even in the size ranges.

Most stores, unfortunately, go up to a 3X.

So anything above that is hard in, you know, day to day shopping in store.

But then especially when thrifting, you may or may not find anything over a size extra large.

- [Veronica] And Ethical Bodies isn't the only business working to make plus-sized fashion more available in St. Louis.

- The Good-ish is a size inclusive, queer-centered, vintage and home goods brand, and we also do styling services.

- [Veronica] That's Erica Hallman with their partner and co-owner of The Good-ish, K Scott.

Hallman says they first met the Ethical Bodies duo a few years ago when both brands were doing popups and online sales.

- It was the first time I'd really seen somebody doing something similar and being size inclusive in St. Louis.

- [Veronica] The Good-ish and Ethical Bodies partnered to host the first Big Body Bash together in 2023.

- Which is a vendor market exclusively for plus-sized bodies.

And it was so successful.

- [Veronica] So when the Ethical Bodies team began looking for a brick and mortar store, a partnership with The Good-ish made sense.

- I was just browsing storefronts and saw one on Jefferson and texted Erica and was like, "Would you be interested in maybe splitting a space?"

Because we're doing the same thing.

Why not do it together?

- [Veronica] The two businesses moved into a store on Jefferson Avenue in March, 2024.

And on February 15th, they hosted the grand opening of Ethical Bodies and The Good-ish on Cherokee Street, their second location together.

Both brands cater to different styles.

Ethical Bodies leans more feminine, while The Good-ish is more unisex.

Together, they offer plus-sized modern and vintage clothing options with an emphasis on sustainability.

- There's just pounds and pounds and mountains of clothes that people just toss away, like every single moment of every single day.

So I think it's important to figure out how to breathe new life into clothes and not just toss them aside.

- [Veronica] They also avoid fast fashion items, which are garments that are produced rapidly and cheaply, often in third world countries.

- You may get a low cost for an item, but we don't know how that was, if it was ethically sourced, the labor that went into it.

All of that behind fast fashion.

Like yes, the price point is there, but unfortunately, the ethics behind it all may not be.

- [Veronica] Erica Hallman says it's important for their customers to have options.

- One of the things that I hear most often that is sometimes like overwhelming, but usually in a good way for people, is the fact that they can come in here and they have so many options of things that do fit them, but they have the option to say, "No, actually, I don't love that.

I like it, but I don't love that."

- Yeah.

- Whereas normally, we are forced to just take whatever's available because it's the only thing that fits.

- [Veronica] Ethical Bodies and The Good-ish carry sizes large to 4X and have a universal size chart to help shoppers find the right fit.

- We basically looked at all of the current brands.

- Yes.

- Especially starting with plus sizes and we took those measurements, fused them together to make a size chart that was the best version we could out of like months and months of research.

- So it's important that we try to be as consistent as possible with the size chart.

We do that by making sure we include waist measurements, hip measurements, chest measurements, arms, and like arm openings.

- [Veronica] And besides the size chart, the store has other accommodations to make customers feel more comfortable, like large fitting rooms with fans and seating for all sizes.

Erica Hallman says, being able to try things on in store is crucial.

- I think it's really important for people to be able to see themselves, for people to be able to come in, try something on, which is an experience that like too often, we don't get to have, there's very few places that carry plus size in store any longer.

And most of the time, we're relegated to online options.

- [Veronica] And the group says customers' reaction to the store can be emotional.

- [Maura] It's been so amazing.

We've had laughs and tears, like happy tears.

- Yes.

- And it's just been so lovely because even us growing up, we have the shared experience of not being able to shop with our friends.

So when you're creating that space for people to do that, it's really, really special.