Christian Siriano said he tripled his business by including 'plus-size' clothing and it makes no

• Designer Christian Siriano tripled his business by adding plus-sizes.
• This is really no surprise as a majority of women are considered "plus-sized" in the industry.
• Unlike Siriano, however, many designers refuse to do the same, which is a bad business choice.

Fashion and body positivity have a long and complicated relationship. For decades, the runway world promoted the notion that thin was always in, excluding anyone who didn't fit the uber-slim model mold from the narrative. Films like "The Devil Wears Prada" depict this glamorous industry as a harsh one that looks down on all who aren't runway fit.

These expectations are unreachable and, frankly, unnecessary. Fashion is for all, not just those who fit this stereotypical mold, and thankfully, a rising group of designers and models are aiming to change this. One of them is Christian Siriano.

In a recent interview, Siriano talked about how his career has transformed since he began incorporating plus-sizes into his clothing lines.

"Adding plus sizes to my line tripled my business," he said, according to ELLE. "Why wouldn't you do that?! Do we not want to triple the business? Do we not think these women should wear our clothes? Do we not want these women to have beautiful things because we're afraid they're not beautiful? What is going on here?"

Siriano continued, "of course it's a process to make things in bigger sizes. The patterns are different. There's more fabric involved. But we will never charge more for a larger size, because that's not the right thing to do. The whole point of being a designer is to make people feel good, we're here to make people look cute in a dress. You want to look cute in a dress and you're a size 26? Why not?!"

For the fashion industry, this is groundbreaking news. But for everyday plus-size fashionistas, this is far from shocking.

After winning season four of "Project Runway," Siriano has quickly risen to the ranks of some of the industry's hottest, most sought-out designers. He's worked with everyone from supermodel Coco Rocha to actress Laurie Metcalf and morning show host Kelly Ripa. But, more notably, Siriano is known for his willingness and love of dressing plus-size women.

Amongst them is Whoopi Goldberg, Ashley Graham, and Keala Settle. When other designers refused to make dresses in plus-sizes, he instantly stepped in to help. And it's really no surprise that doing so has increased his sales.

According to research conducted by Washington State University, the average woman wears between a size 16 to 18, and the number of people who are considered "plus-size" is increasing yearly. The data is clear: plus-size is not the minority here. No, plus-size is average. So then, why aren't more designers dressing for the majority of women?

Because of this, it's no surprise that Siriano's business has tripled. Plus-size Americans are desperately craving clothes that both fit them well and make them feel glamorous, so when a hot-ticket designer like Siriano comes around, they flock to his clothing lines. The logic for this is simple: a growing number of Americas and people worldwide need clothes made in plus-sizes.

Yet, top-notch designers don't often sell their clothing in these sizes. Thus, plus-size consumers are left only with the choice to buy clothes from retail brands. So with designers like Siriano who are creating trendy, elegant looks in larger sizes, plus-size shoppers spend their money more on these clothes as they are viewed as a "hot commodity" for being so rare.

It's important to note that over the past few years, many have started to take small steps toward representing diverse body types in the fashion industry, whether that be with models on the runway or on the sale rack.

For instance, model Ashley Graham has become an icon for body positivity in the fashion world appearing in many runway shows and on the cover of a handful of magazines, helping to show that women of all shapes and sizes are beautiful and worthy of designer clothing. Models Jessica Leahy and Danika Brysha are also to be commended for this.

The popular reality show "America's Next Top Model" has also begun incorporating diverse body types into their casts and even had one plus-size winner. Yet, there is still fault here, as many times, curvy models are categorized as "plus-size" when they are in fact average or below average, wearing a size 10 or 12. The problem here is the term "plus-size." If the average woman wears a size 16, then how is that plus-size? How can we say a model who wears a size 10 is plus-size when she is, in fact, below average?

But still, so much work has yet to be done and, quite frankly, so much money is waiting to be earned by the designers who will take a chance and go against this industry norm.

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