Universal Standard
In 2014, Polina Veksler and Alex Waldman went clothes shopping together at a major department store. Alex's experience was jarring: her options were severely limited and tucked away in one of the store's less-traveled upper levels in the 'plus-size' section. This unnerving realization that women could have such completely different shopping experiences at the same store sparked Polina's curiosity.
Polina dove into research and uncovered a striking gap in the market. About 70% of women in the U.S. wear a size 14 or larger, yet less than 20% of clothing is made in those sizes. Moreover, much of the available double-digit-sized clothing was fast fashion—not particularly well-fitting or built to last. The two friends recognized both a massive market opportunity and a genuine problem to solve.
Polina and Alex founded Universal Standard with a radical vision: a clothing brand where size would be irrelevant. Instead of organizing their business around size categories, they focused on inclusive design from the ground up. Their goal was simple but transformative: create a brand where any woman could shop and ask herself, "do I like this?" rather than "does this come in my size?"
- •The founders identified a massive market inefficiency where 70% of women wore sizes 14+, yet less than 20% of clothing was produced in those sizes, revealing a genuine unmet demand rather than a niche preference.
- •By converting personal friction from a shopping experience into systematic market research, the founders validated that their pain point was shared by millions of potential customers willing to pay for a solution.
- •Designing for inclusivity from the ground up rather than as an afterthought allowed the brand to own a differentiated positioning that competitors couldn't easily replicate without overhauling their entire production process.
- •Reframing the customer problem from 'finding clothes in my size' to 'choosing clothes I like' shifted the psychological anchor and eliminated the stigma that had traditionally separated the plus-size market into a segregated category.
- 1.Start by identifying a genuine pain point you or someone close to you experiences repeatedly, then validate whether that friction affects a large percentage of the market through primary research and publicly available data.
- 2.Quantify the market gap by researching what percentage of the addressable market is underserved and what the existing product quality or selection looks like for that segment.
- 3.Design your core product or service architecture to include your historically underserved customer from day one, rather than treating inclusivity as a feature to add later.
- 4.Redefine how your customer thinks about their problem by changing the language and mental model—shift from a deficit frame (what I can't find) to an empowerment frame (what I choose to wear).
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