Finding Cold Weather Gear for Plus-Size Travelers Shouldn't Be This Challenging

Under the critical gaze of the Austrian Airlines attendant at O’Hare Airport, I retrieved my raincoat and soft-shell jacket from my carry-on. "What do you plan to do with those?" she asked, her disdain barely concealed, as I shoved a pair of sandals into my purse. "Wear them?" Sweating from the stress and warmth as I tied the soft-shell around my waist, I nodded. I slipped back into my favorite heavy travel sweater and shrugged the raincoat over it, then hoisted my suitcase back onto the scale. Even though my carry-on was far beyond the maximum weight limit, she grimaced and impatiently waved me through.

The week prior, I packed my suitcase for a trial run, utilizing compression packing cubes and checking which shoes could fit inside others. Completely focused on ensuring my bag wouldn’t exceed the strict dimensions of European overhead bins, I overlooked the weight limits.

I wear size 16 pants and XXL tops, just large enough to make shopping for clothes in-person difficult in major American cities. Anywhere else? It’s nearly impossible. For fat travelers (which I prefer to call myself instead of plus-size) like me, locating cold weather gear such as warm layers and quality coats for my Albania road trip requires endless searching and online shopping. Even with all that effort, it often results in having to settle for inferior equipment. Checking my suitcase posed the risk of arriving without it. In a foreign city with language barriers, lost luggage or a forgotten item isn’t just an inconvenience; it can lead to missed opportunities and may even ruin the trip.

During her recent travels, Marley Blonsky, an influencer and cofounder of All Bodies on Bikes, was invited on a ride. When she couldn’t borrow gear, her group suggested she visit a store. "That’s not how it works," she sighs. "I can’t just walk into a bike shop and grab a jacket."

Even when brands offer sizes beyond XL, they seldom have them available in physical stores. When avid skier Heidi Wasem set out to refresh her outerwear, she discovered that no shops in her hometown carried ski gear in her size. She ended up ordering over a dozen items online to find the right fit. "It required an MBA to navigate all the return policies and paperwork for unwanted or unworn items," she remarks. "It feels like an excessive amount of effort for a $200 pair of pants."

Checking reviews offers limited assistance for larger individuals: In The Wirecutter’s recent update on the “Best Down Jacket,” all three of the New York Times outlet’s top selections (top pick, also great, and upgrade option) maxed out at size XL. However, research indicates that the average American woman wears a size 16–18, the same as I do, and those sizes don’t fit me. This leaves the budget option—described as a sticky-zippered, non-waterproof coat that tears easily—and its extended size alternative, which “didn’t provide sufficient warmth and was difficult to layer under or over due to its boxy fit.”

Two months after my daughter was born, just nights before my first ski day of the season, I pulled out my gear. I slipped my arms into the jacket and checked the zipper, feeling in the pockets for any forgotten granola bars or lunch money. Then I tried on my pants. They abruptly stopped around the middle of my thighs, unable to reach my waist, much less button up.

I reside in a major city within a day-trip range of at least four ski areas; it didn't dawn on me that I should be worried. However, by the time I reached the third large shop, anxiety began to creep in. Finally, at the flagship REI, I found a pair of pants that buttoned up. They were about two sizes too large, but I threaded a belt through the loops and rolled up the hems. The biggest issue didn’t reveal itself until weeks later when I discovered the water resistance was akin to that of a dish sponge and cotton sweatpants.

It might sound dramatic to say this can be a matter of life and death for serious outdoors enthusiasts, but as a skier who braved frigid -15°F temperatures and relentless rain at 33°F this past December, it truly matters. Even in less dire situations, like wanting to enjoy a spring getaway without dodging the rain, fat travelers deserve gear that fits, performs well, and—much to the annoyance of our predominantly fatphobic society—looks great.

"Companies claim the plus-size gear they attempted to create didn’t sell well, but they sabotaged it by failing to promote it, offering poor fit, material issues, or designing it to be unattractive," says skier Kathie DeWitt. "I’m convinced it's because they don’t genuinely collaborate with plus-sized individuals to develop these products."

In the few years since I hurriedly searched for ski pants, the industry has made strides: I preordered the North Face's new sizes the moment they were announced, and Outdoor Research collaborated with plus-size outdoor influencers to expand its line. However, the local Backcountry store, which sells both brands online, still carries nothing above an XL.

A damp bottom won’t deter me from the slopes, but I hope that one day I can spontaneously buy a stylish puffy jacket on sale after indulging in too much après-ski in Sun Valley or teach a plus-size friend to ski without them needing to create a spreadsheet to find pants long before they experience the thrill of faceshots on a powder day.

I’m still boarding the plane, but if you see me looking like the Michelin Man, clutching my bag with a white-knuckle grip, just know I’m not eager to wear a garbage bag as a raincoat or choose between missing out on epic runs and skiing like Porky Pig. A few hours of discomfort on the plane means one less worry once I’m on the ground. And it’s not just outerwear that’s a problem: After searching five stores for plus-size underwear while on vacation in Greece, Blonsky recalls, she eventually gave up and went commando for an entire week.