In this articleNKEADS-DERENTURBNAMZNDECKOR-FRFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNTMichelle Suter has worn mostly big and baggy clothing for years. The 63-year-old retiree who lives in a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri gave away her favorite sundresses and other form-fitting outfits, thinking she’d never be those smaller sizes again.Now, after losing about 28 pounds while taking GLP-1 drug Wegovy, she said she has started to dream of her new wardrobe. “That’s part of the excitement — to wear things that are new and fit rather than old clothes that you can tie the drawstring tighter,” she said.Michelle Suter, a retiree who lives near St. Louis, has been taking a GLP-1 drug and is halfway towards her weight loss goal. Yet already she said she has bought some smaller T-shirts and a pair of Hoka sneakers as her size dropped and she went on longer walks with her two dogs.As more U.S. consumers take weight loss and diabetes drugs and shed significant pounds, fashion brands and retailers could have a fresh opportunity — selling to shoppers like Suter who plan to refresh their closets.Sales of bigger bra sizes have fallen, market research firm Circana said, referring to that as a leading indicator that will likely carry over to other clothing categories. Some retailers, including personal styling service Stitch Fix, have already noticed a jump in the number of customers mentioning weight loss as a reason why they’re shopping for new outfits. Some of the key barriers to the medications have begun to fade: the drugs are available in pill form, and prices have fallen for people without insurance coverage for them. This week, Eli Lilly’s GLP-1 pill, Foundayo, started shipping from the company’s direct-to-consumer platform, and it will soon be available at pharmacies and on some telehealth services. Novo Nordisk launched its Wegovy pill in January, and more than 600,000 prescriptions were written for it by February.As the drugs become more accessible, some analysts and market researchers anticipate demand for clothing will grow — though there are still questions about how many of those on GLP-1s will take them long-term.”We can debate the magnitude of it, but what is clear is that there is going to be a tailwind to apparel spending in the U.S as a result of the uptake of these drugs,” said Aneesha Sherman, lead analyst covering U.S. apparel and specialty retail for equity research firm Bernstein. “Up until now, it was really small, and now is where we start to see an inflection.”Read moreGLP-1 drugs are changing how Americans eat. Food companies are racing to catch upNovo Nordisk’s explosive Wegovy pill launch draws a new wave of patients into GLP-1 treatmentFDA approves Eli Lilly’s GLP-1 pill, opening the next phase of the weight loss drug marketAbout one in every eight U.S. adults, or nearly 13%, is currently taking a GLP-1 drug like Ozempic or Zepbound, according to the KFF Health Tracking Poll conducted from Oct. 27 to Nov. 2. About 18% of respondents said they have taken a GLP-1 medication at some point.Some estimates are even higher. GLP-1 adoption in the U.S. grew from 11% in November 2024 to 16% in November 2025, according to Bernstein’s annual survey of shoppers. Those surveys were both taken before pills hit the market.By 2030, more than 30 million Americans could be on a GLP-1 treatment, up from 10 million in 2026, based on JPMorgan estimates.A pharmacist displays a box of Wegovy pills at a pharmacy in Provo, Utah, Jan. 15, 2026.George Frey | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesMore people losing weight could fuel a shopping spree. About 80% of GLP-1 users said they anticipate needing new clothing due to size changes, according to a survey in January by Circana. It found that 55% of active GLP-1 users have purchased new clothing or footwear, driven primarily by changing sizes, while about 25% updated their wardrobes to refresh their appearance.If GLP-1 users each drop roughly three sizes and each person buys five to eight items per size they drop this year, that would translate to between 150 million and 700 million apparel items purchased, or a roughly 1% to 4% boost to the total unit volume of clothing sold in the U.S. per year, Bernstein estimated in a report in late March. That could mean as much as $13 billion in additional apparel spending per year, the equity research firm found. It based its math on the average selling price of apparel items in the U.S., which is about $18, according to market researcher Euromonitor. Yet that could be a conservative estimate, Bernstein said, since GLP-1 users have tended to skew higher income than the rest of the population and may opt for more expensive items or brands.Bras for sale at a Victoria’s Secret store on Fifth Avenue in New York, US, on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. Gabby Jones | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesEarly signs of clothing refreshesGLP-1 drugs slow digestion and suppress appetite, which can help people lose weight along with addressing health conditions including obesity, diabetes and heart attack risk. Already, food and beverage brands and restaura …
