There’s a version of this interview where we send the founder of Crusade of Curves the safe questions. Where she gives us polished, brand-friendly answers, we run a few nice photos, and everybody moves on with their day.
That is not this interview.
Ten years into building one of the most respected names in the plus-size event space, Mallory answered my questions and told me the truth about an industry she loves enough to critique out loud. Sponsorships. Weight loss pressure from talent agencies. The Old Navy campaign everyone praised that she thinks deserves side-eye. The purse. She held nothing back, and honestly, neither will I.
I’m the Features Editor at The Curvy Fashionista, and I’ve spent my career on both sides of the plus-size conversation: writing about it and working inside the machine that shapes it.
My bylines have appeared in Essence GU, Grown Mag, and Frankly Britt, and before I was editing features at TCF, I built my background in marketing and communications, learning how campaigns get pitched, cast, and sold to the public. I’ve also worked in affiliate and brand partnerships, so I know exactly what happens when a brand’s budget meets a creator’s honesty.
So when Mallory told me the board room conversations don’t include true plus size bodies, I didn’t need that translated. I’ve sat close enough to those conversations to know she’s right.
That’s why I wanted to put these questions to Mallory specifically, and why I wasn’t interested in the safe version of this piece. Ten years of building something real in this space earns a writer who’s willing to sit in the discomfort with her, not smooth it over for a brand deal.
How Crusade of Curves Went From Regional Runway to International Curversary
Crusade of Curves didn’t start as the traveling, boundary-pushing brand it is today. It started regional, in North Carolina, for its first four years, before Mallory relocated to Texas and made a decision that changed everything.
“Once I moved to TX, I decided for the 5th year to tour Crusade and ultimately continue traveling to expand nationwide,” she told me, and now the brand is headed international, landing in Punta Cana next month for its official 10 year Curversary celebration.
But touring a body-positive brand into new markets isn’t just booking a venue and showing up. Mallory learned that the hard way.
“You won’t be as accepted or as well attended in cities that don’t truly embrace their bodies as they are,” she said, “you may need to do more work connecting to those who reside in those areas to gain trust, develop relationship and desire of attendance prior to committing to a given tour location.”
She’s blunt about learning that lesson in real time in 2025: “We experienced this in 2025 and learned some tough lessons, however we are still glad we went, just would have adjusted a few things to better adapt to the environment.”
That’s the thing about running a self-funded small business in this space. There’s no room for guessing. “Minimizing the unforeseen is always a good idea because it could cost your brand and bottom line which oftentimes, you can not afford as a self funded small business.”
What She Knew Then vs. What She Knows Now
Ask any founder what surprised them about their own industry, and you’ll usually get a soft answer. Mallory did not give me a soft answer.
“I didn’t know how important sponsorships would be with respect to the evolution of the event industry,” she said of launching Crusade of Curves back in 2017. What she learned instead was to build a brand people could trust, “not only reputable, but willing to go the extra mile for the community for which I derive and care so passionately about.”
And then, the part nobody wants to say out loud in this industry: “I didn’t understand that people would oftentimes not always come with the purest of intentions nor would everyone genuinely want to help grow the Crusade.” Navigating social media, influence, and business all at once, she said, “was more challenging than I ever imagined.”
The Conversation the Industry Keeps Avoiding
If you’re expecting the usual “inclusion is progress” soundbite, Mallory’s answer will stop you mid-scroll.
“The board room conversations don’t include true plus sized bodies, fit models beyond a size 12 aren’t hired,” she said flatly. Then she went further than most people in her position are willing to go on the record:
“Despite what many agencies are saying, there is a push for talent to lose weight, I know I am signed.” She hasn’t been told this directly by her own agency, she clarified, but “many of my colleagues are working with talent management who are strongly encouraging it.”
Her read on the state of the industry is stark: “This is an ecosystem set up to keep us out.” She connects it directly to the broader political climate around DEI. “Since the rejection of DEI and inclusion, plus bodies have been affected. Work for professional models has thinned and many have had to move into smaller, more affordable communities, or pick up other means of income their modeling salary used to cover.”
And the part that stung most, coming from someone this embedded in the influencer economy herself: “Our favorite influencers are not advocating within the spaces they are in either as they don’t want to challenge the brands that pay them on behalf of the people they influence, which is ironic but true.”
That Old Navy Campaign You Praised? She Wants You to Look Closer
Everybody clapped for the size-inclusive campaign. Mallory wants to know why the clapping stopped short.
“Having curve visibility in a campaign when the models are less than a size 14/16,” she said, naming Old Navy directly. “How does the campaign promote up to a size 32 and yet we have a world full of 24 and up models and yet, not one was hired.”
It’s not just about the size range, either. “I also think we need to diversify our curve model representation in these ads. They aren’t the sizes we can relate to, nor the body types. There aren’t enough fuller bellies in national campaigns, and of course we also don’t see enough deeper melanated hues in their campaigns either.”
It Always Comes Back to the Purse
Ask Mallory where the biggest disconnect lives between the people designing plus size fashion and the people actually wearing it, and she doesn’t hesitate.
“The purse!” she said. “Unfortunately, many small business designers are priced outside of what the average consumer can afford to pay for a garment these days.”
So, the cycle looks like this. Designers who build for plus bodies get priced out of their own customer’s budget. The customer turns to fast fashion because it’s what she can afford. And the designers who have been doing this work for years get quieter, then get gone.
Mallory sees it happening up close. “I think we additionally promote too much fast fashion and not the designers and boutiques that have been trailblazers in this space for years,” she said. “Designing and wardrobing solely with the purpose of plus. We haven’t supported those brands enough and many of them are quietly closing.”
Then she made it personal, the way only someone who has been in the room for a decade can: “Its hard to see and experience as many of them, I have personal relationships with.”
Compare that to the other end of the spectrum, where she pointed to the corporate brands that can afford “expensive activations, your favorite influencers, $50,000 dinner budgets.” Meanwhile, the grassroots designers, the ones who built the blueprint, are doing it on a shoestring and hoping we notice.
Her answer for how to fix it isn’t complicated, but it does take effort: “Aligning expectations, continuing to support small and valuing true relationships beyond follow count.”
So consider this your sign. Before the next haul, look at who’s been making clothes for us all along, and see what a little of your budget could do for them.
What Actually Happens in the Room
For all the industry critique, Mallory lights up talking about what Crusade of Curves actually feels like from the inside.
“People find community at Crusade,” she said. “We genuinely attract kind, warm people who are beyond excited to experience our event, meet new people and learn something!” Attendees leave, she said, “with more contacts, followers, photos, fond memories and in some cases, new client relationships, brand purchases, and ultimately, friends.”
And the loyalty runs both ways. “From the moment people model, design, vend or volunteer with us, they forever have a partner online and in life for support. We share, repost and engage our Crusade alums for years to come, and I cannot say many brands support our people the way we do, that’s the beauty and uniqueness of the Crusade brand.”
Why She Still Does This
I asked Mallory to get personal in her answers. After nearly a decade of building this, what’s the moment during New York Fashion Week that still gets her?
“Seeing the smiles on peoples faces, the laughter and the phones with flashes to catch the runway vibe of the evening,” she wrote back. “The slight glance of ladies at the bar who had never met outside of social media sincerely enjoying one another. Women and men fellowshiping and discussing their creative passions and exchanging contact information.”
Then, the part that got me: “The elated look on my featured designer’s face seeing her models walk her newest collection during NYFW. It was sheer joy. That’s why I do what I do….”
Ten years in, Mallory is still building, still naming what’s broken, and still showing up for a community that shows up right back for her.
So here’s your homework. Follow @crusadeofcurves to see what the Curversary looks like in Punta Cana. Tag and shop the independent designers you fell for in these photos. And the next time a brand hands you a campaign to clap for, ask who’s actually in it.
Punta Cana is next. I wouldn’t bet against her.
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