Ozempic users are shrinking out of their clothes — and one unlikely industry is cashing in
After losing 60 pounds on weight-loss drugs over the past year, Atlanta resident Lorraine Scott faced a common wardrobe dilemma.
“Most of the things in my closet didn’t fit anymore,” said the 42-year-old, who is known to her YouTube followers as Lorraine Kamesha. Rather than buying an entirely new wardrobe while her weight fluctuates, Scott has spent at least $300 tailoring her favorite jeans and pants, turning to fast fashion for the remainder of her clothing.
Across the United States, consumers taking weight-loss medications such as Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro are turning to tailors and cobblers to save money as they lose weight.
The shift is driven in part by broader cost-of-living pressures and rising out-of-pocket expenses for the medications, as more US employers reduce insurance coverage for GLP-1 treatments.
Over the past year, leather repair specialists have seen a sharp increase in demand for their services as people lose weight quickly. Requests extend beyond belt alterations to include adjustments for shoe and handbag straps tailored to fit customers’ trimmer bodies.
This uptick in demand illustrates how weight-loss drugs are reshaping the retail market, benefiting specific service industries while traditional clothing retailers adapt.
According to Gallup, roughly 11% of US adults are taking GLP-1 medications to lose weight, leading millions of consumers to seek budget-friendly options to update their wardrobes.
Cobblers Direct, an online footwear and handbag repair business with 25 storefronts in Texas and a nationwide mail-in operation, has recorded double-digit year-over-year growth in belt shortening, according to CEO Stephen Kelly.
The company, whose team of around 100 craftspeople will soon move into a new 30,000-square-foot facility in Austin, is currently shortening up to 500 belts each week, Kelly said.
He noted that customers regularly enter stores carrying five or six belts across their shoulders. After having additional holes punched, some clients ask to keep the trimmed leather remnant as a “badge of honor.”
“They’ll pull their belt out and show how long their belt originally was. And then they tuck it back into their waistline,” Kelly said.
According to a survey of more than 700 US adults on weight-loss drugs conducted by telehealth platform Trimi, about 80% of GLP-1 users continue wearing clothes that no longer fit, waiting an average of six months before buying replacement items. Jeans are the most affected clothing item, with 90% of respondents reporting a poor fit.
Reluctance to purchase a new closet is further reinforced by University of Cambridge research released this year, which found that patients regain an average of 60% of their lost weight within a year of stopping the medications.
At family-owned Jim’s Cobbler Concierge in Manhattan, clients began bringing in belts by the dozen last year, according to client relations director CJ Burgos — a trend the shop named “belt-zempic.” Burgos noted that GLP-1 users are also experiencing reductions in foot size, leading to more footwear adjustments.
