Melissa McCarthy on Her Fashion Line: ‘My Whole Point Is to Stop Categorizing Women’

Melissa McCarthy’s clothing line, Melissa McCarthy Seven7, isn’t just giving us a lot of fabulous fall finds (which it is) or allowing us to emulate her stellar red carpet style (it does that too). If she had her way, her clothing line would be revolutionizing the fashion industry — and she told PEOPLE just how she’s making that happen.

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“My whole point is to stop categorizing women. I’m making clothes for women, period,” she tells PEOPLE. “I can’t control who puts what where in the store [right now], but I’m putting it all up on my website.”

And considering there was resistance against her idea of making one inclusive collection, she could not be happier with the results of her HSN line debut. It sold out of smaller sizes first, which she calls “fantastic.”

“I can’t remember the exact percentage, but something like at least 60 percent of women are a size 14. And I find it incredibly bizarre that we’ve taken the biggest grouping of people and we’re saying, ‘Oh, I don’t want your business,’ she explains. “It’s like opening a restaurant and saying, ‘But we’re not going to serve food to hungry people. You can’t come in if you want to eat. Are you super-full? Then come on in.’ If that’s your biggest portion of clients, in what business would you ever take them and remove them from the equation? Is it so displeasing to you, that you’ve removed your largest group of customers? I find that just perplexing.”

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In addition to her business smarts, she’s proud of using her platform to send a positive message to women. “It’s sending the message that if you’re a size 16, or an 18, or 20 your shirt can look exactly like the shirt that was made for the size 4 person or the size 8 person. The point is, I’m making a shirt that I hope a woman likes, and I’m not saying it’s only for this person or that person. It’s for a woman. No matter what size she is.”

Courtesy Melissa McCarthy Seven7

Her five-year plan is for her line to be available on the “regular” floors of department stores, allowing friends to shop together without “certain women having to go up to the tire section to find ‘their’ clothes.” And even though her line just launched days ago, several “very big” stores are in on the idea!

“I’m not going to name [the department stores], but when it does happen, I’m going to wear a shirt made of firecrackers spelling out their name. I will wear it all year if they do this” she says. “There’s no reason for those divisions to be there. It’s shaming, it’s categorizing and it’s just unnecessary.”

What are your thoughts on McCarthy’s statements? Are you shopping her new clothing line? Share in the comments below.

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–Colleen Kratofil, with reporting by Kate Coyne