IMG Launches ‘Brawn’ Board for Plus-Size Male Models

Brawn model Zach Miko. (Photos: IMG)

We’ve been hearing, talking, and writing about female body acceptance and the women’s plus-size movement for years now, but what about the guys? Will the fashion industry ever learn to accept and embrace BHMs?

IMG Models is betting on it. The agency is launching a brand-new men’s plus-size division called Brawn, rather than the usual “big and tall.” As IMG President Ivan Bart told WWD, “Brawn has a body positive message. Brawn is physical strength.”

Those qualities are what led Bart to sign actor and comedian Zach Miko as IMG’s first brawn model. The 6-foot-6 New Yorker — who has tattoos, ample facial hair, and a 40-inch waist — found fame in 2015 after starring in Target’s big and tall Mossimo campaign. In WWD’s words, he’s “essentially the male version of Ashley Graham” — another IMG model.

Said Bart, “I want every man in America to say, ‘I can do that’ when they see Zach.” Bart hopes that eventually the fashion industry will sense a change and begin producing a wider range of sizes and cuts for dudes as well as women.

“The body-positive messaging and size diversity is something that’s relevant, and something that continues to be on everybody’s mind,” he said. “We have to extend the conversation for men.”

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