Is Target Offering 'Tuck-Friendly' Bathing Suits for Kids?

Published May 23, 2023 Advertisment: Target store's 2023 Pride collection includes a "tuck-friendly" bathing suit for children. Target's 2023 Pride collection includes items labeled in stores as "tuck-friendly," but none of these items is available in "kids' sizes," designed for children, or marketed to children.

Fact Check

Conservative commentators expressed outrage over several items in Target's 2023 Pride Month collection.

Published May 23, 2023

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Target store's 2023 Pride collection includes a "tuck-friendly" bathing suit for children.

Context

Target's 2023 Pride collection includes items labeled in stores as "tuck-friendly," but none of these items is available in "kids' sizes," designed for children, or marketed to children.

On May 19, 2023, anti-LGBTQ groups and commentators promoted the claim that Target was selling "'tuck-friendly'" bathing suits for children."

Viral videos referenced two items with a tag highlighting the bathing suits' "tuck-friendly construction" and "extra crotch coverage features." Such clothing is aimed at transitioning or non-gender-conforming people. Several viral tweets alleged that these products were what "you will find in the kid's section" of Target. 

Both of these products can be found on Target's website, and neither of them is designed for children. Claims that the products were for kids appear to come from an apparent disbelief in the notion that some adults are small, and the fact that some Pride collection displays were near a children's clothing section.

"Either those are sizes for kids," the Daily Wire's Matt Walsh opined, "or for very, very, very small adults." Newsmax and Daily Mail described the items as "seemingly designed for children." The latter claim is based on the proximity of seasonal displays like the Pride collection to children's clothing, and the fact that the seasonal display "includes items for babies and children."

Kayla Castaneda, a spokesperson for Target, told The Associated Press (AP) that the "tuck-friendly" items are not available in kids' sizes. "Both [Target] pages list the products as coming in 'general adult sizing' and offer adult XS as the smallest size for sale," the AP reported. 

Because the product in question was not, in fact, designed for children, produced in their sizes, or marketed to children, we rate the claim as "False."

Sources

Pennock, Lewis. "Target Has Bathing Suits Designed to 'tuck' Private Parts." Mail Online, 19 May 2023, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12103015/Target-selling-bathing-suits-section-tuck-private-parts-new-Pride-collection.html.

Pride Adult Bikini Swim Bottom - Black. https://www.target.com/p/pride-adult-bikini-swim-bottom-black/-/A-87442122. Accessed 23 May 2023.

Pride Adult One Piece Colorblock Swimsuit. https://www.target.com/p/pride-adult-one-piece-colorblock-swimsuit/-/A-87442129. Accessed 23 May 2023.

"Target Offers 'Tuck-Friendly' Bathing Suits in Pride Line." Newsmax, 19 May 2023, https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/target-pride-lgbtq/2023/05/19/id/1120536/.

"Target's Pride Collection Features 'Tuck-Friendly' Swimsuits for Adults, Not Kids." AP NEWS, 23 May 2023, https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-target-swimsuits-transgender-pride-collection-892500330955.

Alex Kasprak is an investigative journalist and science writer reporting on scientific misinformation, online fraud, and financial crime.

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