Plus-size walkers seek to improve access to the great outdoors

Ms Birnie, who started a plus-size sewing pattern company, said finding outdoor clothing that would fit was so difficult, she started making her own.

“I made waterproof over-trousers, actual walking trousers, some gaiters, which are the lower leg protection – because I couldn’t get waterproof trousers that would fit my body,” she added.

Rebecca Dawson, one of the founders of Every Body Outdoors, set up the clothing company Vampire Outdoors in 2022 because she was so fed up with not being able to find suitable outdoor clothing that fitted plus-size people.

She has been a keen hiker for more than 10 years and said: “It’s 100% a problem. There is a size bias to people doing outdoor activities.

“A lot of clothing manufacturers and retailers don’t recognise that people in bigger bodies want to do outdoor activities, including the more adventurous things like long-distance hiking and mountaineering.”

She said there was some entry-level clothing in larger sizes in some shops, but for anything more advanced the choice was “severely lacking” above a size 20.