In 2014, American Eagle’s affiliate store aerie did something unheard of; they launched a spring ad campaign with one promise in mind.

No photoshop.

As far as fashion brands are concerned, this is huge, especially when you take into account what aerie’s demographic looks like. For those of you who don’t know, I’ll explain.

Aerie was started in 2006 by American Eagle as a kind of sister store. The aerie brand appears on lingerie for girls & women who are somewhere between 15 and 21 years old. The approach towards less Photoshop in model shoots has been argued since what seems like the beginning of time. Young girls often see skinny, flawless models and can develop eating disorders from feeling like they don’t fit in with that image.

Choosing not to retouch images in aerie photoshoots was not without a few concerns. Sure, it looks great for press coverage, but would it really help the sales side of things?

Yes.

In 2015 alone, sales increased by 20%. The Twitter hashtag #AerieREAL rocketed holiday sales and kept customers coming back for more.

Of course, we should take this good news with a grain of salt. It’s phenomenal that an ad campaign has finally decided not to Photoshop their models. Still, it’s a battle we all will continue to fight; one campaign won’t solve the complicated self-esteem problems in every young girl. But it’s a step in the right direction.