MP STYLE GUIDE RSS
I always love a solid article on the plus industry. Plus Size Wars is an article featured in the New York Times today written by Ginia Bellafante. She perfectly sums up the “Catch 22″ of plus fashion.
“The market for plus-size clothes is effectively a Catch-22: women purchase less than they might because what they see on the racks doesn’t appeal to them; manufacturers and retailers cite poor sales figures as evidence of low demand and retrench, failing to provide the supply that might meet changing tastes. But correcting the imbalance isn’t a simple matter of translating a Milan runway look into a larger size. It is not because Miuccia Prada cannot abide women who are a size 18 that she makes no dresses in size 18. Matters of image and fears of brand diminishment may play a role, but the business of making plus-size clothes turns out to be enormously complicated.”
Developing clothes for the plus women is much more complex then for a straight size women. Many more factors go into each garment because there are so many variations of the plus body. To add to this “Catch 22″ factor, schools do not educate there fashion students in plus size design, marketing, or merchandising. Therefore, there are very few people who know how to develop plus clothing correctly and then successfully market to the consumer.
We are fortunate that the Madison Plus team is plus size industry experts with our expertise focused on plus size clothing development, buying, styling, design, merchandising, and plus model selection. If you would like to contact us to find out more about our services please email us at info@madisonplus.com.
(L-R Kari, Aimee, Erica)
Please take a moment and read this NYT article.
This is so true, you can just take regular clothes and add more material and call them plus size. Cut is so important, as is fabric choice.
Great article! I had no idea. Finding clothes that fit is so hard, and I hear complaints from my girlfriends at all sizes. I have always wondered about this. How do we change it? Or where does the disconnect happen?
Here’s the part that bugs me:
quote
Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at the NPD Group, a market-research firm, says. “Retailers don’t nurture the business, and the investment on the part of retailers is great” — floor space, potentially bigger dressing rooms, sales associates sensitive to customers’ particular needs — “so it leaves few players in the end.” endquote
Really? We need bigger dressing rooms? Do we need bigger hangars, too? And ‘SENSITIVE’ sales associates?
I’m not a fragile flower. I know what size I am. I don’t need a ‘sensitive’ sales associate, I just need one that knows their stock. I can change in a room the size of a phone booth (if anyone remembers what they are) despite having been at my heaviest a size 28. And floor space? If you don’t put it on the floor, I’m less likely to buy it. You hear that Old Navy and others? EVERYBODY is a little different. Few people can buy pants that they don’t try on and have them actually FIT.
phew…rant off.
love your rant
well said. Retailers are so risk adverse, they almost set themselves up for failure in regards to the plus market because they rest on so many assumptions. – aimee
love this article. its a must read for all the plus indsutry.
this si so so true, great article!!!
Erica is cute