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What happened to plus-size?
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The push to improve the plus-size offer for American consumers was doing just fine. But then came the pandemic.Get more news about Plus Size Bottoms for women,you can vist 5xsize.com!
In July, Ascena Retail, which owns leading US plus-size clothing retailer Lane Bryant (sizes 12-28), filed for bankruptcy, with more than 150 Lane Bryant stores scheduled to close. Lane Bryant, along with Ascena’s other brands, is now being sold to Premium Apparel, an affiliate of Sycamore Partners. More broadly, across the fashion market, in an era of retrenchment and cost-cutting, the higher manufacturing costs of plus-size apparel are likely to set back investment for the future.
That represents a missed opportunity, say researchers. Plus-size in the US alone is growing at nearly twice the rate of the overall apparel market, suggests market research by NPD. A growth rate of 4 per cent is likely for the $24 billion US market. Globally, the plus-sized market is valued at over $178 billion, with projected 4.3 per cent annual growth through to 2028, according to Acute Market Research.
NPD estimates 70 per cent of women in the US wear a size 14 (EU 44, UK 18) or larger. In the UK, the average woman’s clothes size is 18, while EU countries follow a similar pattern. However, less than 20 per cent of apparel is made in those sizes. Plus-sized consumers have faced limited design options as well as inferior quality.The good news: leading retailers and brands, including Walmart, Marks & Spencer and athleisure giants Nike, Puma and Adidas, have all developed plus-sized lines. And in the US, Universal Standard, founded in 2015, has taken size inclusivity to a new level, selling clothes up to size 40.
“This industry has been suffering because the prejudice against bigger bodies is so calcified that fashion companies have been leaving money on the table,” says Alexandra Waldman, co-founder and creative director of Universal Standard. “Size inclusivity has moved away from what we ‘should’ do, and is now what we must do.”
The extra production costs associated with plus-size clothing are weighing on retailers’ minds during the pandemic. For example, fabrics come in two widths, often forcing manufacturers to cut them lengthwise to accommodate larger sizes, wasting material. Plus-size requires investment and full-on commitment. The half-hearted approach — producing clothes based on pre-existing, straight-sized collections — turns off plus-sized consumers, says Universal Standard’s Waldman.
Waldman adds: “Factories often lack experience in making clothes of an extended size and looms are often not designed to make sweaters in larger sizes, especially if you’re looking to make something seamless. This is why mutual learning and a rigorous sampling stage is important at the beginning.”The number of new apparel products introduced in 2020 has fallen across all categories, according to Edited, the retail market intelligence platform. The plus-size market is no exception to this, with new arrivals in the US and UK contracting by 12 per cent year on year. None of this has been a result of consumer apathy. Indeed, the rise of the body positivity movement maintains pressure on brands to adopt more size-inclusive approaches. Even in this tough year, the number of plus-size SKUs online selling out grew by 15 per cent compared to last year.
The pandemic’s “hero” categories — loungewear, activewear, sleepwear and streetwear — are all rooted in comfort and functionality, according to Edited. By focusing on these categories, plus-size could find its mojo again.Universal Standard has set a new standard for inclusive clothing. The company covers more than a dozen clothing categories, including workwear, dresses, skirts, outerwear, athleisure and other casual clothing, and can fit US sizes 00 to 40. It uses different-sized models on its web pages so that consumers can see every garment in every size. Its innovative Fit Liberty programme allows customers who go up or down sizes over the ensuing year to replace “gently used” items for free.
Waldman, who has advised brands from J.Crew to Rodarte on size inclusivity issues, says that the company has used new fitting techniques to improve the construction of plus-sized clothing. Universal Standard’s aim is to create designs that work across a wide range of different sizes, she says.