Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Plus size fashion is getting smaller

I spend far too much time thinking about plus size womens clothing considering I don't have any need to purchase plus size womens clothing. However, for some reason they always find ways of attracting my attention. Tonight at at Green Acres Mall, a second datapoint pointed to an emerging trend; plus size clothing stores were catering to slightly less plus size women.

At some point in the recent past I saw a sign advertising the fact that Ashley Stewart now sold size 14. I briefly amused myself with thoughts of not quite plus size women rejoicing that they could buy Ashley Stewart fashions and size 16 women relieved that they could overeat a little less and still be able to get a pair of jeans that fit them just right.

In actuality, there are plenty of fashion labels that cater both above and below the Ashley Stewart price range and are of similar quality. Also, many men and women struggle with real and imaginary weight problems, and they should all be thoroughly offended by what I write here.

So fast forward to the present, I pass buy a "coming soon" storefront. It is called "Fashion to Figure," and the sign said they catered to sizes 12-26. This is a step down from size 12. In keeping with my duty to pretend to have journalistic integrity, I went to their website, which claimed to sell sized 14 to 26. I can only assume that when they open this and any other soon to be opened stores, they will put out some ads letting their customers know they are free to drop a dress size.

I plan on keeping tabs on the plus size industry to see where this is all going. By keeping tabs I mean that whenever I am in the mall and see a plus size store I will make mental note of the sizes they serve. This means I will get new data points approximately every 6 months. Many of you will point out the possibility that the clothings are remaining unchanged, but the size on the label is shrinking. I am unwilling to cross dress to test this theory.

4 comments:

rocknrollanarchy said...

haha this is funny! im glad im skinny.




rocknrollanarchy.blogspot.com

MK (Casey) van Bronkhorst said...

Thanks for highlighting a very real problem for plus size shoppers. Add to that the constant misleading tendency of many stores (and online shops) to display their plus size lines on standard sized models and mannequins. As an onlne plus size store owner, I find it frustrating that very few brands will provide realistic photographs and artwork to accompany their plus size fashions. The few who do - like RealityPlus Clothing - are heroes in my book.

zippy1981 said...

I'm glad to help raise awareness of any form of stupidity.

PlusClothingExpert said...

Thanks for the post. Well, What you observed about plus size clothing is really true. There's been a "mistake" in advertising plus size.