California Apparel News

Columbus, Ohio-based Lane Bryant entered the plus-size apparel market at the end of the nineteenth century, a time when women seeking mass-produced larger sizes had few options. Today, the plus-size apparel business is a $30 billion industry catering to 65 million American women who wear size 12 or larger.

Most major department stores and retailers currently carry plus-size apparel, but the plus-size industry is moving away from simply offering re-sized versions of misses apparel. The emerging trend is for manufacturers to develop fashion-forward apparel specifically for larger sizes, according to Debra Goldberg, advertising director for Mode magazine, a plus-sized fashion publication based in New York.

“You have a lot more designers entering the [plus-size] market and you have individual stores entering the market,” said Goldberg. “Talbot’s tested 12 plus-size stores and plan[s] to open more because of the strength of the market. Executives at City of Industry, Calif.-based Hot Topic and CJ Banks, the plus-size division of Minneapolis, Minn.-based retailer Christopher & Banks, report that the number one request from their customers is for plus sizes.”

Hot Topic recently opened a new retail concept store, Torrid, which carries junior plus-size apparel.

Goldberg said that misses, contemporary and junior labels are recognizing the potential of the plus-size market because plus size is one of the fastest growing segments of the industry, with the sub-segment of junior plus sizes growing even faster.

“For years, the plus-size market was dominated by more moderate brands where you wouldn’t recognize the label,” Goldberg said. “[Now] you have more named companies coming into the market, Ann Taylor is testing larger sizes on its Web site, Tommy Hilfiger is starting this Fall and DKNY started last year. JC Penney is making a major marketing push. The department was there, but [now] they are conducting a major marketing effort.”

Recently, Liz Claiborne and Land’s End joined in the creation of Plussize.com, a virtual shopping mall for the plus-size woman, offering apparel from national retailers.

And Women’s Wear In Nevada (WWIN), a biannual trade show held in Las Vegas concurrently with MAGIC International, has seen the plus-size category grow since the show’s launch in 1999. WWIN was formed when the Coconut Grove, Fla.-based parent company Specialty Trade Shows merged two of its shows, Big & Tall Woman and the Ladies’ Apparel Show, in Vegas.

WWIN exhibitors carry both misses and plus lines “because that’s where the women are,” said Jeff Yunis, the show’s organizer.

In addition, more misses manufacturers are expanding their lines to include plus sizes, according to Roland Timney, show manager for WWIN, who said that WWIN has “more plus-size lines than any other show in the country.”

“We have people who have created an actual plus-size division with their designs,” he added. “There are also companies who have upsized. Erin London, Liz & Jane, Michael Simon, Piano and City Girl all do both plus and missy. Certain reps, like Scott Anders [of] Hamburger Associates, bring only plus sizes.”

Creating a Niche

Plus-size retailer Lane Bryant was founded in 1899 by Lena Bryant as a maternity-clothing store. The company found success within that segment, but redeveloped itself after full-figured women found that the retailer’s larger sizes worked well for them. Within the first 10 years of operation, Lane Bryant began to create clothes for the fuller-figured woman.

The Limited purchased Lane Bryant in 1982, adding it to its family of retail outlets, which included the Limited, Structure, Victoria’s Secret, Henri Bendel’s and the Limited Express.

Lane Bryant offers apparel in sizes 14 to 28 and has recently begun attracting a younger clientele, according to Catherine Lippincott, a spokesperson for the company.

“The plus-size market has grown in that there are more women wearing size 14 and larger,” said Lippincott. “Our customer base has grown in the last five to six years, [to the point] where we have noticed a surge in younger women shopping [at] our stores.”

Lippincott said that the age range of the younger segment is 17–30 and that this has been the fastest-growing age segment of the company’s customer base for the last five years.

Lane Bryant began offering fashion to appeal to the younger customers after it was bought by the Limited, but rather than re-size Limited merchandise in plus sizes, the company offers its own mix of apparel.

Lippincott said that after the company was purchased by the Limited, the new focus was younger, hipper and sexier apparel.

“We had thongs before any retailer had plus-size thongs,” she said. “[The Lane Bryant customer] is a woman who follows the trends, and she wants to look great and she wants to look sexy.”

The plus-size market is growing and there is plenty of room for manufacturers looking to break into the plus-size business with fashion-forward apparel, according to David Cole of Big Girls' Bras, Etcetera [www.biggerbras.com], an online retailer catering to full-figured and plus-size women. The company carries bras in sizes 40 and up and cup sizes F and above.

“The customer base is growing in this category [but] the manufacturers are not keeping up with the demands nor providing a deep enough selection or consistency in sizing across brands,” said Cole. “What we hear the most from consumers is that they want prettier bras in their sizes and [a wider selection of] colors—-not just black, beige and white,” he said.

Cole said many bra manufacturers stick to traditional styling and colors—a move that neglects the younger customers who are looking for more fashion-forward items.

Similarly, Lane Bryant’s customers aren’t looking for traditional large-size apparel, according to Lippincott.

“We follow the fashion trends since we’ve had the new younger customer,” she said. “That customer doesn’t want to wear a tent dress or a muumuu or all black. She wants to wear the same thing that a size 6 wears and she wants it in her size.”

The Growth of Plus

Lane Bryant provided larger-sized women with a retail icon and actress Delta Burke provided a human one. The actress publicly battled with a lifetime of eating disorders before settling in with her body style and launching her own plus-size clothing line, called RealSize, which is featured in her online catalog [www.realsize.com] in addition to the JC Penney 16W & Up Catalog, the Lane Bryant Catalog, and the Jessica London by Chadwick’s Catalog.

Newer brands are also taking advantage of the huge growth potential found in keeping up with consumer demand.

“What we’re seeing is that our business continues to grow at a phenomenal rate,” said Cole. “We grew 400 percent in year two and we should see at least 200-300 percent growth this year. Our growth is occurring as more people become aware of our site [www.biggerbras.com] and because we continue to add new lines to our offerings.”

This position is supported by Neil Mulhall, vice president of merchandising for Silhouettes, a 15-year-old catalog offering a full range of apparel designed exclusively for plus sizes. Silhouettes responded to the growth of the plus-size segment with targeted apparel and has enjoyed increasing success because of it.

“The industry and our business [have] grown in parallel,” said Mulhall. “[The industry] has evolved from being an extension of the misses business to one that now stands on its own.

The plus-size customer has the same high standards as any other customer, Mulhall continued. “She wants fashion, quality, a consistent fit and great price. If you give this to her, she’ll be a very loyal customer for a long time,” he said.

Lane Bryant maintains its customer base while courting the younger segment by following the same methods employed for misses and contemporary.

“We go after fashionable modern trends,” said Lippincott. “We look at sizes 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 and we interpret the trends for our customers. We go to Paris and Milan and look at the trends and bring them back. It may happen that our sister companies do the same thing, but you won’t find the same merchandise.”

Lane Bryant recognized early on that its niche was important because not all women are built the same way.

“We have been carrying [larger sizes] for a while,” said Lippincott. “There is a great difference in the way that manufacturers and retailers cut and size their clothing as there is a vast difference in women’s bodies. If you line up 200 women, each will have a different body shape and look good in something different than the girl next to them.”