MySize saga: How Plus-Size fashion market is changing the industry

PlusSize fashion market is changing the industry

After decades of living in the shadow of skinny models, women with size 14+ are finally starting to step into the spotlight: If you’re a retailer, and you don’t understand that consumers are more demanding than ever before, you’ve missed the point!

People within fashion community and activists of all sizes are changing the industry. There’s an effort to fix the gap between big fashion designers and women who don’t wear a size 0. All this, because there is no reason larger women can’t look as fabulous as slim women.

The average woman is not skinny, nor slim. The average woman is curvy and she doesn’t wear a size 0 for sure. Fashion designers should create their designs with that average woman in mind. These findings relate to Dia&Co’s servings to women. Because they believe in the power of style and all women should be able to express their own, regardless of how their body looks. It’s about how you’re feeling about yourself. It should be kept in mind that women would be spending more money if their favorite designer made plus-size clothing. The #movefashionforward campaign of Dia&Co was all about this, when they aimed at encouraging designers to expand their size offerings.

It’s important for fashion designers to create clothing that’s size-inclusive, so their customers would think more positively about them. The reason why large women don’t think they fit in the industry now, is because there’s no “fashionable” clothing available in their size!

The dream plus-size designers of every curvy women are Kate Spade, Tommy Hilfiger, Kenneth Cole and Diane von Furstenburg.

So why don’t brands just design outfits for larger women?

Well, they have the fear that offering plus-size clothes would damage their brand. If you look at practice now, most models are thin, slim and lookalike. The term “plus” is applied to women who don’t match the world’s ideal. Are they scared? But those strict beauty standards must slowly fade away. Media should allow women to be whoever they want to be. They all should be able to shop in the same place and wear the same designers. Fashion should be experienced in all ways.

And since a couple of years, we are seeing the rise of plus size bloggers. The most famous of them all is Ashley Graham, who has over 1.7 million followers. She doesn’t promote a healthy lifestyle and don’t post workout pictures, but people are still looking up to her. She’s appearing in lots of magazines to encourage the fact that bodies are beautiful at every size.

And still, when she, or another plus-size model, features a campaign, or is on the cover of magazines, like Vogue and Cosmopolitan, it creates a lot of buzz. That’s where the fear begins. But it should be considered as a good buzz. Women are feeling accepted now not to be a size 0.

Now finally the fashion industry is becoming more tolerant towards different body types, opinions and images.

So yes, the fashion world is slowly changing. Fashion doesn’t mean only price anymore, but size matters too! The only thing that has to change, is the perspective of brands. The acceptation of larger bodies could be beneficial for marketers to draw attention and put them into the spotlight. The plus-size market is not a niche. It is a real business area! But retailers are afraid of the image that plus size brings???

If you look at retailers like H&M, Forever21, Macy’s,… These stores all have a line who’s special for the larger fashionista’s. They believe that plus size should be available in the same styles as smaller sizes. You don’t have to wear big brands to be fashionable. And these retailers are proof.

And numbers went up for them! Not because number of plus-size people went up, but because of more fashionable offers. Mango added Violetta for women with curves. It was criticized at first because people were saying that curves are not plus-size. But now, Violetta is in the game and attracts a lot of attention by its always-in-style collections.

H&M on the other hand, still gets critics. The H&M+ collection is exclusively online, and not in-store. They claim because they have a lack of space, due to the upcoming range of beauty products. But if they really want to get in front, there should be a physical stock, just like their active-wear.

The other critical aspect, is that brands don’t (yet?) open up about plus-size collection on social media. They continue putting slim models in the picture to promote their brand. If you looked at Calvin Klein’s “First Plus-size Model”. There was nothing plus-size about that girl. This movement has to change. Women of all sizes got to have equal representation in the media. That’s how you provide the plus-size market with trends that’s fun and edgy, based on runway trends.

Eloquii is a key player in the plus-size fashion market. Eloquii has grown to new entrants into the fast-fashion, trendy segment of the plus-size market, including actress Melissa McCarthy. They are offering a real fashion experience, just for the customer. They want to make sure they’re doing it for the plus-size fashionista’s. Not just for the brand’s sale, but to acknowledge she exist.

So, in the end, biggest problem is the word “plus” ?

The way it is been used, it brings a lot of emotions to certain people. It’s like women who wear sizes 16 and up are somehow abnormal. That’s why the term has to be ditched. The industry has more options now, so it doesn’t have to be indicated. Some folks don’t like the term. The categories should be defined by the type of styles and not the type of bodies. Your measurements aren’t a representation of your worth.

Still, the known models are still in front. Mostly because plus-size influencers are not as common as the regular ones. To tip it off, Instagram has become the place where real body types are being shown. Voices can be heard. Bloggers play a certain role in the fashion world and they collaborate with the most famous brands every day. Because they all understand one same thing: style of young women! It doesn’t have to be applied to certain body types.

But the campaigns that do put beautiful large women in front, have much more impact than general campaigns. Retailers can’t ignore the fact of this growing apparel.

This is where ELSE Corp can be integrated into environment and bring the fresh air named #MySize .

With the Virtual Boutiques , they can provide the exceptional experience these plus-size fashion lovers look for. The opportunities technology brings the last few years, opened a lot of doors. And it will even increase. With their guidance and support, they enable the luxury brands, that every style icon looks for, to provide Made-to-Order and Made-to-Measure products. Forget about the XXX – Size , think of # MySize !

If your measurements are being taken, your item will fit perfectly. Which brings us to the conclusion, you don’t have to have a slim model figure to look good!

to know more:

MySize and Virtual Retail, An Opportunity Beyond the Size from ELSE CORP