The plus-size market shapes up
Bigger is getting better as retailers seize the opportunities of a growing market catering for customers with the fuller figure, says Lauren Foster
America's population is expanding at the hips, thighs and waistline. And while the clothing industry once designed outfits for the hourglass figure, it now faces the challenge of dressing a growing number of pearand apple shapes in stylish, flattering designs.
Millions of potential customers are awaiting retailers' initiatives in this market. According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, about 65 per cent of American adults are either overweight or obese, with nearly a third defined as obese meaning they have a body mass index (BMI), a formula derived from height and weight, of 30 or more.
In a report released in October, the CDC found that over the past 40 years Americans have become a little taller and a lot heavier. In 2002, adult men and women were about an inch taller than they were in 1960, but nearly 25lbs heavier on average. The average BMI also increased from about 25 in 1960 to 28 in 2002.
Obesity is not only a US phenomenon: Britain follows the US as most overweight. It also has the fastest growing obesity rate in Europe.
For many overweight people, it is difficult to find clothes that fit. Unable to find what they want, many refrain from shopping for clothes. Retailers lose many prospective customers.
But when larger customers do find what they need, the evidence suggests they tend to be loyal customers willing to pay more for the right fit.
In the US, the market for large-sized clothing is divided into plus-size apparel, which includes women's sizes 14 and up, and big-and-tall clothing, for men with a waist of 40 inches or above and a height of 6.2ft or taller.
The plus-size and big-and-tall markets represent a $22bn industry, according to the NPD Group, a market research firm. Sales of plus-size clothing totalled $17.2bn last year, while sales of big-and-tall menswear were about $4.8bn. Plus-size accounted for 18 per cent of total US women's apparel sales.
Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at the NPD Group, says that while apparel sales have fallen during the past three years, sales of large size clothing held steady. He expects the large size market for men and women to increase by 4 per cent this year, while ordinary size apparel is forecast to rise just 1 per cent.
Mr Cohen says the most popular US women's size today is a 14, as opposed to an 8 in 1985. This upward shift has occurred despite the growth of vanity sizing, where manufacturers add inches to clothing to make it appear that a woman wears a size smaller than she actually does.
In spite of these shifts, retailers have been sluggish in their response to a lucrative opportunity.
“Retailers and manufacturers were slow to read the need and fill the pipeline with merchandise, but in the last two years we have seen renewed interest from department stores and designers,” says Mr Cohen.
How should retailers market clothes to larger customers? Judith Russell, president of Markethink, an industry consultancy, says there are three main strategies: the add-on collection, where brands such as Polo Ralph Lauren add special sizes to a collection; living large, where brands such as Lane Bryant cater exclusively to large size customers; and the subtle approach, where brands such as Chico's and Eileen Fisher offer flattering, forgiving clothes and thereby cater non-blatantly to larger consumers.
Discount retailers are perhaps furthest ahead in the market. Wal-Mart and Target already offer large sizes, as do department stores such as JC Penney and Sears, Roebuck.
JC Penney offers plus-size in its stores and on the internet. Two years ago it made a big push to have big-and-tall sections in every store, and has a separate big-and-tall catalogue.
Sears has carried plus-size apparel for more than 30 years. “Fashion is important to the plus-size customer and so we offer the same brands and styles as the women's section. We don't sacrifice brands or styles,” says Rochelle Mangold, a spokesperson for Sears. It also carries a full range of men's sizes in stores nationwide and has a big-and-tallcatalogue.
One of the challenges faced by large men and women is finding clothes that fit and are fashionable.
“Retailers have to understand they need better selections and bigger sizes. Larger people haven't been offered the same selection,” says David Levin, chief executive of Casual Male, a big-and-tall clothing chain. “Big guys want to look good too. They don't want to be treated any differently and given any less selection.”
Answering that need is not as simple as it sounds. When it comes to fit, designers have often incorrectly assumed that what works in an ordinary size style will work as a larger size that it is a case of super-sizing the pattern.
Ed Gribbin, president of Intellifit Corporation, a clothing technology company, says the assumption in the industry is that as a person gets bigger, he or she gets bigger by exactly the same proportions as the model who was originally fitted with the garment.
“As the body gets bigger, the skeletal structure doesn't get bigger. Weight is added in relatively predictable places,” says Mr Gribbin. “But manufacturers make clothes where the neck opening is bigger, the sleeves longer and shoulders wider. The product doesn't fit anyone well because it is so big it hangs on people.”
Using technology originally developed by the US Department of Energy, Intellifit has created a special fitting room that uses low-power radio waves to generate measurements. It has measured more than 14,000 plus-size women to help manufacturers improve the fit of their clothes.
Mr Gribbin says a relatively small percentage of plus-size women conform to an hourglass figure. “There are triangular, inverted triangular, rectangular and circular shapes, all of which are more prevalent in the plus-size population than the hourglass.”
Barry Zelman, general manager of Liz Claiborne Woman, the brand's line for sizes 14-24, says a common misconception is that plus-size women should avoid stripes and wear only dark colours and styles shaped to hide the body.
“We don't subscribe to any of those taboos,” he says. “At Liz Claiborne it's all about fashion, femininity, colour, shaping the body versus hiding it, style and feeling good about yourself.”
Liz Claiborne Woman is mainly distributed through department stores but is also available in Elisabeth, the company's speciality plus-size chain.
The company looks at four body types: box, pear, round and X-shape. “We put together fits and styles and designs that can fit the gamut of shapes,” he says. “The challenge is that this customer is growing and looking for more and more products. We need to find a way to get department stores to increase their floor space sooner rather than later.”
One company that has inadvertently attracted large-size customers through its loose-fitting, forgiving styles is Chico's, a retailer of women's casual clothing. It is not a plus-size chain but has eschewed the standard American size chart in favour of a simple, non-traditional 0 (4-6) to 3 (14-16) system. The result is that smaller plus-size customers may fit into a morale-boosting size 3.
The company offers what it calls a “more relaxed” look: while the clothes are designed to be flattering to the figure and comfortable, they are not fitted or tight and do not hug the body. It is an example of what Markethink's Ms Russell calls “the subtle approach” to larger sizes.
While Chico's has plenty of plus-size fans, the company has no intentions of entering the market. “We have been asked to do larger sizes, but it is not something we have in our plans at the moment,” says Pat Murphy Kerstein, chief merchandising officer for Chico's.
That leaves plenty of room for other retailers to take advantage of the super-sizing of America, a trend that shows no signs of slowing.
美国大码服装市场成形
美国人的臀部、大腿和腰围日益见长。服装业以前在服装设计中着眼于沙漏型身材，但现在面临的挑战是如何为越来越多梨型、苹果型身材的人设计时尚而悦人的服装。
在这个市场上，有数以百万计的潜在消费者正在翘首以待零售商的新举措。来自美国疾病控制和预防中心（CDC）的数据显示，约有65%的美国成年人属于超重或肥胖，将近三分之一的人被定义为肥胖，即他们的体重指数（BMI，即人的体重数除以身高的平方数）等于或大于30。
在今年10月公布的一份报告中，CDC发现，过去40年来，美国人的身高略有增加，而体重增幅很大。2002年，成年男女的身高比1960年增加了1英寸，但体重平均增加近25磅。体重指数的平均值也从1960年的25左右增至2002年的28。
肥胖现象不仅限于美国。英国紧随其后，成为第二大超重国家，而且肥胖者比例的增长速度也在欧洲位居首位。
对于许多超重的人来说，要找到合身的衣服很难。许多人因为买不到称心的服装，所以不愿去买衣服。零售商由此失去了许多潜在消费者。
但当体型肥胖的顾客真的买到了称心如意的衣服，有证据显示他们往往会成为忠实的顾客，愿意为合身的衣服花更多的钱。
美国的大号服装市场分为大号女装和大号男装两类，前者包括女性14号及以上尺寸，后者则是专为腰围40英寸以上、身高6.2英尺以上的高大男士设计的服装。
据市场研究公司NPD集团称，以上两大市场代表一个价值220亿美元的行业。去年，大号女装的销售总额达到172亿美元，而大号男装的销售额约为48亿美元。大号女装占美国女装销售总额的18%。
NPD集团首席行业分析师马歇尔＃科恩(Marshal Cohen)表示，尽管过去３年来服装销量有所下降，但大号服装的销量保持平稳。他预计，今年男女大号服装市场将增长4%，而普通尺寸服装市场的增幅预计仅为1%。
科恩先生说，美国现今售量最大的女装尺寸是14号，与1985年的８号形成鲜明对比。这种女装尺寸向大号发展的势头，是在“虚荣尺寸”(vanity sizing)日渐盛行的背景下发生的。“虚荣尺寸” 是指生产商加大女装尺寸但尺码标签保持不变，使女装看上去比实际尺寸小。
尽管服装市场发生了这些变化，但零售商在面对这一赢利机会时一直反应迟钝。
“零售商和制造商以前在发现需求，并用合适的商品迎合需求方面十分迟缓，但近两年来，我们看到百货公司和设计师们对此重新产生了兴趣，”科恩先生说。
零售商应该如何向体型较胖的顾客推销服装呢？服装业咨询公司Markethink的总裁朱迪思?拉塞尔(Judith Russell)认为主要有以下三种策略：一是推出附加系列，如Polo Ralph Lauren等品牌为某个服装系列增加特殊尺码；二是只经营大号服装业务，如Lane Bryant等品牌仅为大码顾客生产服装；三是采用微妙的方式，如Chico’s、Eileen Fisher等品牌提供悦人而宽松的服装，以一种不张扬的方式满足体型较胖的顾客的需求。
折扣零售商也许在这个市场中走得最远。沃尔玛(Walmart)和塔吉特(Target)已推出了大号服装，JC Penny和西尔斯(Sears Roebuck) 等百货公司也不甘落后。
JC Penney在其商店和互联网上销售大号女装。两年前，它出动大手笔，在所有商店内设立大号男装区域，并提供单独的大号男装目录。
西尔斯销售大号女装已有30多年历史。“时尚对于穿着大号女装的顾客来说相当重要，因此我们推出的大号女装在品牌和式样上与普通女装完全相同。我们不会牺牲品牌或式样，” 西尔斯的发言人罗谢尔?曼高德(Rochelle Mangold)说。西尔斯还在全国各大商店内销售全套尺码的男装，并提供大号男装目录。
体型肥胖的男女面临的一大难题，就是寻找既合身又时尚的服装。
“零售商必须明白，他们需要更好的商品系列和更大的尺寸。胖人们一直没有获得相同的商品系列，”大号服装连锁集团休闲男装(Casual Male)的首席执行官大卫?利文(David Levin)说，“体型胖的男士们也想衣冠楚楚。他们不想受到任何区别对待，也不想在服装上减少选择。”
满足他们的需求并非像听起来这么简单。当谈到合身这个问题时，设计师常常错误地认为这只是一个把普通服装放大的问题，即适合普通尺寸的服装式样，也一定适合大号尺码。
服装技术公司Intellfit公司的总裁爱德华?格利宾(Ed Gribbin)说，服装界想当然地认为在一个人变胖时，他（或她）是完全按照原先适合这件衣服的模特的身材，等比例地变胖的。
“当身体变胖后，人的骨骼结构并没有变大。体重是增加在那些相对可预知的部位上，”格利宾先生说，“但生产商在制衣时，会将领口变大，袖子加长，肩部放宽。无论谁穿这件衣服都不会很合身，因为它太大了，就像挂在人的身上一样。”
Intellifit采用最初由美国能源部开发的技术，创建了一个特殊的试衣间，利用低功率无线电波测得人体尺寸。该公司已为14,000多名肥胖女性测量尺寸，以帮助生产商改进其服装的合身程度。
格利宾先生说，在肥胖女性中，只有相对较少的一部分人属于沙漏型身材。“她们的身材各异，有正三角形，倒三角形，长方形和圆形，在肥胖人群中，所有这些体型都比沙漏型更为普遍。
丽诗加邦女装(Liz Claiborne Woman) 品牌经营从14至24的大号尺寸。总经理巴里?泽尔曼(Barry Zelman)认为，一种普遍的误解就是穿大码服装的女性应该避免条纹，只穿深色，而且衣服的款式要能掩饰体型。
“我们对所有这些忌讳都不以为然，”他说，“丽诗加邦女装崇尚时尚和流行，富有女人味，色彩鲜艳，目的是展现体型而不是掩盖它，她让你充满自信。”
丽诗加邦主要的销售渠道是百货商店，但也通过该公司的大码女装连锁专卖店伊丽莎白(Elisabeth)进行直销。
丽诗加邦主要针对四种体型：长方形，梨形，圆形和X形。“我们提供适合各种体型的尺寸、风格和设计，”他说，“我们所面临的挑战是这类顾客的人数正在不断增加，需求的产品种类也越来越多。我们必须尽快找到一种能让百货公司扩大店面的方法。”
女性休闲服装零售商Chico’s凭借其宽松、无拘无束的风格，不经意地获得大码顾客的青睐。它不是一家经营大号服装的连锁专卖店，但摒弃了标准的美国尺码表，而是选用了简单而非传统的0(即传统的4至6号)到3(即传统的14至16号)的尺码表。于是，体型相对较小的大码顾客也许能穿上令她信心大增的3号衣服。
Chico’s呈现的就是它所说的“更加放松”的感觉。尽管设计这些衣服是为了使体态迷人，穿着舒适，但它们并不贴身或紧身，不会紧紧地包在身上。这正是Markethink的拉塞尔女士所说的对大号服装采取的“微妙的方式”。
尽管Chico’s拥有许多大号服装的追随者，但公司并没有进军这个市场的打算。“很多人要求我们生产大号服装，但目前这并不在我们的计划中，”Chico’s首席采购官帕特?墨菲?科斯坦(Pat Murphy Kerstein)说。
这为有意利用美国人身材变胖趋势赚钱的其它零售商留下了许多发展空间，而这一趋势并无放慢的迹象。
