"Fat just isn't fashionable."

So, there's this article in the Washington Post about how there are more plus size shoppers than ever but some retailers are either cutting their plus size lines or are only selling them online. It offers this statistic:

Plus-size apparel sales last year rose 13.2 percent, and teen plus-size rose 14.2 percent, compared with 5.6 percent for all women's clothes, according to one survey. Yet many young, plus-size women say they are belittled in stores, relegated to buying online -- or ignored, period.

As for H&M cutting their plus size line in the US, I say "Good riddance!" It was total crap anyway, believe me. H&M isn't the highest quality apparel. I'd really put it somewhere between KMart and Target. That might've just been the experience I had with the plus size clothing but to me, everything there is disposable. You wear it for one season and then donate it to Goodwill.

I can't bring myself to hate Karl Lagerfeld because he is who he is and he's a little pathetic. I would drop dead if I ever heard a super high-end designer say "Fat women, they are zee beautiful!" It's not going to happen so we can all just stop holding our collective breath.

I am still pining away over Isaac Mizrahi, though. I really think Target could make a LOAD of money if they stepped up their plus size section. I alone could make it worth their while. I love Target's *image* and can't walk into that store without spending at least $35 on brightly hued pieces of crap. It's just very confusing to me that they DON'T have a better 14+ selection.

There are very few "regular" stores that have wandered into plus sizes successfully. The only non-plus size store I shop from on a regular basis is Old Navy. They at least realized that they can't just make their misses clothing in slightly bigger sizes and slap a plus size lable on it. The clothes are actually cut for a curvier body. The selection isn't as huge as I'd like but it's better than the nothing that most retailers offer.

Does there need to be a collective decision? Do we shop from "regular" stores that just happen to offer plus sizes or do we remain loyal to plus size only retailers? This is a little too black and white for me. I support Old Navy because they've done very well with their plus size line and they seem to "get it." If other retailers see that Old Navy's plus size line is doing well (items sell out within days or even hours on the website) maybe they'll jump on the bandwagon, too.

But these things never work the way you expect. Torrid is doing extremely well but there hasn't been huge growth in their market. Lane Bryant remains the leading plus size retailer in the US but there are very few companies that try to emulate it. I can't say that I really understand what's going on. Is being fat so horrible that companies don't even want to sell clothing to fat people because it will make skinny people not want to buy their clothes? Could that really be the case or are popular retailers just paranoid? I don't get it.

The article is being discussed at Big Fat Blog and Chubby Girl Brigade. It also brings to mind this post and ensuing conversation at CGB, in which I try to explain why Lane Bryant employees are sometimes not so terribly friendly to slimmer customers and ended up sounding like a total jerk. My bad.

Comments

[Megan]

Being a quasi-plus size, I have even gotten that attitude from LB associates. Before I lost weight, I could wear LB's 14/16's and would sometimes browse in there for whatever. I only remember one instance where the associate offered to help me find something. I didn't know if it was because of just a poorly trained staff... or if it was because I was "small". I HOPE it was just a freak instance of the former.

[holly]

I'm a size 18/20 and worked briefly at Lane Bryant and never noticed people being rude or ignoring smaller sized women, certainly I never did. LB was one of my favorite jobs and I certainly miss it a lot!

I agree that we need more retail outlets for plus size clothing. I've begun doing most of my clothes shopping online, only because I get tired of only being able to go to LB and Avenue to actually feel and try on clothes. I also like to have clothes that are classy and unique looking and to me the clothes at LB are sort of cookie cutter. I like Kiyonna and Igigi because I don't see many other women my size around here wearing those styles.

[Dolley]

If you can find a Lord & Taylor near you, it's worth checking out. The one here in Philadelphia, from my cruising, offers many, if not all, of the same styles in Misses and in Plus; for that matter, in Petites, as well. It's not cheap, but it's refreshingly sensible of them. There are a lot of plus-sized folks in Philadelphia; it makes sense to offer clothes they can wear.

[Jen]

H&M's plus-sized clothing was absolutely hideous. They were truly the worst plus size clothes I'd ever seen. And the irony is that Karl Lagerfeld is fat so I guess he just doesn't like himself very much.

The best thing to do is support places like Old Navy, Torrid, and Lane Bryant and not buy from places like H&M at all. For example, I saw a really cute Juicy Couture handbag the other day but didn't buy it because I don't want to give my money to a company who's largest size is an 8.

[Kimberly]

I think the reason why retailers are scaling back on their plus-sized lines is that being fat really is taboo. Remember the big hullabaloo over Torrid about how it was condoning obesity in young women? I don't think the reality of the market place (and the aging baby boomer population) has hit retailers yet. Right now they're seeing that one of the deadly sins in the U.S. is being overweight and it's just so horrible and unthinkable and everyone needs to just look away. I'm hoping the economics of the situation will catch up sooner rather than later.

[m]

Karl Lagerfeld WAS fat. Now he's a self-styled diet guru. I remember seeing an article he wrote about his weight loss for Vogue. My aspiring-anorexic former roommate was very keen on it.

[Jennifer]

Here's a couple of websites for clothing that I havent seen mentioned here.... www.sizeappeal.com and www.zaftique.com two of my favorites. Size Appeal especially, they have really curvy sexy clothing up to a size 28 :o).

[Jerilyn]

FWIW, and because I'm just now reading your post because I'm looking for your email address, I didn't think you came across as jerk at all. And I will slap anyone who says otherwise.