Living large: entrepreneurs are hitting the big time by catering to plus-sized individuals

Entrepreneur, Oct, 1997 by Frances Huffman

Long neglected by marketers, plus-sized individuals have spent years trying to squeeze into products and clothing that cater to average-sized people. But now, overweight people are becoming a hot target for marketers selling all sorts of ample-sized products and providing a. host of heavy-friendly services.

Jan Herrick, who wears a size 26, has been an unwitting chronicler of this increasing interest as publisher of Royal Resources, a sort of Yellow Pages for plus-sized products and services. Her Sunnyvale, California company, Vendredi Enterprises, produced the inaugural edition of Royal Resources in 1989. Back then, the guide contained a paltry 137 entries; today, the publication boasts more than 1,200 entries in 50-plus categories. "Lots of manufacturers are realizing that large people have money to spend, too," says Herrick, whose resource guide includes everything from dating services and toilet seats to wigs and motorcycle gear.

* FILLING A NEED

Many entrepreneurs entering this growing arena are doing so out of necessity. "A lot of these businesses are being started by big-sized people because unless you are a big person, you aren't aware of the problems and discrimination big people face," says Herrick.

Case in point: Anne Kelly, owner of St. Paul, Minnesota-based Junonia Ltd., an activewear manufacturer with a catalog for the plus-size market. "I liked going to the gym, but I was having a hard time finding activewear," says Kelly, 44, whose catalog includes bike shorts, swimsuits, sports bras, leggings, ski jackets and more. Apparently, other women faced the same quandary - after three years in business, Junonia's mailing list has ballooned to 350,000, and sales this year should hit $2 million, double last year's figures.

In the few years she has been in business, Kelly has seen a surge in interest. "More and more people are focusing on this market," she says. "And that means there is going to be a lot more competition."

Mail order catalogs like Junonia seem to strike a special chord with this market. For big people, shopping in traditional malls and retail stores can be a frustrating and sometimes even hurtful experience. "Who wants to schlep around to stores looking for [clothes] when you know they don't carry your size?" asks Bill Fabrey, who introduced his own mail order catalog, Amplestuff, featuring home furnishings, closet and bath items, and other gadgets for large people, in 1988. "And big people get really insensitive treatment from salespeople."

With that in mind, Fabrey advises entrepreneurs who want to sell to this market to use sensitivity and understanding when dealing with customers. "You have to do lots of hand-holding in this business," says the Bearsville, New York, entrepreneur, who expects annual sales of Amplestuff's gear to top $100,000 by the end of 1998.

You may also have to do some fancy footwork to locate customers. The statistics show the market is out there, but reaching these customers isn't easy. In part, it's America's obsession with thinnes that's to blame. Here, "fat" is a dirty word, and people don't want to identify themselves as such. As a result, some forms of conventional marketing and advertising just don't fly. Take direct mail, for instance. "Do you know how people react when they receive a mailing for large-sized people?" asks Fabrey. "They're insulted and annoyed."

That certainly doesn't make for good response rates. And traditional advertising vehicles are few and far between. A spate of new magazines geared to the market, such as the ones featured in the box at right, have recently hit the newsstands, which should increase visibility of this market. So far, however, their circulations are relatively small. Placing an ad in the most widely distributed of these magazines could make your product or service visible to 100,000 potential customers. Not bad, but what about the other 90 million potential customers?

Kimberly Weatherspoon will test the retail waters this fall when her first Matrix II collection of upscale women's sportswear in sizes 16 and above debuts in retail locations throughout the Southeast. Weatherspoon, who launched Matrix Apparel Group Inc. this year, used college projects to create the foundation for her business. The 1985 graduate of New York City's Fashion Institute of Technology headed to Georgia State University in 1990 to earn a business degree. "I used the Matrix prototype in every class possible - public relations, market research, etc.," says Weatherspoon. When she graduated, she left with a diploma - and a business plan for Matrix Apparel Group.

Weatherspoon's dresses and separates sell for $85 to $500. She believes the market is ripe for her new venture and expects her spring and summer collections to bring in $100,000 in the first half of 1998. Says Weatherspoon, "The potential for growth in this industry is monumental."

* BEYOND CLOTHING

Clothing isn't the only arena where plus-sized marketing is taking off. Entrepreneurs are also finding there's a big market for nonclothing-related products and services geared to the not-so-waiflike.