Plus size fashion gains - women's large sizes - Apparel Merchandising

Discount Store News, Feb 20, 1995

One size doesn't fit all. Special sizes is among the brighter areas of growth in mass market apparel sales today. Discounters have found broad, positive response in particular to expanded, more on-trend assortments in women's plus sizes. Some have reaped success for their attention to petites and to big & tall menswear, as well.

Women's plus sizes as a proportion of all women's apparel sales has grown rapidly, and now accounts for 10 percent to more than 20 percent of the category, depending on the retailer.

One sure sign of the vitality of plus sizes is evident at Kmart. The chain rolled out plus-size Jaclyn Smith casuals under the Jaclyn Smith Sport label, across the country in time for Holiday 1994. Stores in the South were used to test this concept carlier that year.

According to Ron Buch, vice president, fashions merchandising at Kmart, "We've had more mail from more customers on plus size Jaclyn Smith than on any other move we've ever made in apparel."

With manufacturers supplying more styles in more sizes, consumers' demand for fashionable out-sized apparel is increasingly being met in the discount channel.

The NPD Group has measured growth of 34 percent in plus-size volume over the past five years, compared to 16 percent growth for women's apparel overall.

Such magnitude applies to neither petites nor men's big & tall departments. Discounters diverge on their strategies here: some have moved away from separate departments in these classifications, while others market them as distinct, thriving businesses. All, however, are finding ways to grow plus-size assortments.

Among regional full-line discounters, Braintree, Mass.-based Bradlees was one of the first to heavily emphasize soft lines. It is fitting that the 136-unit chain offers one of the most size-differentiated apparel selections today. Samuel Mandell, president and coo of Bradlees, says the chain's success in maternity, petites, plus size and big men's has made the store a destination for shoppers keen on these classifications.

Hills Stores, Canton, Mass., entered the fuller-figure fashion area relatively early _among discounters, and now offers a substantial allocation of floor space and inventory, in the range of 20 percent of total ladieswear.

In menswear, special sizes are being integrated into regular assortments by most mass merchants.

Sears had merchandised big & tall menswear in separate departments in only 100 of its stores, and phased those out in 1993. In the new approach, with men's extended sizes now offered on the same racks as regular-size items in all 800 stores, volume is rising at a double digit rate for the second straight year. Sears is also ringing up a second consecutive year of double digit increases in petites.

Yet in most stores, it is the other end of the size spectrum - women's plus - that is booming. What is really driving this growth?

"There are two things going on: sizes keep growing, and items are more fashsion-driven," says Larry Angst, vice president of women's' apparel and accessories at 156-unit Hills Stores. "The customer base keeps changing, getting more adamant about having timely fashion to choose from. The more basic merchandise is fairly static, flat. It's in fashion-driven where we see real growth."

Plus-oriented categories such as hosiery, sleepwear and dresses, Angst observes, have also been growing, but not as fast as the sportswear components.

The style trends he identifies as most important aim at younger, fun, softer feminine looks. He also sees "highly novel character merchandise still doing surprisingly well."

In developing brand power and instore signage, vendors and retailers alike are careful to appeal to glamour rather than size. "We have not differentiated the jeanswear packaging except to include the words `Plus Size,'" says Pam Breeman, vice president, marketing at Gitano. "In sportswear, the color of the hangtag is purple for plus and blue for regular sizes." And once the item is purchased, the permanently affixed inner neck and waistband labels are identical across all sizes, she adds. "The logo is exactly the same."

Vendors are careful not to underestimate men's vanity either, even though women do much of the shopping for them. Sun Apparel, drumming up support for its teen-centered X-AM brand jeans on one hand, has targeted an older, male customer for its newer brand, Real-Pro. This label targets the male baby boomer customer now combating (or learning to live with) middle age. Sun Apparel executive vice president Michelyn Camen emphasizes that elasticized fabrications and big men's sizes are offered as standard parts of the line.

As a rule, manufacturers of menswear have been slower to offer on-trend apparel than counterparts on the women's side.

"It is easier to find better resources in plus sizes for women," says Bradlees' Mandell, noting the chain nonetheless successfully expanded its big men's department in 1992.

Soft lines off-pricer Stein Mart, whose 78 stores are destinations for shoppers seeking moderate to better merchandise, is taking advantage of the greater availability of more fashionable items in special sizes across genders. In menswear, the chain even offers big & tall neckwear.