Long Island retailers increasing variety of merchandise for plus-

Long Island Business News, Aug 6, 2004 by Wendy Friedman

Across the country people are getting bigger, and the retail industry is paying attention.

On Long Island, that has meant increasing the amount of merchandise for plus-size shoppers in stores where the merchandise couldn't be found in the past.

A larger variety of retailers carry plus-size merchandise because they realize that a larger percentage of their customer base would be interested in those items, said Ellen Tolley, spokeswoman for the Washington-based National Retail Federation.

According to the Center for Disease Control, in 2002 43.9 percent of Long Islanders were overweight, while 15.7 percent were considered obese. A person is obese when their body mass index is greater than or equal to 30.

Many retailers know that many of their [customers' sizes have] been fluctuating. As a result they know that women and men don't want to be excluded from the newest fashion sense, Tolley said.

Joseph A. Bank Clothiers, an upscale men's clothing store based in Hamstead, Md., with four locations on Long Island, is widening the selection of sizes it carries. Currently the retailer offers coats ranging in sizes from 36 to 54 and 47 sizes of shirts in their catalog.

For several years now, we've been adding sizes on all ends, but more on the large end, said Chief Merchandising Officer Neal Black.

Estelle's Dressy Dresses, a Farmingdale-based retailer of women's clothing, carries clothes in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, small and large. Owner Estelle Rosenthal said there is strong demand for plus-sized clothing.

We go up to size 26W or 4X. The market is more in tune to producing fashionable clothing for plus sizes, the same [styles] as juniors, she said. The customers are buying the hemlines isometrical, ponchos, shawls - all very fashionable and flattering, so they have the comfort level of going out and looking good.

Rather than relegating the larger sizes to the back of the store, she makes an effort to prominently feature designer brands and trendy dresses in women's sizes.

Even stores that specifically cater to the plus-size market have gone through changes recently.

Lane Bryant is a retailer of plus-size women's clothing carrying sizes 14-26. According to Jennifer Soba, assistant manager at the Roosevelt Field store, which is the largest location on Long Island, the product has evolved.

We have become a lot trendier and a lot younger. Sales have definitely increased because of that, she said.

Soba says that these days Lane Bryant services customers aged 18- 40 rather than the 40-plus age group it used to cater to.

But Nancy Chistolini, senior vice president of fashion and public relations at Hecht's department store, with locations in the Mid- Atlantic states, said obesity is not a recent phenomenon and many retailers have been adapting for years.

We're not just buying it equally: small, medium and large, she explained. We're maybe buying more large and extra large. We have been adapting over the years because before it was a formula.

Chistolini added that it is a myth that plus-sized clothing has historically not been as trendy as clothing for the woman who wears a size two, four or six.

The women's world customer, in many cases and in many areas, is as trendy or she accepts a trend faster than the missy customer, she said. For the past season when pink was the most important fashion color that was also true of the women's world department.

Nicole Girardin, store manager of Lone Star Jeans in Plainview, a trendy upscale denim store popular with teenagers and young adults that does not carry a plus size line, says the store doesn't plan on adding plus sizes, but caters to the market in a roundabout way.

We do carry some of our men's jeans [which are] cut a little slimmer, so larger women do buy it, but she does not believe the Plainview store would benefit if plus sizes were offered. Most sizes we sell are small and medium. I don't think sales would increase because [plus size] is not our customer base.

Even Cloud 9, a hip and trendy women's clothing boutique with two stores in Baltimore and one in Towson, would consider carrying larger sizes.

It's an issue that we deal with most of every day, said co-owner Priya Rayadurg. I think that if the vendors that we order from would make the things larger, we would definitely consider it, and I think that our numbers would probably increase by at least 20 percent. There's definitely a market for it.