The evolution of plus-size as it joins mainstream fashion

Women are becoming ever-more confident with the size and shape of their
bodies. With the growing trends of inclusivity and body positivity, the
plus-size market isn’t only one of the fastest-growing segments for online
retailers like Zalando, it is also evolving. An increasing number of
conventional fashion companies such as Bestseller have launched new lines
in recent years, while start-ups such as Universal Standard from the USA
are stirring up the market.

“Right now women are really embracing their body size, they’re not
trying to hide it anymore, they’re not trying to change who they are,” said
Sabrina Shairzay, head of trend at Dutch fashion chain C&A “We see that as a really
great market opportunity.” C&A offers women’s sizes up to 60 and is growing
its bridal fashion collection to size 52 in autumn. The company also sees
potential in expanding its range of casual and formal blazers, as well as
occasion wear – up to now, it focused primarily on the casual sector.

One style for all

As younger consumers are becoming taller, plus size fashion is also
changing, said Nico Jonker, brand manager for Danish label Zhenzi. Younger
people dare to show more, he said at the WFC Big Brands trade fair in
Amsterdam in July. The clothes aren’t long and covering anymore. An example
for this is seen in denim, with tight and well-fitting jeans becoming a
bestseller.

This has also been observed by Marrit Goselink, buying and sales
coordinator Basics & Denim, at Dutch company Buur Fashion, which owns the
label Yest and its bigger sister Yesta, as well as Ivy Beau and Ivy Bella.
The differences between clothing for slim and taller women are disappearing
notiably.“We believe that bigger women want to wear the same, we don’t want
to make a difference,” she said at the Big Brands fair, adding that there’s
no difference in style between the sizes anymore. The fits would still be
adjusted for larger sizes, but not as much as before.

Wide and long styles, and expressive, colourful prints which conceal the
shape of the body are falling out of fashion. Instead, basic items in
unicolor are selling well, Goselink said.

A market on the rise

Luxury fashion houses, which for a long time have been reluctant to
embrace inclusive sizes, are gradually getting on board. This year, Dolce &
Gabbana was the first luxury label to expand its size range to 54, while
more and more mass-market brands like Tom Tailor are introducing their own
plus-size categories. This season, the German apparel company introduced
its line for plus sizes, My True Me. “Over the next three years, one third
of our women’s revenue should come from plus size,” said Micha Deelen,sales
manager at Tom Tailor, at Big Brands.

The segment is also growing online, not only at specialized web stores
like Navabi or Sheego, but also at Zalando, where around 5 percent of the
European population makes its purchases. The online retailer’s range for
larger sizes has doubled since its launch and Zalando wants to “mirror” its
entire womenswear segment in plus size in the future so that customers with
different style preferences will find items on Zalando regardless of their
body shape.

“The issue of size inclusivity has seen much support and strong growth
in the European market in recent years,” said Michelle Burkholder, director
of buying women apparel special sizes, underwear & beachwear of Zalando SE,
by email. “Existing fashion brands are adding larger sizes to their range;
new brands are adding a plus size category and growing successfully”.

The plus-size collections of seven private labels of mass-market British
fashion suppliers more than tripled between 2015 and 2018, according to
figures from data provider Edited. In Germany, more than half of women
between the ages of 14 and 70 had a clothing size of 42 or larger,
according to SizeGermany’s latest measurement. And the trend towards larger
bodies has been rising in Europe ever since.

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The same themes

Burkholder observes the same appetite for plus-size fashion as in
Zalando’s core sizes: “The top sellers range from denim and t-shirts to
trend-oriented items in the categories for blouses and dresses.
Sustainability is an important growth area for all categories in textiles,
including large sizes.”

The trend towards green fashion is also reflected in the swimwear of
lingerie label Plaisir, which since 2015 has been using Econyl, nylon made
from recycled materials such as fishing nets. Pastel shades are currently
going well for lingerie and prints for swimwear, Aafke de Boer said at WFC
Big Brands. She represents Plaisir and Pamela Mann’s Curvy tights with her
eponymous agency.

For clothing retailer C&A, the segment for large sizes has traditionally
been an important market. Circular knit basics and light, fine gauge
cardigans are currently in demand among customers, especially in medium
brown shades, according to the company. In recent seasons, C&A has also
started adding more dresses.

One or two brands?

As style becomes less defined by sizes, so too do brand identities.
Increasingly, brands are bridging the gap between how they identify main
and plus size collections. While Tom Tailor still decided to have an own
name for his new line ‘My True Me’, other brands made less of a
differentiation between their different size collections. Danish clothing
group Bestseller’s labels Only and Vero Moda add just one more word for
their plus-size versions, becoming Only Carmakoma and Vero Moda Curve. For
Yest and Yesta, the difference in size consists only of the letter “a”.

Finally, the US startup Universal Standard offers all sizes under one
brand, ranging from 0 to 40 in the USA (30 to 72 in Europe), and it does so
with conviction. Around 67 percent of US women are above size 14 (EU 46) . “The idea of ‘plus size’ as a separate category, and as
‘niche’ has got to go!”