Gwen Devoe, a former model and fashion-show producer, stepped onto a runway in Mahattan this week and made a pitch to retailers on behalf of the plus size woman.
Full-figured fashion week was so successful that it even got noticed by the New York Times.
With the plus size clothing industry increasing into the millions, the fashion industry would be foolish not to jump on the bandwagon.
Gwen Devoe intended to entice retailers to carry more plus sizes.
Retailers have only recently woken up to the profits they can make by adopting plus sizes and tailoring clothes for plus size women and men.
What with obesity increasing to about 28% of the adult population (the highest percentage yet), the plus size industry is set to stay and grow as an important market.
Both mass-market stores like Forever 21 and Target and expensive designers like Elie Tahari are deciding the fattening of America is a big business opportunity, and are reinvigorating a market that had faltered during the recession.
As Stephanie Clifford states:
The standard clothing that most stores have focused on in recent years fits fewer and fewer people. And as retailers search for ways to invigorate sales, plus size is one of the few categories where there is growth. The plus-size market increased 1.4 percent while overall women’s apparel declined 0.8 percent in the 12 months leading up to April 2010 versus the same period a year earlier, the most recent figures available, according to NPD Group, a market research firm.
It was Devoe herself who founded Full-Figured Fashion Week last year in order to place pressure on mainstream retailers to start takin on bigger sizes.
Up until recently, the plus-size woman was very much forgotten, with the big companies forgetting about them or deliberately ignoring them. Whilst there was a boom in plus size clothing being supplied, the main retailers chose to stay away – until recently.
At Full-Figured Fashion Week, more than 25 other designers showed their plus size clothes to an audience of retail buyers and plus szie women.
Gwen Devoe is another example of how the plus size industry is progressing and pushing through barriers that were once huge obstacles.
A couple of years ago, Full-Figured Fashion Week would never have been noticed by the likes of the New York Times.
The fact that it has is indicative of it’s current success in staying on top of the industry – and suggests we still have a lot more success to come in the future!
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