Fashionbi slide share the plus size fashion phenomena

The Plus Size Fashion Phenomena
January 2017
January 2017
When Curvy Fashion Goes Mainstream, Beyond Measure
. . . . . Marketing Research

January 2017
Index
2
1. Introduction ...…………………………………………………………...…….…... 3
1. Market Trends ……………………………………………………………...……... 7
1. How Has Fashion Reacted On Plus Size? …..…….………………………… 11
1. Plus Size Fashion Brands ………………...…..…………………..…….…...… 15
5. Plus Size Fashion In Revenues …..…………………………………..…...……. 20
5.1 Booho.com. ……….…………………...……………….…………………..... 21
5.2 N Brown Group …………………………....………………………..………. 22
5.3 Eloquii …….……….…………………...………….……………………….… 23
5.4 Marina Rinaldi ………...…………………....……………….………………. 24
5.5 Reitmand (Canada) Limited ………....…………………...………..…….... 25
5.6 ModCloth ………..………………....………………...…………………...…. 26
6. How Is Plus Size Fashion Communicated? ..……………...………..…...……. 27
6.1 Lane Bryant’s #PlusIsEqual Campaign .…………….…………………..... 28
6.2 Curvy Kate’s #TheNewSexy The Fearlessly Diverse Campaign.………. 29
6.3 JCPenny’s #HereIAm Campaign …….……….……...………………….… 30
6.4 American Eagle’s #AerieMan Campaign ………...……….………………. 31
6.5 Dressman’s #JustTheWayYouAre Campaign ………....…………….….... 32
6.6 ESPN's Annual Body Positivity Campaign ...……...…………………...…. 33
6.7 It's all in the name? #IAmNeonMoon Campaign ...….………………...…. 34
7. Plus Size Fashion Bloggers ..……………...………………....……..…......……. 35
7.1 Bloggers For Addition Elle .………………………..….…………………...... 37
7.2 Bloggers For H&M .………………………………………...…………….…. 38
7.3 Bloggers For Swimsuitsforall …….……….………......………………….… 39
8. Key Takeaways ………………...…..…………………….…………..…….…...… 40

January 2017
Introduction
3

January 2017
Where does the term ‘Plus Size’ come from ?
4
Thanks in large part to Lane Bryant, plus-size terminology has been ingrained in the fashion
industry for decades now. The company is now synonymous with plus-size retail, though it began
by selling maternity clothing.
Lena Himmelstein Bryant was a dressmaker who opened a New York shop in 1904. At the time, a
growing number of middle-class women were working during pregnancy. A customer asked Bryant
for something she could wear out while expecting. Bryant obliged, creating a dress with an elastic
waistband and accordion-pleated skirt.
Word spread, and Lane Bryant soon became the first company to mass produce these styles of
clothes, as the American Textile History Museum explains. Between 1909 and 1923, sales grew
from $50,000 a year to $5 million.
Lane Bryant started another trend, too. In the early 1920s, the company adopted the term “plus”
in preference to “stout,” the contemporary adjective commonly applied to women who didn’t
match the era’s svelte ideal. According to the Wall Street Journal (paywall), in 1922 it began
advertising “Misses Plus Sizes,” although curiously, the ads still depicted slender women. The term
nevertheless caught on, appearing in ads by other retailers and becoming standard verbiage.
Meanwhile, retailers continued to regard the plus business as somehow separate from “regular”
clothing. They avoided it, sometimes because they didn’t understand the business, and sometimes
because of the highly prejudiced fear that offering plus-size clothes would damage their brand
notion.

January 2017
Reasons For Rising Popularity In Plus Size Fashion
5
Fashion Industry has never been too tolerant and acceptable for all people around the world. Even in 2016, most of the models are thin, slim and lookalike.
However, that to the social media that today, everyone can have their own voice and it seems that the completely diverse trend is becoming more and more
popular, and, the strict beauty standards are now slowly and steadily fading away.
For instance, Body Positive movement that emerged as a reaction against social standards of beauty, which allow woman to be who they are. From
#MermaidThighs, where women proudly show off their thighs that touch to #BellyJelly, which promotes body-positive health and fitness among young women,
and urges women to love their "belly jelly". Other examples of this are - the Full Figured fashion week, the increasing number of plus size bloggers like Gabrielle
Gregg and plus size models like Ashley Graham or, Iskra Lawrence - a 25-year-old British model best known for appearing in Aerie's famously unretouched
#AerieReal campaign, who command an Instagram audience of over 1. 7M. All women should be able to shop in the same place, wear the same designers,
experience fashion in the same way," she said. Jean Paul Gaultier’s collaboration with plus size blogger Beth Ditto had a collection that came up in sizes upto
30. Ashley Graham starred in a promotion for swimwear line, Swimsuitsforall."Yes we are. ALL bodies are #BeachBodyReady,” the company posted on Twitter.
With her tiny waist, stick thin legs and petite frame, the Barbie doll has been accused of promoting an unhealthy body image for over five decades. But now, in
her biggest update since 1959, it’s out with the skeletal frame and thigh gap, and in with the curvy hips and thighs as the company has revealed three new body
types for the dolls to reflect a “broader view of beauty”. The company has now introduced curvy Barbie (with a tummy that actually protrudes), petite Barbie
(shorter, but no skinnier than the original) and tall Barbie. The new range of dolls come not only in a range of shapes, but also a variety of skin colors and hair
varieties to represent different ethnicities, so that the dolls are a step closer to representing the actual girls and boys that play with them.
There’s a sense that the fashion world is on the verge of a change equal to the “democratization” that’s gained momentum in the past ten years. The second
wave of this big style revolution is that accessibility doesn’t just mean price—it means size. Perhaps the global tolerance towards plus size fashion is due to
excessive, and -- counterintuitively -- misplaced, counterproductive tolerance?

January 2017
6
However, is the rising popularity for accepting plus size a healthy trend . . . ?
"My Big Fat Fabulous Life" follows Whitney Thore's emotional journey after being diagnosed with polycystic ovarian
syndrome. The disease caused Whitney, a slender dancer at the time, to gain more than 200 pounds in one year at
college. Feeling trapped in a big body, she struggled with self-doubt and negative stereotypes. Now 380 pounds and
eager to continue sharing her passion for dance, Whitney has learned to embrace her body and love herself again.
She teaches dance classes for plus-size girls, explores the dating scene, confronts bullies, and wears a bikini on the
beach for the first time in 10 years. She also spearheads a campaign that fights body-shaming and promotes self-love
and acceptance. To that end, Whitney Thore is no longer letting her fear of people's judgment dictate the way she
lives her life. As a fat acceptance movement activist, Thore has also achieved national recognition for her online
campaign for positive body image, No Body Shame. She also actively endorses the No Body Shame Store. What is
also interesting is that this is more than part of today’s business so much so that there is a TV show chronicling this.
Tess Holliday is an American plus-size supermodel based in Los Angeles. She is a self-described "body positive
activist" and started her #effyourbeautystandards movement on Instagram in 2013 and currently has 1. 4M followers
there. She has her own capsule collection clothing line MBLM in collaboration with the Canadian brand Penningtons.
It’s really the advent of plus-size fashion bloggers that seems to be making the most influential waves. Whether or not
an extra girth is indeed healthy, everyone should be active.
Fashion bloggers like Tess don’t promote a healthy lifestyle with barely 2 posts of working out, which was a trend
back in 2015. Accepting larger bodies is associated with negative consequences, research also shows that "fat-
shaming" or stigmatizing such bodies, fails to improve motivation to lose weight. Since neither accepting nor
stigmatising larger bodies achieves the desired results, it would be beneficial for marketers, policy makers, bloggers
and models to instead find a middle ground - using images of people with a healthy weight, and more importantly,
refraining from drawing attention to the body size issue entirely.
The audience should also use their discretion to decide if they are supporting a real cause of someone battling with
health problem related weight issues or if they are just being blindly accepting the promotion and comfort of not being
in good health.
"My Big Fat Fabulous Life" follows
Whitney Thore's emotional journey
after being diagnosed with polycystic
ovarian syndrome. - Endorses No
Body Shame store
Tess Holliday is an American plus-size
supermodel based in Los Angeles.
She has posed for Penningtons,
Torrid, Yours, etc.

January 2017
Market Trends
7

January 2017
What’s Your Size ?
8
What’s your size? the question that loaded people all over the world almost
every day. For someone who is slim and represents traditional beauty, it is
not a problem. But, the women who are not size 8, it can become an
emotional question. Consumers do not want to deal with this anymore or
feel guilty of their appearance.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show that the average
American woman today weighs about as much as the average 1960s man.
So retailers face a huge problem: the average woman is becoming more
and more curvy from year-to-year but still does not want to see herself as
an XL sized woman. Clothing manufacturers realized that they could flatter
consumers by revising sizes downward - and, so, if they could fit a size-8
women into a "size 6," she would be more likely to buy.
Hence, from 1958 until 2011, the sizes grew at a rate of 25-26% depending
on the size. This phenomenon is widely came to known as ‘Vanity Sizing’.
Size Standards

January 2017
Countries With The Highest BMI Index
9
#1 – Kuwait – 42.8% 13% of the people in the entire world are said to be obese. Over three
times this percentage are obese in Kuwait.
#2 – Saudi Arabia – 35.2% Its obesity problem is the second worst in the world. Over a third of
the women in Saudi Arabia are said to struggle from health issues or complications that are a
direct result of weight issues.
#3 – Belize – 34.9% It is the only Central American country that makes to this list. However, that
doesn’t mean that obesity isn’t a problem in the area. We’ve already discussed Mexico, but
Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago are also countries with serious obesity issues.
#4 – Egypt – 34.6% Egypt has the highest diabetes rate in the world, and teenagers in the
country drink an alarming amount of soda, making it the fattest country in Africa.
#5 – Jordan – 34.3% Together with early marriages, the World Health Organization has looked
at smoking and wealth as other factors that contribute to the high rate of obesity in Jordan
#6 – United Arab Emirates – 33.7% In the US, obesity rates are way higher in men than
women. In UAE, the opposite is true, with around six percent more females being obese than
males in the country.
#7 – South Africa – 33.5% It seems crazy, but the number of obese people in developing
countries is said to have tripled or quadrupled in the last few decades. This is surely a result of
grossly unhealthy food that causes people to become overweight but still doesn’t nourish them
properly. It is also the result of extreme inequality and corruption.
#8 – Qatar – 33.1% Western fast food chains have popped up everywhere in Qatar. The rapid
modernization and growth of the country has likely led to a more sedentary lifestyle. They are
facing a crisis in rising childhood diabetes rates.
#9 – Mexico – 32.8% A key contributor to the high rate of obesity in Mexico is that the general
population was only introduced to the highly processed, fatty, and sugary foods of other
Western countries fairly recently.
#10 – United States – 31.8% The good news for the United States is that the amount of
overweight people has been dropping lately. The bad news is that the percentage of people who
are obese has been on the rise.
3
6
1
2
3
4
5 8
9
10
6
The Body mass index (BMI) is a measure of body fat based on height and weight that applies to
adult men and women. The definition of overweight is a BMI of 25 or more, and the definition of
obese is a BMI of 30 or more. Below and on the right are highlighted the top 10 most obese
nations globally.

January 2017
How Has Fashion Reacted On Plus Size?
11

January 2017
Effects Of Body Positive Campaigns On The Fashion World
From America To Europe, plus size models are becoming visible not only on
special campaigns for the brands but also on the magazine covers. Vogue, Elle,
Harper's Bazaar, Cosmopolitan and others are now seen putting the non-
standard models on their covers. However, it is still not a usual practise for such
an intolerant industry and when a magazine features a plus size model or even an
article, it creates a lot of buzz."Is it accepted to not be a size 0 to be a model?”,
“Is it a new trend?” are still big questions in the industry. Anyway, the plus size
models have occupied a unique position in fashion world and they don’t seem to
be giving up such a hugely achieved success.
In 2012, Elle France used plus-size models for their new cover with the tagline
'The Body' implying that this is the shape women should aspire to - rather than a
slim figure. In the same year, Laura Catterall appeared in Cosmopolitan.
In April this year, Amy Schumer said about being featured in Glamour magazine
that “I think there's nothing wrong with being plus size. Beautiful healthy women.
Plus size is considered size 16 in America. I go between a size 6 and an 8.
@glamourmag put me in their plus size only issue without asking or letting me
know and it doesn't feel right to me. Young girls seeing my body type thinking that
is plus size? What are your thoughts? Mine are not cool glamour not glamourous”.
Glamour's editor-in-chief, Cindi Leive, later apologized and clarified that the
company never meant to imply that Schumer was a plus-size.
The most famous plus size model is Ashley Graham, who became the first plus-
size model to star on the cover of Sports Illustrated earlier and has been shot for
British Vogue’s January 2017 cover.
12

January 2017
Nowadays brands cannot build the advertising campaigns
underlining the perfect women’s bodies or publicly share the
opinion that their clothes is only for slim women without a risk
to be criticized by society.
Herve Leger fashion boss Patrick Couderc who said fat
women and lesbians shouldn't wear their 'bandage' dress was
forced out of his job. After his declaration that ‘voluptuous’
and older women, as well as ‘committed lesbians’, should not
wear Herve Leger’s famed ‘body-conscious’ bandage dresses
went viral on the internet and he was fired as a result. Herve
Leger then clarified in a Tweet saying next “Outraged and
appalled by Mr. Couderc’s offensive comments. Herve Leger
celebrates sensuality, glamour & femininity without
discrimination.”
A Victoria’s Secret ad featuring the tagline “Perfect Body”
has come under fire and the campaign was changed to “A
Body For Everybody” although still featuring the same models.
More than 27,000 people signed for this Change. The petition
was started by angry consumers asking for an apology by the
brand and claimed that Victoria's Secret should take
responsibility for the message it sent to women, rather than
promoting "unhealthy and unrealistic standards of beauty".
13

January 2017
Fashion industry is moving to be more and more tolerant and acceptable of
different body figures, opinions and images.
Pirelli Calendar got a revamp and claims to show older beauties as they
really are. This year’s issue features a host of A-list women of a certain age,
from 49-year-old Nicole Kidman to 71-year-old Helen Mirren and 70-year-old
Charlotte Rampling. This pictures presented feminist triumph. Photographer
Peter Lindbergh said: “In a time when women are represented... as
ambassadors of perfection and youth I thought it was important to remind
everyone that there is a different beauty."
Women’s Health banned the phrases “bikini body” and “drop two sizes”
from their cover."Since our goal is always to pump you up, and never to make
you feel bad, here’s our pledge: They’re gone,” wrote editor in chief Amy
Keller Laird. That phrases would be replaced with the words which readers
preferred such as "toned," "sexy" and "strong."
Pirelli 2017 calendar
Pirelli 2017 calendar
Women’s Health, June 2015
14

January 2017
Plus Size Fashion In Revenues
20

January 2017
N Brown Group
N Brown Group offers customers an extensive range of products in clothing, footwear and
homeware. Their portfolio of trusted retail brands all serve a specific niche of consumer
group which seem otherwise poorly served by the fashion industry overall, such as plus-
size and more mature customers.
This biggest difference between this company brands versus others is that N Brown Group
meets the needs of two very significant but under-served customer groups – size 20-plus
and age 50-plus. Traditionally starting as a mail order catalogue business, the group now
sees over 60% of the demand coming via online, and they are changing their approach
accordingly. In order to drive both sales and brand awareness, they also operate a small
store estate in the UK, focused on key shopping areas.
Simply Be is an empowering online fashion
brand, bringing stylish products to all
regardless of size. The brand is gaining signi
cant momentum both at home and in the
USA.
Revenue N Brown Group, million £
JD Williams goes from strength to
strength, with our stylish product
offer, digital marketing skills and ‘life
begins at 50’ mantra really
resonating with customers.
Jacamo continues to grow strongly,
with customers loving its digital offer
and collections available in a market-
leading range of sizes, from Small to
5XL.
Revenue by brand FY16 FY15 Change
JD Williams 151.2 144.4 +4.7%
Simply Be 103.9 89.9 +15.6%
Jacamo 62.8 54.8 +14.6%
Power Brands 317.9 289.1 +10.0%
22

January 2017
Eloquii
In 2011, The Limited launched Eloquii, its entry into the plus-size
clothing market. But just a year and a half later, the company decided
to focus on its core business and Eloquii was shut down in spring
2013. However, after consumer outcry began to gain momentum, its
founding team was motivated to restart the brand, and relaunched it
online in the early fall of 2013. That's how, just over a year later, Eloquii
founded new life -- Eloquii 2.0.
Eloquii provides the plus-size market with on-trend, fun, edgy apparel
based on runway trends, just like any fast-fashion retailer might. It is
the pioneering e-commerce destination for contemporary fast fashion
in sizes 14 to 28, ELOQUII offers exceptional style at a wide range of
accessible price points. The difference between Eloquii and, say, a
traditional retailer with a plus-size division is that the former’s head
designer Jodi Arnold works with the size 14-24 customer in mind from
the start.
Mariah Chase, CEO of ELOQUII confirms, “we’re not taking a straight-
size garment and grading it up.” She further adds, “over the past year
2015, we've grown revenue 165% and further strengthened our
enormously talented team.”
23

January 2017
How is Plus Size Fashion Communicated?
27

January 2017
Lane Bryant revealed its latest social media campaign, #PlusIsEqual with a stunning advertorial spread
that appeared everywhere from their own site to Vogue's September issue (the only two pages in the
entire magazine that featured plus-size women), a slogan that tugged at everyone’s heart, and a press
strategy that stressed openness, dialogue, and feedback, it felt like Lane Bryant had truly heard all the
criticism of its previous campaign #ImNoAngel.
#ImNoAngel campaign, quickly went viral on social media. Some praised the unapologetic use of plus-
size models in lingerie, leaving scars and stretch marks un-retouched, and a sassy hashtag that
seemed to strike back at its thinner competitors. Others felt that the campaign was othering, creating
yet another separation between full- and slim-figured women, and worse still, that it only features what
has been considered an “acceptable” plus-size form — the hourglass. The statement of #ImNoAngel
seemed like a deliberate dig at Victoria's Secret, obviously jabbing at its iconic “Angels,” but also
leaving plus fans of both brands to wonder: If we're no angels, then what are we?
The “PlusIsEqual” is a fierce movement that strives to give women — of all sizes — equal
representation in the media."Sixty-seven percent of U. S. women are size 14 to 34, but they’re
underrepresented on billboards, magazines, TV … everywhere,” according to the brand. In addition to
the ad campaign, Lane Bryant hosted a Times Square Takeover inviting New Yorkers and women
around the world to virtually tune in.
The campaign has a dedicated website featuring a page of tweets to set the conversation and also a
page where you can upload a photograph of yourself in your favourite city on a virtual billboard on the
website. It also has a motivational newsletter every two weeks where they address different key players
in the fashion industry and media who rally their cry for equal representation. You can then choose to
receive updates to pledge and help. They also have a social media presence on Facebook, Twitter,
Pinterest and Tumblr.
Lane Bryant’s #PlusIsEqual Campaign
28
plusisequal.com/#mybillboard

January 2017
The campaign Curvy Kate’s #TheNewSexy named 8 powerful female role models,
including an Alopecia sufferer, a transgender woman, an amputee and recovered
anorexic.
Challenging social ‘norms’, #TheNewSexy calls for women of all shapes,
backgrounds and sizes to be represented in the media and looks to redefine how
society views the word ‘sexy’. The company, who since launch have never
employed a professional model, choosing to celebrate their customers instead,
looked to social media to find the eclectic mix of role models to wear the new
boudoir collection.
Former Anorexic and body positive activist, Megan Crabbe who starred in the
campaign states: “I spent a long time believing that feeling confident or sexy was
reserved for people with the ‘perfect’ body, and that the rest of us didn’t deserve it.
Modelling for the Scantilly collection after beating years of body insecurities was
personally empowering and so much fun. This campaign shows anyone with body
image issues that we are ALL worthy of confidence, all sizes, all skin colours, all
abilities. It’s exactly the kind of diverse representation we need to help us all see our
unique beauty a bit more clearly.”
The bran’s head of PR and Marketing, Hannah Isichei follows, “It’s important for us
as a brand to speak to as many women as possible through our campaigns. We
know our customers don’t all look the same so why should our models? Why should
boudoir lingerie just be reserved for a handful of society? We want women to look at
our products and see them on a body they can relate to. Scantilly collection lingerie
is for every woman and every body, so it’s important that our models reflect this
attitude.”
Curvy Kate’s #TheNewSexy The Fearlessly Diverse Campaign
29

January 2017
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January 2017
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