| Page 2 of 3 < > |
Fashion's Larger Problem
Johleen Solly tries on plus-size clothing at Old Navy in Oxon Hill. She specifically avoids shopping at retailers that offer her size only online and not in their stores. "I want to go in the store," she says.
(By Pilar Vergara For The Washington Post)
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
Industry research suggests that some plus-size women prefer to shop in private, often based on their negative experiences in stores. "Who are the people who are more willing to shop online than not? Plus-size women. They're so used to being shunned and sent out to the hinterlands that they expect this to be the situation," Cohen said.
While some women may have come to expect that kind of treatment, a growing number find it insulting. "They're made to feel like they have a special problem that has to be addressed by a 'special' part of the organization, and that part can only be found online," said Stephanie Ouyoumjian, a director at Frank About Women, a communications firm that specializes in marketing to women. "They don't belong."
One company that has worked hard to make young, plus-size shoppers feel that they belong is Torrid. The four-year-old California chain has made its name catering to trendy women sizes 12 to 26. (In doing so, some analysts said, it helped offset parent company Hot Topic Inc.'s 17 percent drop in net income last year).
"We're attuned to a recurring question," said Torrid's director of marketing, Regina Woodhouse. " 'I'm a plus-size customer, but I am hip, and there are not a lot of options for me.' "
Unfashionable Figures
Torrid operates 91 stores nationwide and plans to open 30 more by the end of this year. But it must still deal with the same stereotypes its customers face. On a recent Saturday, an ad outside the Torrid store at Westfield Shoppingtown Montgomery featuring a curvy model in a clingy dress drew stares, snickers, and even a stern "You don't ever want to have to go in here, do you?" -- the latter issued by one sixty-something woman to her preteen companion. The girl shook her head.
"The best way to be reminded that you're physically imperfect when you're a size 14 to 18 is to go shopping," Ouyoumjian said.
To some fashion observers, it seemed more than coincidence that H&M discontinued BiB after Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld complained publicly that in a much-hyped collaboration, the company had manufactured his line in larger sizes. "What I created was fashion for slim, slender people," he was quoted as saying.
The designer's recent book, "The Karl Lagerfeld Diet," encourages readers to subsist on raw vegetables, curiously named "protein sachets," and little else -- ostensibly with the goal of looking like the emaciated Lagerfield himself, who pared his 5-foot-11 frame by 80 pounds on the plan.
Lagerfeld's motivation? Not health, as he freely admits in the book's introduction, but the desire to fit into designer clothes.
If you're H&M, Cohen asked, which is more important to the image of your brand: your association with Karl Lagerfeld or serving this market?
The answer, Cohen said, is: "Today, Karl Lagerfeld." That might not be the case three years from now, "but they'll deal with that then," he said.
A Tricky Business
Representatives for H&M, Sweetface, and other brands disagree.
