Revamped Retailer Steps Into Niche For Plus-Size Items
Casual Male XL Launches Catalogue Blitz
David Levin is chief executive of Casual Male Retail Group, which produces the catalogue LivingXL, and sells plus-size clothing for men in stores and online.
(By Stephan Savoia -- Associated Press)
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Saturday, August 25, 2007
BOSTON -- At first glance, the catalogue's pitch for lawn chairs appears ordinary: A seated man and woman relax near a tree-lined lake shore, enjoying a drink.
But look closer. "Supports up to 800 lbs," says the text next to the man's $139.95 lawn chair.
Flip deeper into the catalogue, and the products are similarly specialized, including a "Big John" toilet seat with a 1,200-pound capacity, "larger than any other toilet seat in the world." It's priced at $124.95.
The products are in LivingXL, an online and print catalogue launched in May by the parent company of Casual Male XL, the nation's largest chain of men's plus-size clothing and apparel stores. Casual Male Retail Group hopes to parlay the marketing know-how from its 500 stores into the largely untapped market for specialty products that make life easier for the growing population of obese men and women.
The chain, based in Canton, Mass., is the first large retailer to enter the niche, now served by a handful of mom-and-pop catalogue and online retailers offering a limited selection of products with little marketing glitz.
For Peggy Howell, a 300-pound woman who runs an online store featuring art with positive depictions of heavy people, LivingXL could help her more easily find products that give her confidence.
"When I'm trying to buy lawn chairs, I want to get one that's wide and sturdy," Howell said. "My sister and I share a home in Las Vegas, and whenever we go to a party or an event, we take our special collapsible lawn chairs. We know we'll feel secure in them, and comfortable.
"You can find these kinds of specialty things once in a while, but they're not always easy to find," she said. "When you do, you tell all your friends."
LivingXL is the new incarnation of SuperSizeWorld.com, an online store that Casual Male bought for $400,000 in October. Casual Male chief executive David Levin learned about the business while reading an article on obesity last fall during a business trip.
The switch to a new name was in keeping with the company's rebranding of its stores last year from the old name Casual Male Big & Tall to Casual Male XL, a move that dropped the word "big" to eliminate a term often seen as a code word for "fat" in the euphemism-rich world of retail branding.
"We knew from our Casual Male stores that they didn't like 'big and tall,' and they certainly wouldn't like 'super size,' especially with that movie 'Super Size Me' ," Levin said, referring to the 2004 documentary about a moviemaker's experiment of eating only McDonald's food for 30 days.
Levin is trim but claims to understand the daily challenges heavier people face, in part because the company convened a focus group of overweight people to help develop the catalogue.
