Everyone has a love for beauty. From “black and white” and “loose” to “colorful” and “close-fitting”, plus-size girls’ pursuit of beauty is quietly changing, and a “revolution” is taking place.
Is There A Market For Plus Size Clothing
Researchers at Imperial College London analyzed and compared the body mass index of 20 million adults in 186 countries and territories from 1975 to 2014. The findings are worrying: Men are three times as obese as they were 40 years ago, and women are twice as likely. In other words, there are currently 266 million obese men and 375 million obese women in the world, accounting for about 10% of the world’s total population. China and the United States are the countries with the highest number of obese people in the world. Among them, the number of obese men in China is 43.2 million and the number of obese women is 46.4 million, ranking first in the world.
In the clothing market, large-size clothing is a market that is easily ignored by brand owners, because the crowd it covers is not large enough and belongs to that part of the long tail demand. With the rise of the Internet, this niche demand is slowly gaining some. Satisfied, but the overall market is not standardized, the brands are relatively scattered, and the market space is relatively large.
US Market
Apparel e-commerce company ModCloth, in partnership with Paradigm Sample, conducted a survey of 1,500 American women. The findings:
Retail ignores the needs of “plus-size” women: 65% of women agree.
There are also “plus-size” women in fashion: only 28% of women agree.
“Plus-size” models are representative of this group of women: only 31% of women agree.
Of those women, 92% agreed with the statement: “I feel bad when I can’t find the right size.” In addition, 81% of women said they would be willing to pay more if they had more choices and more money. 88% of women said they would be more likely to buy those clothes if they were more fashionable.
Apparel brands want to enter the plus-size clothing market and provide clothing to once-neglected consumer groups. The size of this market naturally supports this desire. The size of the US plus-size clothing market is estimated to be about $20 billion, and the plus-size clothing market is growing at 17% per year, while the normal-size clothing growth is only 7%.
Amazon currently offers plus-size clothing from three brands, Society New York, Lark & ​​Ro, and James & Erin, but only in certain collections. The launch of plus-size clothing brands is likely a decision Amazon made based on platform shopping data.
Brazilian market
Brazil has built a strong body-focused culture since the 1980s, a fashion industry that defines the female body in very limited terms. For many years, most Brazilian brands and retailers have not produced plus-size clothing or targeted plus-size consumers, some of whom the brands say do not fit the brand’s lifestyle. As of August 2016, only 18% of fashion brands offered sizes larger than 46 (US12).
However, with 52.5% of the Brazilian population currently overweight and protesting previous standards through social media, clothing brands can no longer ignore this consumer group.
A recent study by Sebrae showed that 91.4% of consumers believe that sales associates in stores avoid helping them. To improve the shopping experience, Sylvia Sendacz and Christina Horowicz started an e-commerce company that resells more than 50 plus-size brands, including apparel, lingerie, swim, and custom footwear. With an initial investment of 300,000 reais, they received a huge response from customers, and the operating income grew to 350 million reais in 2015, with an expected increase of 35% in 2016.
Similarly, Rouge Marie, created in 2013, is growing at least 15% annually. The POP-UP Store was launched in 2016 to allow customers who are unsure about shopping online to try clothes before they buy.
Brands also need to understand that overweight consumers are not necessarily unhealthy or sedentary. Currently, the most untapped product category in the Brazilian plus-size market is sportswear. Targeting this market, e-commerce retailer netshoes has launched its own brand of plus-size activewear focused on male and female consumers.
Is plus-size women’s clothing still in the blue ocean? Is There A Market For Plus Size Clothing? How strong is the global plus-size women’s clothing market?
Our suggestion is that this potential industry deserves attention.
Is there a market for plus size clothing? - First: market space
In the cross-border clothing market, the plus-size women’s clothing industry can pay attention. At present, its market space is huge and its categories are rich. The following two points are worth paying attention to.
According to authoritative reports, the global plus-size women’s clothing market is expected to reach a market value of US$250 billion in 2027. Among them, the US plus-size women’s clothing market will reach USD 26 billion in 2021, with an average annual growth rate that is twice the total growth rate of the foreign trade clothing market.
Is there a market for plus size clothing? - Second: popular categories
At present, the three most popular categories for plus-size girls in the world are: indoor and outdoor casual wear, underwear, and sports and leisure wear. Affected by the epidemic, the time at home has increased significantly, and comfortable clothes that can be worn for a long time have become the world’s largest The main consumer goods category of size girls, the global plus-size women’s clothing market has great potential, and those who are interested may wish to take this opportunity to join this category.
1. "100 billion" blue ocean growth continues
According to the Credence Research report, the global plus-size women’s clothing is expected to have a market value of more than 264.4 billion US dollars in 2027, and the “100 billion” blue ocean category is worthy of the name. According to the Future Market Insight report, due to the improvement of people’s living standards, the obesity rate of women is currently on the rise, and it also brings greater growth potential to the plus-size women’s clothing market. The global plus-size women’s clothing market share in the next decade will be 7.5% rapid growth. Among them, the proportion of obese people in North America is the highest, and the corresponding proportion of large-size clothing consumption is also the highest.
ResearchAndMarkets pointed out in a 2017 report that in the large-size women’s wear market share, the 25-45 age group accounted for the majority of market sales, and the proportion of this age group will continue to trend in the future.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2020, more than 2 billion adults aged 18 and over will be overweight. Factors such as the demand for plus-size clothing from the younger generation, the continued increase in the number of plus-size populations, discretionary spending, and living standards are all driving the growth of the plus-size clothing market. The European plus-size clothing sales market will also experience strong growth over the next decade.
2. Category market potential still to be tapped
According to NPD data, the sales share of plus-size women’s clothing in the United States in 2021 will increase by 18% compared with 2019, and the growth rate is more than three times the consumption of the rest of the women’s clothing market. In addition to hot casual apparel, intimate apparel, including bras, underwear and shapewear, accounted for the largest share of plus-size womenswear sales in the U.S. On the other hand, consumers expect more size options in categories such as jeans, tops, and swimwear.
Kristen Classi-Zummo, Apparel Industry Analyst at NPD, said: “Plus sizing is a thriving but underserved segment of the apparel industry. The intimate apparel market has been a pioneer in inclusive sizing, proving that consumers will spend on categories they deem representative. money.”
In the past few years, with the help of the Internet craze and Internet celebrity celebrities, plus-size girls have gradually become a hot topic of discussion, plus-size models on catwalks, plus-size clothing brands are highly sought after… The needs of the plus-size crowd It was gradually discovered by more merchants, and more brands launched plus-size series, giving plus-size people more opportunities to choose. But at present, there are still a considerable number of plus-size girls whose consumer needs have not been met in time, and plus-size women’s clothing also has a good development space to a certain extent.
As the plus-size clothing products available in physical stores are still limited, while online plus-size women’s clothing offers more choices of sizes and styles, coupled with the popularity of smart mobile devices, plus-size girls’ consumption habits have also changed from brick-and-mortar stores to Shop online to better choose clothing products that suit you.
3. Seize the opportunity category and go out to sea in time
At present, the “blue ocean” business opportunity is very important to know how to grasp the preferences of “plus-size girls”. Plus-size women’s clothing is not just a “direct enlargement” of marked-size women’s clothing. Merchants should also conduct intensive research on size, style, and style in order to seize the business opportunities in this “hundred billion” market.
Is there a market for plus size clothing? - conclusion
Is there a market for plus size clothing? Our conclusion to this question is that plus-size womenswear will be a very promising industry in the future, even 10 years from now.
Starting from the consumer demand for plus-size women, Chic Lover has launched a variety of clothing products for plus-size girls in recent years, including two piece sets, tops, dresses, jumpsuits, and more.