Is plus size clothing becoming more fashionable - January 8, 2010
The backlash against size 0 catwalk models influencing young girls’ eating habits, causing eating disorders and creating an unrealistic image of the female form has been around for some time. The issue doesn’t look like it will be going away any time soon however as more and more women are looking to plus size clothing to fit their body shape instead of the ‘stick thin’ model images we see in magazines.
According to research, in 2005 women in the UK spent £2.3 billion on plus size clothes, which made up a staggering 17% of the total spend on women’s fashion that year. Also, according to figures released by MINTEL, almost a fifth of all women in the UK require size 18 or larger in their clothes, that’s around 4.9 million. MINTEL also predicts that that figure could rise to 6.4 million by 2011, which would be 40% more than in 2006.
The figures are clear; plus size clothes are more popular now than they have ever been and their popularity is set to continue. With plus size clothing becoming a core area of the women’s fashion market, designers are being forced to turn their attentions away from the stick thin catwalk models and onto the real women who actually buy the clothes on the high street.According to research, in 2005 women in the UK spent £2.3 billion on plus size clothes, which made up a staggering 17% of the total spend on women’s fashion that year. Also, according to figures released by MINTEL, almost a fifth of all women in the UK require size 18 or larger in their clothes, that’s around 4.9 million. MINTEL also predicts that that figure could rise to 6.4 million by 2011, which would be 40% more than in 2006.
