Plus-Size Fashion Market Squeezed in Recession

MIAMI -- The American waistline may be expanding, but plus-size shoppers are tightening their belts.

People just aren't buying plus-size clothing at the rate they used to. Apparel in general -- being a discretionary purchase -- is suffering because of the economy, but plus-size has been particularly hard hit.

According to the NPD Group, a market research company, the overall women's apparel business is down about 5 percent and plus-size is down almost 10 percent from the 12 months ending in May 2009 compared to the same time the year before.

It's hard to account for the dip at a time when more than half of American women are estimated to wear plus-sizes, generally considered size 14 and up, but analysts have some theories.

"The stigma still continues despite the majority of the population is overweight," said Marshal Cohen, chief retail analyst at NPD. The stigma means some retailers don't want to lure overweight customers and send out the "wrong" image, experts said, and the customers themselves may feel put off by many stores.

Some retailers, including Old Navy, Banana Republic and Ann Taylor, have taken their plus-size collections out of stores and are selling only online -- which some experts say plus-size shoppers prefer. Others, including H&M, have dropped out of the plus-size market.

Several years ago, stores had made an effort to expand the plus-size market, but they have basically abandoned that during the recession, Cohen said.

"They've made feeble attempts at going after it, but now that business is challenged, it is first thing knocked out of the store," he said. "Even though they built it, this was not a field of dreams for the retailer."

And there's also the uncomfortable connection between obesity and lower incomes, which might help explain the dip. A study of nationally representative data on American workers by two professors at Stanford University found that obese workers at the same level of job experience, education and gender earned less than their thinner colleagues.

For women, there was a statistically significant difference of wages of $2.64 per hour. For men it was 58 cents per hour, which wasn't statistically significant.

"The recession has hit workers hard, obese (workers) are hit particularly hard," said Jay Bhattacharya, associate professor of medicine at Stanford University.

Christie L. Nordhielm, associate professor of marketing at the University of Michigan, said that if overweight people are paid less, it would make sense that they would cut down on buying clothes.

"If they are stressed about paying their mortgage they are not going to be in a clothing store getting this year's hot new look," she said.