Nina Jobst
Research expert covering South Korea
U.S. women's inclusive sizing apparel market - statistics & facts
There are several variations of the term ‘inclusive sizing’, such as size inclusive, plus size, extended sizing, to name a few. There is no exact definition of what size these terms refer to, although often the term is already used for clothes larger than US 12, which is traditionally the largest size many clothing retailers offer. The irony is that it is completely normal to wear these sizes and customers should not have to feel specially “included”, despite the implication of these terms that wearing larger than size 12 is the exception. What is true is that larger sizes are still not the perceived normal in the high fashion industry. On the catwalks of New York, London, Paris, and Milan in the fall/winter 2023 season, almost all of the 9,000+ looks exhibited were in U.S. sizes 0 to 4. Only 0.6 percent of the looks were in sizes 14 and over.
U.S. size inclusive market
One estimate valued the global plus size clothing market at approximately 288 billion U.S. dollars in 2023. This was forecast to rise to over 500 billion dollars over the following decade. The United States is a major player within this market; just the segment of plus size clothing stores for women was estimated to be worth around 12.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2023. In that year, there were over 12,000 plus size clothing stores in the U.S., continuing the trend of gradual growth seen since 2020. This number still falls considerably short of the 2018 figure of roughly 16,800.Leading retailers
There are several standout U.S. clothing retailers which specialize in women’s size inclusive apparel. Lane Bryant and Ashley Stewart are two of the best-known brands. They have both faced bankruptcy difficulties over recent years but were saved by investors. Lane Bryant is owned by Premium Apparel LLC, an affiliate of Sycamore Partners. Ashley Stewart is a subsidiary of the private company Ashley Stewart Holdings, Inc. Both brands saw an uptick in the weekly store visits per venue in August 2022 compared to 2019. Another major player in the specialist size inclusive market is Torrid. The company generated revenues of almost 1.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2022, which was roughly the same as in the previous year. A further competitor is City Chic Collective, which is an Australian company but operates in the United States through its online and wholesale distribution channels.The potential benefits of retail technology
One technological development in the retail industry which might save time and frustration for shoppers for extended clothing is the increased use of augmented and virtual reality tools, such as virtual fitting rooms. In theory, this technology would be able to measure different body types and sizes and recommend the best fitting items. One such platform is Zeekit, which was acquired by Walmart in 2021. Zeekit also offers customers the chance to see clothing items modelled by women of different body types. This of course is still reliant on clothing of the right size being available but will hopefully allow retailers to get a better idea of consumer demand. Consumers are, however, still skeptical about such tools. Over half of U.S. consumers said that they were unlikely to try on fashion items virtually with an AR app. Among consumer’s main concerns about VR and AR in retail were privacy and the level of accuracy.
