Retailers, hungry for growth, are wooing women of all shapes and sizes, with an emphasis on opposite ends of the spectrum.
Old Navy has been selling some plus sizes since 2000 and petite sizes started showing up in Banana Republic stores two years ago. But parent Gap Inc. upped the ante Monday, saying it would open three Banana Republic Petite stores this month, including one in Los Angeles, and nearly triple, to 150, the number of Old Navy stores selling plus-size women's clothes.
Gap, the nation's largest specialty apparel seller, is covering its bases. Larger teens and women are a good bet because their ranks are growing. And petites are tempting because they're desperate to find something that fits and willing to pay full price when they do.
"Special sizes is becoming a growth vehicle," said Elizabeth Pierce, an analyst with Sanders Morris Harris.
Indeed, sales of both petite and plus sizes grew faster than total sales last year, according to NPD Group. While overall apparel sales were up 3% to $93 billion, the plus-size uptick was 5.5%, to $16.7 billion, and the petite increase was 3.7%, to $5.8 billion.
Further, in a recent NPD survey of 43,000 women, 40% said they had purchased plus sizes (generally defined as size 14 and larger) at some point in their lives, and 8% said they wore petite plus sizes -- giving them a double challenge as shoppers.
"It's a bigger market than people realize," said Marshal Cohen, NPD Group's industry analyst. "Retailers are beginning to realize that to grow they need to expand their product offerings."
Many already have.
Teen retailer Hot Topic Inc. launched its Torrid chain in 2001 to target young women who want trendy clothes in larger sizes. The City of Industry-based company now has 76 Torrid stores, 40% of them in California. It has tweaked its product offerings, shifting away from the edgier, punk-style offerings similar to those sold in Hot Topic stores to more feminine clothes to suit a wider array of young women.
Although Hot Topic wouldn't reveal sales for the Torrid division, Chief Financial Officer Jim McGinty said it was happy with the chain's progress and planned to expand by nearly 60% this year, opening 45 more stores "scattered through the best malls we can find throughout the country."
Discounters such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp. and Kohl's Corp. also have expanded their plus-size offerings, analysts noted, becoming savvier about what they put on the racks for women who don't come in cookie-cutter sizes.
