What's happening to plus size fashion?

"The realm of greatness in collapse, we go back a decade"

The fact that three successful large-scale fashion brands have recently closed after several years of operation shines a spotlight on the dissonance that exists in the field of plus size in our districts.

Potential customers claim that there is no fashion in the country in style for sizes 46 and up, but in practice prefer to buy in Shane.

We went out to check

Tali Arbel

07/01/2022

Friday, 07 January 2022, 08:00 Updated: 08:01

• Share on Facebook

• Share on WhatsApp

• Share on Twitter

• Share on Email

• Share on general

• Comments

  Comments

Announced closure - Shugrash, a large-scale fashion brand (Photo: Shani Benvenisti)

In a short period of a month and a half, three large-scale fashion businesses decide to stop working in the field.

The Eddie brand, which announced its closure this week after 5.5 years of operation, and the Talia and Shugrash brands (of the same ownership), which also announced the closure a month and a half ago.

This sad sequence illuminates in neon light the jarring gap that exists in our fashion industry when it comes to large sizes.

On the one hand, there are quite a few brands in Israel today that specialize in this market segment and work to meet the seemingly high demand of women in sizes 46 or 48 and up, by providing an up-to-date supply with on-duty trends for women who really crave beautiful and varied clothes in large enough sizes. Address this in chains and designer stores.

But on the other hand, these niche brands fail to keep their financial head above water as at the end of the day it seems that not enough customers are coming to purchase in dedicated stores for large sizes, and small and medium-sized businesses simply do not survive.

More on Walla!

This is the most dangerous thing for our dogs.

So why do we not know enough about it?

In collaboration with MSD Animal Health

Still kicking.

The Queen Size brand, which has been operating since 2016 (Photo: Eden Ben Harush)

What actually falls here between the chairs, or between the hangers to be exact?

After all, there is a large female audience in the country that needs quality local fashion in sizes known as "standard" and willing to pay quite a bit for the clothes, so why is the situation so different in the field of plus size fashion?

We turned to small and medium-sized businesses of large-scale fashion, opinion leaders and customers themselves to try to understand the source of the gap.

It should be noted that there are brands that did not want to be exposed and react to the issue, perhaps for fear of angering customers if they criticize their consumer behavior, in an arena that is as difficult as it seems to retain them as loyal and repeat customers.

"Fashion brands for large sizes in the country have been declining in the last two years and it's not just the fault of the corona as many of us tend to think," says Roni Cohen, CEO of the Queen Size brand, which has been operating since 2016. " International companies like Ali Express, Next, Asus and Shein that offer significantly cheaper alternatives in large sizes.

I have zero judgment, which each one will buy according to pocket and ability.

I always say that food also has Rami Levy and there is a taste, each based on its ability or at all its free choice, really.

It is better to purchase 2-3 good items a year than 15 items that will not survive a season or be thrown in the trash even before they are worn.

As a client once told me 'I realized that Shane comes out to me in the end much more expensive than Queen Size'.

"In practice, women buy cheaply at chains or sites from abroad because there they feel they have more choice." Ray Segev (Photo: Shuka Cohen)

Providing another angle on the issue is Ray Segev, a model, mentor who leads women to the forefront of the Rollmodels escort program and owner of the closed Juicy Agency - "I think in-depth social research is needed to understand the real reason why large-scale customers do not buy enough brands. Such and these are forced to close.In practice women buy cheaply in chains or sites from abroad because there they feel they have more choice and more styles that can suit them. From age zero they have not learned what high fashion looks like on a body type like theirs. Recently, especially following the Corona, the world has changed and today the fashion industry from the band "Rollmodels" who are women with a story with an emphasis on values ​​like sustainability, leadership, female empowerment and style, alongside external figures of diversity and uniqueness. In the eyes of every brand, regardless of the dimensions it offers, today it needs to create a community of customers who are connected to its creators and the messages and values ​​they bring to the forefront,And the amount of style if he wants to survive in the contemporary market. "

Simcha Guetta in collaboration with Raven (Photo: Or Geffen)

More and more brands, from a variety of niches, are already realizing that in order to give a real answer to women in large sizes, they need to weave into a wide variety of sizes and offer something fresh.

It would be good if they collaborated with characters that women can really identify with, just like the sportswear line launched by Simcha Guetta this weekend with the Raven brand with a collection that caters to all women, at any age and in any size - from size XXS to 3XL.

The Girlfriend Collective active and sportswear brand that recently landed in the Story chain also comes in a completely generous size range "that leaves no one aside", from XXS to 6XL, without compromising on quality or style.

The brand is increasing and investing by investing in values ​​that have positive social and ecological effects, such as a commitment to community building, sustainable production, transparency and fairness.

There are also those who enter - Girlfriend to Story arrives in Israel (Photo: PR)

At the same time and under challenging market conditions, Tali Sharaf Hazan and Gili Zohar Elbaz, who own a company that owns two fashion brands that cater to the big size market - Talia, a 10-year-old brand and a one-and-a-half-year-old Shugrash - decided to close both. "There is a very big gap between the fact that there are businesses here that cater to this market segment and the amount of people who know that large-scale brands really exist," Gili points out. "For over 10 years, the only progress in the field of large sizes in the country has come from the direction of small entrepreneurs. Our economic ability to realize the true economic potential of this market is too small."

Her partner Tali confirms that not enough women come to support the small businesses in the large size sector in Israel - "Most of the activity of Israeli manufacturers like us is online, in pop-up sales and in the studio. Customers want us to be in malls and rightly so. The production costs of a small business are high. "It micromanages the price and makes our product less accessible to the general population. Large sizes are not a trend or a passing thing. The field of large sizes is collapsing, we are going back a decade."

With the most trendy items - Linen Shop for large sizes (Photo: Eden Ben Harush)

On the other side are the potential customers, who are trying to explain how they see the issue. Michal Offman, a plus size model, says that "in my personal experience, I stopped going to branded companies in the country that advertise that they have sizes 46 because it usually ends in disappointment. The plus size companies that really have the big sizes are too expensive for me and only when there are equal promotions "In some cases I returned because it did not come up even though I consulted before about the size. Beyond that, quality sometimes does not justify the price, so in the last two years I order clothes online at low prices and adjust the items to my size, or use a season or two and throw away because the fabric is less quality."

Neta Redi, a social activist for the promotion of gender equality and a large-scale beauty model, adds that "it's sad to hear about more and more such businesses closing and also quite surprising - because who does not want to dress as she wants in stores that respect and want her as a customer? Fat women should not hide and be modest. "Style, color and shape that comes to them, and at reasonable prices. There are few small business stores that know how to bring a variety of sizes (mostly female-owned) that you can find amazing collections, but they do not have much opportunity to expand to branches / sales all over the country." .

"There are ups and downs and nothing is stable yet."

The new fashion brand Lines Shop (Photo: Eden Ben Harush)

Mazal Benmanman, owner of the Lins Shop fashion brand for medium and large sizes, is indeed in a kind of grace period of business in his first year, but the conflict and difficulties are already tangible in her field as well. "My dream brand opened in April 2021 and as a new business naturally there is a lot of learning from the field and colleagues in the field, there are ups and downs and nothing is still unstable. Lots of questions are starting to float in me One after the other? The competition is so small and women demand more supply, what happens here? Is it because our world sanctifies thinness in every possible way and women feel uncomfortable going in and buying in a place that offers a large and wide range of sizes? Is the fashion that designers offer less trendy and fashionable? Unemployment rates so high have created a new situation for many women who are no longer in the labor force or working from home which means they need less clothes? I have not yet come to the conclusion.No one wants to work for free and we are not here to lose.I believe that if I do not manage to survive from the business, then it too will close like many others and that is very sad. "

"The factory demands more money from me for sewing a large size as well as for a quality fabric that is stretched enough and durable." Leading brand in the ultra-Orthodox sector - Blash (Photo: Burko Yildiz)

It turns out that the situation is quite similar in the religious sector as well. In larger sizes it is important how the dress will sit and tend to stay in certain patterns, such as for example that only a certain dress or black will fit them, so the buying process is more difficult. The client is more complex because many times she also struggles with herself. We make a lot of efforts to address their need and understand what they want but it is definitely challenging. We have a supply from size 34 to 54, which means that we actually make two collections and work very hard. I insisted that on our site we take the same prices for all sizes but it is not easy. "The factory demands more money from me for sewing a large size as well as for a quality fabric that is stretched enough and durable, than it demands for the same garment to a small extent, and the customers are not aware of that at all."

Is there still no match between the brands and what Plus Size customers expect?

Joy to Raven (Photo: Or Geffen)

The last decade has been marked by a significant change in the fashion world when it comes to the plus size field.

In an industry that until then has consecrated one beauty model and contributed (indirectly or directly) to social harm, it is evident that we are in a much more authentic and true place.

Plus-size models and diverse women have become in demand and there is hardly a network or brand, even in Israel, that ignores the trend.

On the contrary, they listen to the demand from the field and work to produce and offer clothes that will serve women of all sizes and styles.

But still it seems that there is no match, yet, between what women in large sizes are probably really looking for and what plus size fashion in the country offers.

What is certain is that customers are not willing to compromise - neither on style nor on a favorable price.

• Fashion

• News

Tags

• Plus size

• Models

• Fashion

• Israeli fashion

• Shopping