#zerostyle

On being part of the conversation

Have you ever had the opportunity to actually be listened to? To share your desires with people who care is huge. When I received an email a few months ago from ModCloth asking me to participate in a blogger event that was oriented at listening to what plus size bloggers are looking for - I jumped at the chance.  How fantastic to be able to talk to people IN THE INDUSTRY about what I want to see.

So last week, I traveled to New York City to meet up with around 30 bloggers and industry folks (folks like Nadia Aboulhosn, Gabi Gregg, Erin of ZeroStyle, Margie Ashcroft - and folks from various magazines were also in attendance).  ModCloth brought us all together to show us the research they've been doing about the plus size market. One of the most surprising things for me to learn was that there are more size 16 women than there are size 0 and size 2 COMBINED! The results of their research basically indicated that there is a HUGE (no pun intended) market for clothing manufactures in the plus size area.  They brought this research to their vendors and found they were having a lot of push-back about actually creating clothes, despite this market research.  It's not surprising I suppose that fat-phobia is so pervasive that even when faced with making a huge profit, folks are still unwilling to work with plus size bodies.  But ModCloth is taking this opportunity.  They're working with a master pattern maker to design patterns that fit up to size 4X (and they say this is a true 4x and that they're hoping to open that up even further down the line).  Honestly it was so refreshing to hear the excitement the presenters had about actually having a lot of options for their plus size shoppers. They also asked us lots of questions and let us give our thoughts and insights.  Many of us asked about fit and standardizing sizing, which they are absolutely focused on.  They have a master pattern maker who is working with fit models all over the country. I also wanted to find out if they were planning on including vintage styles other than fit-and-flare dresses (they are and they have a line coming out this fall that sounds witchy and wonderful!). It was great to be able to interact and ask questions.

If you haven't visited ModCloth in a while, now would be the time.  They've standardized their plus size sizing (while before there would be items that were more "junior plus" and weren't marked as such).  Many new pieces have been added and more to come with several special lines later this summer/early fall.