b'SPECIALFEATUREMORE NORM THAN NICHE To understand why things have remained stagnant in spite of a The plus-size market has long been considered niche, with largergrowing market, Peters research takes a look into the weight bias sizes relegated to separate sections of the store, if not excluded entirely. plaguing the fashion world.The plus-size consumer, however, is more common than the cloth-ing racks indicate, at least in the United States.NOTHING NEWAccording to data from Coresight Research, the average AmericanWhen looking back at old trade journals for her research, Peters woman wears a size 16 to 18. Shes about 53 and weighs around 171noted the derogatory language used to describe larger women.pounds, as per the most recent data from Centers for Disease ControlFat women, and men as well, were frequently referred to as gro-and Prevention. tesque or freaks in these publications.She also has money to spend.[Clothing manufacturers] very much framed them as an aberration, Sales revenue for womens plus-size apparel in the U.S. grew 18Peters says of plus-size women. And they begrudgingly decided to percent between 2019 and 2021, which is more than three times fasterbegin to cater to this market. And all these discourses around the larger than consumer spending on the rest of the womens market, accord- women were very much informed by shifting negative attitudes about ing to data from The NPD Group. [being] overweight in American society. The global plus-size clothing market was given an estimated valuePeters attributes this attitude in part to the Protestant values that of $288 billion in 2023, as per Future Market Insights, and is project- have taken hold in the U.S. since its founding, which regard bodily ed to reach $501 billion by 2033. control and restraint as a virtue.A significant consumer base ready to spend should have retailers[Clothing manufacturers] thought the plus-sized woman was clamoring to serve them, but that hasnt been the case, with clothingboth dumber and more impulsive than her standard-sized counter-retailers and jewelers alike sticking to a set of standard sizes. part, she says. They truly thought she was less than human and Lauren Downing Peters, assistant professor of fashion studies andcatered to her as such.PPORTUNITY weight bias informed the fashion decisions director of the Fashion Study Collection at Columbia College Chi- While readers of modern publications wont find the same harsh cago, has some answers as to why that might be after delving into thelanguage, Peters notes how eye-opening it was to see how much being made, choices that set the framework for U.S. sizing.Weight bias has a sinister history, with ties to both racism and gender prejudices.These prejudices are discussed in depth in the book, Fearing The Black Body: The Racial Ori-gins Of Fat Phobia, by Sabrina Strings, a profes-sor and the North Hall Chair of Black Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.Strings explores the ties between racism and fatphobia, and why she feels anti-fat attitudes history of plus-size fashion for her new book, Fashion Before Plushave less to do with health and more to do with upholding race, class, Size: Bodies, Bias, and the Birth of an Industry. and gender prejudices.The reason that [the fashion industry doesnt] want to [be moreThere were two historical developments that contributed to an size-inclusive] is because it will take a lot of research and develop- affinity for thinness and a fear of fatness, writes Stringsthe transat-ment to completely rethink how the fashion system is organized,lantic slave trade and the spread of Protestantism.which is not an easy thing to do, says Peters. Racial scientific rhetoric about slavery linked fatness to greedy Af-The exclusion of plus-size shoppers dates back to around 1915ricans. And religious discourse suggested that overeating was ungodly, when the U.S. fashion industry was first organized. she states in her book. The history of plus sizes aligns perfectly with the history of massAs early as the 18th century, fatness was derided as evidence of Afri-manufacturing, but also the widespread adoption of standardized sizingcan savagery and immorality. Slenderness, by contrast, was considered and womens clothing manufacturing in the early 20th century, she says. evidence of Christian elevation and Anglo-Saxon superiority.And so, the market for plus sizes [came about because] standard- Strings also writes about the specific fear of larger-bodied Black ized sizing didnt really include all American women. Even back inwomen, delving into the religious ideologies that have been used to 1915, it was estimated that upward of 30 percent of American womenboth degrade Black women and discipline white women.were stout or plus size, as we would call them today. The upholding of thinness as the ideal and the negativity toward The framework, it seems, was off from the beginning. people who are plus-size continue to play out today, particularly in the Unfortunately, the way the industry was organized in the earlyluxury space. 20th century between petite, standard, and plus sizes has remained as the organizing principle of contemporary fashion, too, says Peters.ASPIRATIONAL AND EXCLUSIONARY In many ways, the fashion industry hasnt really evolved all that muchWhile many brands have opened the doors for plus-size shoppers since [then]. in recent years, particularly amid the rise of online shopping, luxury NATIONAL JEWELER 51'