Fascinating article. As someone who wears plus-sized pants and occasionally reads articles in the fatosphere, I had wondered why the plus-sized segment of the market wasn't more well-served. I came to a similar conclusion as Postrel--that the variance in various metrics for body size goes up as weight increases.

Thus, although a large segment of the population is not satisfied with the clothes available to them, it may not be practical to cater to this segment if any given design only fits a small part of the subset. This is especially true when people sulk instead of thinking rationally about these things.

What is the solution? It seems that people who are looking for clothes that accomodate their size and want a more tailored fit have to be willing to pay higher prices than they're used to. I should note that, contrary to what Postrel suggests, I think that most plus-sized people are used to paying more for their clothes (though perhaps not when smaller but otherwise identical designs are displayed alongside them at lower prices). Moreover, perhaps some measure needs to be used to signal to prospective entrepreneurs that enough people are willing to pay a premium for these clothes.

Personally, while I'm willing to pay more for clothes that fit comfortably, I am not especially concerned about clothes fitting me with little excess fabric (so as not to appear baggy). Indeed, acquiring such clothes seems to me like it'd be too expensive.

I'm disappointed to see that a popular blog in the Fatosphere (Shapely Prose) has not charitably conveyed Postrel's argument. They summarize the argument (mistaking mean for mode, btw) by saying that designers are simply saying that making clothes for plus-sized wearers is "too hard" (as though it were an issue akin to, say, packing more transistors on to a chip). The message of designers finding it difficult to make a profit for a given design of outfit is obscured. This is unfortunate. If plus-sized people want clothes that accomodate them more comfortably and flatteringly, they would do well to stop emoting, and start conveying their willingness to pay for such items.

duh....

If there is a greater range of variation in the "plus" size area, it will be more difficult for clothing manufacturers to cover it economically as they have to make clothing in a greater range of sizes.

Depressing graph -- 30 is the new 40.

If there is a greater range of variation in the "plus" size area, it will be more difficult for clothing manufacturers to cover it economically as they have to make clothing in a greater range of sizes.

I don't know. Take men with non-mainstream tastes in porn. There's tons of variation among them, certainly more than among mainstream men. But the porn people seem to cater to them pretty well, given all the sick stuff that's out there.

I think that's what's called the tyranny of the market/majority.

Almost no one, of any size gets a perfect fit unless they are willing to pay for couture clothing. Male or female.

As a general rule, overweight women are better served by spending zero time on fashion and 100% time on exercise/diet *until* they're at a good weight. After that point there is some marginal benefit from fashion.

Until that point, they should go with XL t-shirts and jeans. Won't make a difference what they wear...unfortunately for them, they're invisible . Lemmonex learned this the hard way.


PS: Free weights are also a big win -- girls who do squats and lunges (with barbells!) are getting the maximum bang for their exercise minute.

It was only a few years ago when I was reading everywhere about the 'long tail' phenomenon whereby modern systems of production and marketing supposedly had no problem in catering for minority needs:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The...i/ The_Long_Tail

I don't know. Take men with non-mainstream tastes in porn. There's tons of variation among them, certainly more than among mainstream men. But the porn people seem to cater to them pretty well, given all the sick stuff that's out there.

You misunderstand me. I was referring to the increased cost of have to manufacture clothing for a larger number of sizes. The graph shows that overweight people have a greater range of weights than those who are not. So, clothing manufacturers targeting the "plus" size market must manufacture cloths in a greater range of sizes than those who do not. This, in turn, involves more costs in manufacturing the cloths.

Actual price of after-purchase fitting of your clothes is pretty small. There are many small shops for that purpose. I am a male, and that works for me pretty well; at least much cheaper than to persuade my lovely wife to do this kind of job, even if it is within the range of her abilities.

Actual price of after-purchase fitting of your clothes is pretty small. There are many small shops for that purpose. I am a male, and that works for me pretty well; at least much cheaper than to persuade my lovely wife to do this kind of job, even if it is within the range of her abilities. (Sorry if the comment will appear twice)

"Imagine the fury that would greet prices that went up with dress size." To charge a price that depends on size is pretty common for men's clothes in Britain.

is this Say's Law at work? supply creating its own demand?

if fat chicks can't find clothes that fit them, that's another incentive for them to lose weight.

kurt9: Yeah, effectively there's no plus-size market; there are a bunch of niche markets: the somewhat fat, the pretty fat, the extremely fat, etc.

Agnostic: You're overlooking the difference between digital and physical products. Over-the-internet porn can take full advantage of the long tail, effectively, a huge number of niche markets. If porn was sold retail, like most clothing, it would cater to the mainstream to a much greater extent.

guess what size woman most men prefer?

Read this.

Without more information, I'd take that as evidence that a good waist-to-hip ratio trumps being skinny. They don't go into a lot of detail on the range of images used.
Anyway, in situations where there is dissonance between the socially promoted/artificial feminine ideal and what we might call the natural ideal, you could assume that men would want a woman close to the socially promoted ideal as a mate (to demonstrate high status) and could then use that to get additional opportunities with other women.

Curiously, the study did not take into account bust sizes.

Researchers from the University of NSW, said adding this into the mix could alter the result.