From being neglected to becoming a hot spot, the plus-size women's clothing market ushers in spring

From being ignored to becoming an outlet, the plus-size women's clothing market ushers in spring

"Big size" also has a "big future"

　　Our reporter Yang Ranran

　　"Recently, I have followed the funny video of Audrey Huben, and big data often sends me videos of plus-size women's clothing reviews and products. This 'Double Eleven' decided to 'chop hands' to buy." Ms. Wang happily told the reporter Showcasing the "fitting and beautiful clothes" she had bought.

Because she is fat, how to buy the right clothes has been bothering her.

　　In the past two years, under the consumption trend of women increasingly pleasing themselves, beautiful and comfortable plus-size women's clothing has become an urgent need of many "plus-size girls".

At the same time, with the spring breeze of e-commerce and live broadcasting, the track of plus-size women's clothing, which has been neglected by mainstream aesthetics and the market, is rapidly heating up.

　　"Large size" spring

　　Plus-size womenswear has long been a neglected area.

On the one hand, plus-size figures are more diverse, and people with fat thighs, stomachs, and shoulders have different clothing needs, and the cost of plus-size clothing is higher in terms of styles and fabrics; on the other hand, some brands believe that plus-size Clothing can “smear” a brand’s image, often treating plus-size clothing as a side business.

Whether they are middle-aged mothers or young girls, "plus-size girls" are all troubled by problems such as nowhere to buy clothes, not many styles and not enough fashion.

　　In recent years, with the rise of women's independent consciousness, everyone has begun to accept the "imperfection" in the body, and strive to show diversified, healthy and real beauty.

"Plus-size girls" are also more and more confidently pursuing the design and fashion sense of plus-size clothing.

　　In shopping malls, more and more women's clothing stores have abandoned the thin models in the trendy aesthetic and used burly models to display clothes.

The "bye bye meat" on the model's arm and the small belly on the abdomen have aroused heated discussions among netizens.

At the same time, the status of "plus size" in the fashion circle is gradually rising, and more and more brands are beginning to use plus size models, showing the definition of "beauty is wider".

　　2020 can be described as the sudden emergence of plus-size women's clothing, which has become an important year for driving the growth of women's clothing categories.

According to public data, this category achieved sales of 15.6 billion yuan that year, a year-on-year increase of 42%.

According to data from Coresight Research, a global retail think tank, China's plus-size clothing market has a market value of US$10.9 billion in 2020.

According to the data of Tianyancha: At present, there are more than 3,800 plus-size women's clothing enterprises in my country, and more than 610 have been added since this year.

　　The "plus size" business

　　It can be said that the demand for plus-size women's clothing has always been there, but it has not been paid attention to or really seen before.

With the growing demand for plus-size women's clothing in the market, new business opportunities have also emerged under the huge market demand.

　　Audrey Houben is a small and chubby girl who works on funny content IP. She has more than 10 million fans on the whole network. Her online store "Audrey Houben Taobao Store" has more than 200 kinds of clothing items and the highest monthly sales. Purchase 700+ times.

　　Audrey Hoben is by no means the only internet celebrity who thinks of the business of plus-size women's clothing.

On Douyin, the number of fans of "Jinggujia Weifa Customization" reached 1.05 million, setting a record of monthly sales of one million.

　　Aware of the charm of plus-size women's clothing, there is also Yang Tianzhen, a popular celebrity manager who is also a "plus-size girl".

In June 2020, she announced that she would step down from all brokerage businesses and turn to the live broadcast industry, bringing her plus-size women's clothing brand Plussmall.

Ten months after the brand was launched, sales exceeded 100 million yuan.

During this year's 618 promotion, Plusmall's omni-channel sales increased by 222% year-on-year to 27.55 million yuan.

　　The new design and brand communication methods have brought a "revolutionary" change to the plus-size women's clothing market.

　　The reporter searched for the keyword "big size" on Taobao and found that more than 600,000 stores have put such labels on their products.

According to the product pictures of Taobao stores, the reporter found that the design of plus-size women's clothing has unique "schemes": improving the waistline, elongating the visual proportion;

At the same time, pay attention to the demand for multi-scenario clothing, including business entertainment, dating, vacation travel, home and other types.

　　In addition, the rise of channels such as live streaming and social sharing has directly or indirectly contributed to the outstanding sales performance of plus-size women's clothing.

The reporter saw in the live broadcast room of the plus-size women's clothing brand Dushu that several anchors of different body types jointly tried on and explained the clothing, showing the real upper body effect of the clothing.

It can be said that the emergence of the live broadcast sales method has enlarged the user market of plus-size brands, shortened the sales distance, and reduced marketing costs, providing brands with opportunities to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

　　"Large size" also needs "high quality"

　　The popularity of the plus-size women's clothing industry has intensified competition in the industry. At the same time, with the emergence of leading plus-size women's clothing brands, the entry threshold for this market has become higher and higher.

However, the plus-size women's clothing market is also facing development bottlenecks: fewer mature brands, unguaranteed quality, and lack of offline physical stores.

　　The reporter noticed on a social sharing platform that many users pointed out that some well-known plus-size women's clothing brands have poor quality products.

"Although the price is cheap, and some of them are well designed, holes and pilling will appear after wearing them a few times."

　　According to public data, the unit price of plus-size women's clothing is usually between 100 and 300 yuan, and the return rate can reach 15% to 25%.

Few products can take both quality and personalization into account at the same time, and brands in the high-end market are even rarer.

　　Industry insiders believe that the upgrade of plus-size women's clothing is actually a further subdivision and development of the domestic women's clothing market, which echoes the current new consumption trend.

But the beautiful-looking plus-size women's clothing track is not as easy as imagined. High-end and high-quality will be the future development trend.

The market needs strong "high-quality" players with professional experience in the clothing field. From fabric procurement, pattern design, to product testing and even after-sales disputes, every link needs to be carefully polished.

(Worker's Daily)