For a while now, Target in Australia’s “Options Plus” line has been filled with not-terribly-attractive clothes that are pale imitations of current fashions. My local Target has a very limited selection, but I’ve been to some of the huge Targets and the Options Plus area is still tiny compared to the 17 acres of “normal” clothes. The sizing of the clothes is very strange: while in most other stores like Myer, Autograph, etc, I generally wear a 22 on top and 26 on bottom, in Target some tops, a size 18 will fit me, others, a size 24. I don’t have a large bust to content with either. Sometimes a size 24 skirt will fit perfectly, while I can’t get a size 26 past my thighs. Buying some trackydacks recently, one style, a size 16 fit and another style’s size 24 was a squeeze. I’m pretty sure these all come out of the same factory in Indonesia or China, how hard would it be to make the sizes at least consistent? It’s not that it’s even a difference between stretch material and woven. The inconsistency goes across all garments.
Frustrated with the range in a big Target I was in recently, I was leaving the store via the not-plus section, when I realised that some of the size 18s hanging on the racks actually looked kind of large. So I tried on some cardigans, which is what I was shopping for. They all fit just fine. And because they were “Misses” sizing rather than “Womens”, they weren’t too long for me and didn’t have armholes that went down to my waist, and so on. A 16 in some styles even fit. I’m not sure how they’d go on a woman with a larger bust than mine, though. So if you’re in Target, do have a look at the size 16/18s in the other sections. About half of the stuff there goes up to an 18 and nearly all to a 16. I’ll have to try this out at other department stores.
City Chic seems to be having a sizing problem too. Last year I bought an awesome coat from them in XL, after trying on quite a few other coats in the same size. I am a bit smaller than I was this time last year (see my numerous posts on thyroid), so the coat wasn’t a good fit anymore. I went back to City Chic to try on some L coats. Which were too small. Tried on their XLs. Still too small. WTF? I know they’re juniors sizing, but this makes little sense. Maybe they changed production factories or pattern designers. I hate when this happens.
As for Autograph, I think their clothing is getting uglier by the minute. I actually have some items from there from two years ago which still looks great, but every time I’ve been in there recently, nothing has stood out to me. Forget My Size. They are embracing the Big Boxy look. It doesn’t help that they put size 12-14 models in their catalogues and are obviously pinning the clothes back on them and they’re STILL big ‘n’ boxy. With dowdy-looking mid-calf skirts. When they have skirts.
Thankfully the Australian dollar is climbing back up against the US dollar and I can start buying a few bits from B&Lu and so on again.
I think I’m just going to have to clear a space here in my house and start sewing again. Fat fashion retailers are failing us.
5 comments ↓
You know, I noticed this exact thing with Target recently. I bought the exact same cut/make of pants, one in black, one in brown, both in a size 14. The material is the same, except for the colour. The black ones are too big and I have to keep pulling them up (but the 12 was too small… how does that work?), but the brown ones just right. WTF?
I also tried on a variety of skirts – some of them fit me in a 10 or a 12, some the 14 or 16 I couldn’t even get on, let alone zipped. I can give a little leeway for stretchy vs non-stretchy material, but seriously, how hard is it to have consistent sizing FFS?
I feel your pain. I was looking at Options Plus in store tonight and just shook my head in disgust. It is all horrendous. Admittedly I did get a really nice winter coat in there today and it was refreshing to see their coats go up to a size 26 now (and are cute) but otherwise PAH! to their Options Plus line. I need to start trying their ‘normal’ sizes for tops at least because I am about a 20-22 in the top now so some of them might fit. As for Autograph… again with the horrendous clothes. I occassionally get something nice in there and I do like their long sleeve tshirts (which last for years and wear really well) but everything else is pretty awful. People wonder why I order from places like B&Lu and Torrid… well this is why! (We don’t have a City Chic anywhere near here although I do get some of their stuff from Ebay).
I’m glad it’s not just me with the City Chic sizing – I have a few older pieces labelled M that still fit me, but when I recently tried on stuff in the store I needed an XL. Which means I have no idea what size I need when I buy CC stuff from ebay…
Options Plus? In the US, Target stores have perhaps two or three racks of genuinely ugly larger sizes – right next to the maternity department!
The reality is that MOST folks are larger than size 10. There’s a real market for real size clothing that nobody seems to be serving. The catalogs and stores that do feature larger sizes all seem to be selling shapeless polyester garbage. Talk about hating your clients!!!
Ha! Varied sizing is not exclusively a plus size issue. I can be anywhere from an 8 to a 14 in “normal” clothes, while my measurements according to those bullshit “size charts” say I should be wearing a size 18. It’s never going to change, I think you’ve just got to deal with it and try on a variety of things (although it does make buying things online very difficult). I feel soooooo sorry for anyone over a size 14, the clothes are HIDEOUS. Even the expensive stuff is bad, it’s all designed for rich 65 year old women.
I studied fashion and textile design at uni and I was always going to start a plus size fashion label. However I did the market research and found it to be prohibitive. This is why (these are generalisations, but that’s what market research is):
1) Australia is a tiny market to start with, so small designers are always going to charge upwards of $200 for plus size garments. This decreases your target market even further because there are very few plus size women who are willing to pay this much.
2) The “spontaneous purchase” market for people over a size 12 doesn’t seem to exist. What I mean by this, is smaller sized people often go into a shop and buy something they don’t need or aren’t looking for, whereas often size 12s and above are always “on a diet” and don’t want to splurge on larger sized clothes “in case they lose weight”. So they only often begrudgingly buy clothes when they really have to.
3) While women of all sizes vary in proportion, this is more exaggerated in larger sizes. It’s not uncommon to find women who are a size 12 on the top and a size 20 on the bottom. This makes it VERY difficult to design a range that doesn’t consist of shapeless sacks because it’s just so difficult to make a standard size that will actually FIT anyone!
Sorry about the mega long post, but I thought you might like someone to shed some light on the issue! I think the moral of the story is to get really good at sewing!
Leave a Comment