'Plus Size' market offers huge opportunities

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Anand Choudhary | 13 Jun, 2008
Today, we are living in a fast moving world where people don't have time for leading a healthy life. We feast in Fast food restaurants eating junk food while burning very little calories. As a result people's waist sizes have also increased considerably. Today, India has a very large and growing "Plus size" readymade garments' market.

In common parlance, the term "plus" means an extra size over the usual "EXL" and "Double EXL" size in ready made garments. Plus size clothing is a general term given to apparel crafted specifically for men and women of large build. The plus size is meant for those who do not have that perfect figure, a la Karina Kapoor or a Salman Khan, but still want to wear funky, trendy clothes.

Plus size apparel entered the Indian market in the early 90s and is growing since then. But this sector has a huge potential. More than 12.1 percent of males and more than 17 percent females are over weight, according to the Third National Family Health Survey 2006.

Also, a recent study of 10- 15 year olds in the country reveals that nearly 9.9 percent of the boys and 12 percent of the girls in this age group are over weight and five percent and 6.3 percent are respectively obese. This means that plus size population is in excess of 150 million while the market is currently selling less than three million units per annum . So, there is scope to increase the plus size share from 0.05 percent of the total apparel market to five percent... 100 times the existing level.

According to Nisha Somaia of Revolutionary clothing Pvt Limited, "There is a huge change, women don't want to hide their bodies in hideous sacks any more and are now willing to go funkier and not just wear loose, ill fitting clothes. They want what is contemporary and are in for comfortable fashion".

What really holds back the growth of this market, and in fact also the over all apparel market, is the absence of a proper study in body sizing and adoption of standardized sixes for the entire country.

This is one aspect where Europeans and the US have invested heavily in, and hence a flourishing market in the plus size. For example, obesity in the US increased from 13 percent in the 60s to 32 percent in 2004, and its estimated that by 2015, 75 percent of the adults will be over weight and 41 percent will be obese according to a study by Youfa Wang at John Hopkins university.

This study establishes 25 - 36 year olds as the most prolific buyers of plus size apparel. And this young population back home in India will certainly not be content with a seven yard saree or a XXXL Kurta Pyjama. The more than voluptuous woman wants to dress smart. Size withstanding, she desires what every other woman wants... trousers, capris, tank tops and so on. The same goes for plus sized men. Even they want to dress trendy.

So, the market should wisely pay heed to these special "big " customers as they should realize that fashion is not just about plus size waists, but plus size profits too. According to the Mintel report,
the plus size clothing in the global market is worth about 32 billion dollars and is likely to grow at more than 10 percent in the coming five years.

The domestic market in India, was valued at Rs 122,400 crore in 2007, as per the India Apparel Report 2008. In value terms, the apparel market grew at 5.9 percent in 2007 as against 4.2 in 2006.
Plus- size apparel contribute approximately 188 croreto the Rs 122,400 crore domestic apparel market, which is a 0.15 percent share barely. But this minuscule share begins to look a lot more attractive considering the fact that the volume share of plus size apparel is just 0.05 percent of the over all market.

Thus, there is a huge opportunity in the plus size segment of the apparel market, which the retailers and brands need to realize, in order to fill the huge gap which at present is there in this segment.