1. Harder to find bargains. I imagine it's supply and demands. Plus size shoppers don't have as many choices, so they can't really bring their business elsewhere even if prices are not ideal. This is changing as more brands carry plus size. I don't believe the higher price necessarily has to do with more material. A lot of men's larger sizes don't cost more, but then again they also tend not to have plus size sections like women's clothing. (What's up with that? Why do I have to shop in a special section?!)
2. Less style options. It's difficult to find trendy clothes in plus size, especially in brick and mortar stores. If you get lucky, you find stores that carry the most popular, selected trends but it's nothing compared to what regular shoppers have.
3. Fit. I find a lot of plus size clothes are either spandex material that don't provide structural shape or they're very top heavy. It's like plus size designers think all plus size women have giant boobs. Maybe I'm unfortunately shaped weird, but it's a challenge to find clothes that fit me in my arms and torso and don't leave space big enough for a melon in my chest area.
4. Quality. Except for a few select high end brands, it's hard to find nicely tailored dresses, suits, or pants in general. Again, lots of spandex or some component of stretch that just doesn't look sophisticated and rarely do you find lined clothing. Maybe they think the stretch is necessary for bigger girls to feel comfortable, but I'll be the first to say "No! Give me well made clothes and I'll pay for them!"
5. Varied Sizing. This is a women's clothing issue in general, and not necessarily unique to plus size. We don't have straightforward measurements like a lot of men's clothing. But imagine having this issue on TOP of all the things I talked about. Like, what the hell does a 1x or a 14w even mean? Is a 14w like a regular size 14 with some extra leg room for my hips and arms or something? Because of the varied sizing, you're looking at a LOT of returns and we're talking online returns since there aren't many brick and mortar stores as previously mentioned.
6. What this all leads to is the need for more time. Whenever I have an event coming up, I basically have to allot extra time to shop for an outfit / dress. I know regular female shoppers do this too, but hear me out. When I take weeks and weeks to find a dress, it's not because I can't choose between one style or another, or Im looking for the perfect color, or the perfect cut and fabric for the occasion. (Remember, it's not like I have many choices anyway. If I'm looking for a party dress, I'm basically choosing between a black spandex or black lace knee length dress.). It's more of an endless repeat of will this fit, will THAT fit, why am I wearing a fucking tent?! And all of this is done ordering online, waiting a week, trying them on, pull my hair out, and then repacking to return. Again and again and again.
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So what this all means, for me at least, is I very rarely buy a piece of clothing I actually love. It's either an act of desperation because crap the party is TOMORROW or it's good enough out of all the options available to me.
It's getting better as more brands realize the spending power of plus size shoppers. Maybee someday I can go to a regular mall and not be limited to one or two stores.
Plus Passion Nigeria is an organization that helps plus size women feel more confident about themselves. We provide information , products and services that cater to plus sized women.
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