Plus Size Dresses

Since this website is about ALL things related to plus, we thought it would be interesting to give a little history on what is probably the most widely recognized retailer of plus size designer clothing, Lane Bryant.  What most people don’t realize is that Lane Bryant is part of a larger corporation called Charming Shoppes that owns such stores as Catherine’s and the Fashion Bug.  Both (Lane Bryant and Charming Shoppes) have an interesting history and weren’t always in the plus size designer clothing industry.

The first public face, outside of the original Charm Shoppes store, of Charming Shoppes was the Fashion Bug stores which opened in the 1960’s. Considered pioneers of computerized inventory management and sales, Fashion Bug stores were wildly popular and expanded quickly all the way through the 1990’s.

In 2000 Charming Shoppes purchased Catherine’s Stores Corporation in an effort to firmly plant themselves into the plus size women’s clothing market, including plus size dresses, plus size outerwear, and plus size shoes. They followed this quickly with the purchase of Lane Bryant in 2001, adding the plus size powerhouse to its already successful Fashion Bug and Catherine’s dynasty. It quickly followed the Lane Bryant acquisition with the launch of Pettite Sophisticate, a store catering to smaller size women.

If we take a look at the company’s financial performance based on their stock price, we see that in 1993 they split their stock, and immediately afterwards saw a sharp decrease in stock price over the next three years (adjusted for split price). That brings us to 1996, a year when the Charming Shoppes successfully remade itself as a socially responsible company by helping women and children in need, focusing on women’s’ health issues, and brining attention to family and financial issues that women face. This program was championed by then CEO Dorrit J. Bern, and marked an immediate, sharp rise in stock price that lasted through the year.

Charming Shoppes stock price continued to fluctuate up and down over the next several years, but moved generally in an upward trend.  Plus size dresses were continuing to slowly climb in popularity.   It was seemingly unaffected by the acquisition of Catherine’s and Lane Bryant, and was in a holding pattern through much of the late 1990’s and early 2000’s.

In 2003 we see a sharp rise in the stock price that has continued through h2007 before seeing any decline whatsoever. This can be directly tied to the opening of the Lane Bryant website to internet sales, a move that brought an incredibly lucrative new revenue stream in for the Charming Shoppes Corporation. Sales have declined in 2008, one can assume in part due to the prevailing economic conditions in the country.

Compared to previous years, sales for the Charming Shoppes Corporation are down $265 million over the first two quarters. That’s 20% of their total sales. Not something to take lightly. Taken as separates, Lane Bryant is down $47 million, Fashion Bug is down $69 million, and Catherine’s is down $24 million. It’s possible that they’ll make up the difference in the second two quarters of the year, but historically they have had very few strong 3rd and 4th quarters.

What does this mean for the plus size fashion industry? Not much, but the Lane Bryant sales figures are a good indicator that there is quite a bit less demand for plus size dresses and plus size clothes so far this year. One can assume this is due in part to less disposable income due to the slowing economy and gas prices since none of the other large fashion houses has seen a comparable rise in sales.

So where did the whole plus size designer industry that we know today come from? Everyone knows about the rise of MODE magazine and their tragic fall from success, and I dare say everyone has heard of the plus size modeling agencies of Ford 12+, Curves, and Wilhelmina 10/20, but that doesn’t really answer the question. In my mind, for there to be a plus size modeling industry there first had to be something to model. Without something to market to the market niche, like plus size clothes, plus size shoes, plus size jewelry, or plus size maternity wear, there’s really no need for plus size models. That’s where plus size designers come in, and that’s where we go back to the roots of the industry, to a name that we’re all familiar with, Lane Bryant.

Lane Bryant is the store that is widely credited with being the first large-scale producer of womens’ plus size clothing, the first to push for plus size designers, and the first to use plus size models in their advertising. But where did they come from? Obviously, they haven’t ‘always been around’ like some people think. It all started back in the early 1900’s with a woman by the name of Lena Himmelstein Bryant Malsin.

Lena actually didn’t start out in the plus size marketplace. Rather, she started her professional career sewing plus size maternity clothes in a small shop on 5^th Avenue in New York. From a shoestring cash infusion of $300 (about equivalent to $7500 in today’s dollars), Lena started sewing clothes and selling them to women from all walks of life. Due to an error on her application to open a bank account, she was listed as Lane instead of Lena, and the name stuck.

In 1909 Lena get married to Albert Malsin, and he became very involved in the business. He brought with him the methodical, process oriented eye of an engineer and accountant, and really helped to automate their clothing production. This kept prices down and allowed them to produce clothes from patterns at a high rate of speed. They were the original plus size designers. Unfortunately, pregnancy was somewhat of a taboo subject 100 years ago, and they had a hard time advertising their designer clothes to the masses. Eventually, they were able to get an advertisement run in a local newspaper, and they were soon up to the ears in customers. Lena soon made the realization that a large portion, if not the majority, of her customers were what she referred to as “stout-figured” women. She began to tailor her lines for that customer base, and it quickly became the main source of revenue for the company.

A little known fact is that Lena was one of the early pioneers of the mail order catalog as well. Due to the pressures from society that she faced, advertising was very difficult. She resolved to get her designer clothes in front of her customers somehow, and had a catalog printed that she would mail out. Soon, the plus size designer content in the catalog had overtaken the maternity content, and the course of the company was set.