Thursday, November 29, 2012
Do plus size women want Yoga Clothes?
It is a pretty simple question: Do plus size women want Yoga Clothes? (I am quite sure that size 14 model Lizzie Miller shown here would look just fine in hers.)
The answers as always are a little more complex than you might think.
We have been looking at each of our Yoga manufacturers as they bring us their collections and most appear to stop at Large size or in a few cases Extra Large. Plus size appears to be defined as size 14 and above.
We have asked a few of the manufacturers why no plus sizes? The answer appears to come down to a few main issues:
1. The manufacturers think that making plus sizes may represent a risk. Retailers who will buy the clothing hopefully in volume are risk averse by nature and usually want to do what has worked before. Plus size Yoga clothing is fairly unusual so has little track record of sales. Catch 22.
2. The way clothing is made requires careful control of waste and materials. Quality Yoga clothes in particular use expensive "stretchy" cloth. Sizes are ganged together to maximize yield so small sizes are cut with large etc. When you get to plus sizes you use more of the expensive material so the pricing needs to be higher at both wholesale and retail. Will plus size consumers pay more for the larger sizes or will they feel ripped off?
3. Will larger people who are exercising (Yoga clothing denotes some form of exercise) pay a high price for an item of clothing when they may well lose weight doing the exercise? Are they more likely to buy cheaper plus sized sweat pants (we discovered during research for this post that Champion one of our suppliers carries plus size sweat pants so we plan on adding them to our site soon)
We got into detailed discussion with one particular manufacturer who makes Yoga Clothes in the USA. As he doesn't need to bring over container loads of inventory from China he may be willing to create a plus sized Yoga line if the market is there and he can sell at least reasonable volume.
So we have set out to answer the simple question: Will plus sized women buy Yoga Clothes?
Please give us feedback at our website or on Facebook where we plan to post this story too, if you are sized 14 or above and have an opinion.
http://downdogboutique.com/contact.htm
The answers as always are a little more complex than you might think.
We have been looking at each of our Yoga manufacturers as they bring us their collections and most appear to stop at Large size or in a few cases Extra Large. Plus size appears to be defined as size 14 and above.
We have asked a few of the manufacturers why no plus sizes? The answer appears to come down to a few main issues:
1. The manufacturers think that making plus sizes may represent a risk. Retailers who will buy the clothing hopefully in volume are risk averse by nature and usually want to do what has worked before. Plus size Yoga clothing is fairly unusual so has little track record of sales. Catch 22.
2. The way clothing is made requires careful control of waste and materials. Quality Yoga clothes in particular use expensive "stretchy" cloth. Sizes are ganged together to maximize yield so small sizes are cut with large etc. When you get to plus sizes you use more of the expensive material so the pricing needs to be higher at both wholesale and retail. Will plus size consumers pay more for the larger sizes or will they feel ripped off?
3. Will larger people who are exercising (Yoga clothing denotes some form of exercise) pay a high price for an item of clothing when they may well lose weight doing the exercise? Are they more likely to buy cheaper plus sized sweat pants (we discovered during research for this post that Champion one of our suppliers carries plus size sweat pants so we plan on adding them to our site soon)
We got into detailed discussion with one particular manufacturer who makes Yoga Clothes in the USA. As he doesn't need to bring over container loads of inventory from China he may be willing to create a plus sized Yoga line if the market is there and he can sell at least reasonable volume.
So we have set out to answer the simple question: Will plus sized women buy Yoga Clothes?
Please give us feedback at our website or on Facebook where we plan to post this story too, if you are sized 14 or above and have an opinion.
http://downdogboutique.com/contact.htm
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I would like an XL to BE an XL. Some of the XL yoga clothing I have bought would fit my 8 year old! I have breasts!! I have arms not strands of spaghetti!!! Sizing is a joke. So, yes, I'd buy 'plus' size if it means that it will actually fit. Make it long enough as well!!
ReplyDeleteWalMart is the only place I've ever seen Plus Sized yoga gear. It's cheaply made, but I buy it because it's all I can find. I work out daily and go through a ton of it because it isn't meant to last. Given the opportunity to purchase well-made yoga clothes....well....I'd be so happy. I'm a size 22 in the process of losing weight.
ReplyDeleteAs a yoga teacher and a size 14 @ 180lbs...YES I would love to have clothes that fit well and feel great....tops that manage to hold my breasts withour mashing them would be a great boon as well...and one other thing... longer sleeves on tops..big girls don't always feel comfortable in short cap sleeves.....ooops petite lenghts !!! stay on it !!! I WOULD LOVE TO BE AN AMBASSADOR for a clothing line that fits ME and and all others with a few sexy curves.....:)
ReplyDeleteYes, as a personal trainer who works in the Health At Every Size paradigm I know many women would. And I'm not talking size 14, but let's seriously talk size 30. I know that finding good, comfortable and AFFORDABLE clothing to exercise in is a major issue for many. Please look to the Health At Every Size community and you'll get your answer on this.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone's comments above! I work with many senior students who love the clothes I wear and are extremely disappointed to discover they cannot find their size in the stores or online. I am not plus size but am at the larger end of the current scale on yoga clothes sizes. It's hard to find tops that don't reveal my underarm fullness. As a teacher, I need tops that keep my covered when I bend forward. I will help promote your plus size clothing when you start selling.
ReplyDeleteI am not plus size but can't find well fitting yoga clothes for my size 8-10 somewhere definitely in the middle. I think everyone should have available to them well fitting clothes for whatever reason... and yoga is a pretty good one.
ReplyDeleteHeck yes! I am going to echo Abnashi. I'm a yoga teacher, with an hour glass figure (big hips and large breasts)and even finding the right bra off the rack can be challenging let alone nice looking yoga clothing. The tops are the hardest for me. Yoga is my profession and I enjoy fashion, I want more options, I want to look and feel great in front of my students. And, I too would be a damn fine Ambassador for a line that would welcome me and all the women out there who are built like me.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what many of the women have said here. I generally float between a size 8-10 and can't find much in the way of yoga clothing that fits well. When it does it's not uncommon that it's an L or XL. In non-yoga clothing, I am a Medium, no problem.
ReplyDeleteI feel horribly for women who want to come to yoga and don't because the lack of clothing alone tells them "This is not for you".
We can tell ourselves and these women that the clothing doesn't matter all we want but nobody is going to believe it until they see a model on the cover of yoga journal in clothes from Old Navy and maybe, just maybe, she's not a size 2.
The woman in the picture is a PLUS size??? My body looks similar to hers and I have never thought of myself as overweight. I'm an 8-10 too and love it.
ReplyDeleteOh my, I do hope you can find a smart manufacturer. To find high quality yoga clothing to fit me (currently size 14/16)...YESS, I would spend the money. Just as my niece who is 6'4" pays the extra money it costs to find jeans long enough of high quality and the extra money it costs to fit her size 13 feet! It is horrifying to feel so horrifying while trying to do enter a class and exercise that is so beautiful for mind, body & spirit.
ReplyDeleteI am a size 14/16 BUT I also wear a 36i cup bra. I LOVE doing hot yoga, but finding anything I can wear is a nightmare. Either it's a loose shirt (not conducive for hot yoga) or my breasts just fall out (not appropriate) or it's so outrageously expensive I can't justify my paycheck on it. It makes it very hard to stay motivated TO lose weight, when you can't even find an outfit to wear, thus causing me NOT to work out, and staying overweight. It's a terrible cycle and I hate it. I currently have 1 yoga top (yes..only one) that supports, fits properly --it's a thicker fabric which it's as breathable in hot yoga, but it's what I have. I found it on a clearance rack, and have never found another like it. I would LOVE someone making clothes that fit WOMEN with curves and make it somewhat affordable. I shouldn't have to pay $65 for a top.
ReplyDeleteI am a true plus size, 2X/3X and I take a class from a woman who has classes for women my size. Do I want to wear bright pretty prints? You bet your Aunt Fanny I do! If there is one group who needs to feel good when they walk into the class, its us. I hope you do find a manufacturer who will make things that are larger than 14/16. This to me is a normal size. Sorry ladies, hope I don't offend if I can't call you fat :)
ReplyDeleteYes we do!! I have even gone so far as emailing Prana to at least go up to a XXL but no luck. It's very frustrating
ReplyDeleteI'd love some better made gym clothes. I do yoga and bodypump classes at least once each per week and I'm really over cheap, badly cut adn sewn gym gear.
ReplyDeleteI'm in Australia, where there is heaps of good quality yoga wear for sale and limited to size 12 and below.
I'm a 16/18 and my body shape is changing with regular exercise and a good diet, but it would encorage people to start taking control of thier shapes if there was quality gym wear avaibale for the curvy lass out there! I'd also love the women at Lululemon to embrace thier bigger sisters!
I'm a size 20 and I would be SO HAPPY to find beautiful yoga gear in my size. I am a very regular yogi and I find the lack of gear disturbing. I'm tired of being told that I'm difficult to cater to. They have no idea the amounts of money we are willing to pay for good looking clothes, and the whole «risk» thing is b.s. since more than 50% of U.S / can. women are a size 14 and up. Moreover, it is not likely that the practice of yoga, even if very regular, will bring tremendous weight loss. I dropped nearly 15 pounds since I started, but my clothes size did not change. They just fit more loosely. So, yeat! I'd LOOOVE it. We deserve the same quality gear as our thinner sisters. I too am tired of cheap exercise wear! I'm fat, but hey, I'm training/doing yoga/swimming on the regular and would like to be cute even when sweaty LOL.
ReplyDeleteYes, the answer is absolutely! I am a size 16 and have been practicing yoga regularly for 3 years now. I love fashion and would very much love to look good and feel good while practicing. I have never to been to gentle yoga class (and I go several times a week) where there wasn't at least one other women built similar to me in the class. I am actually a little appalled that women, is size 14 or 16 is even considered plus sized at all to the yoga clothing manufacturers. I don't have to shop at Lane Bryant or "plus" sized women's clothing departments to find my everyday clothing as I am the top end of the regular clothing lines. Size XL fits me perfectly most of the time. It is sad that there seems to be some made up consensus that larger women don't do yoga or want to look good when they do. If you sell it I, for one, would buy it.
ReplyDeleteIt's a myth that plus size necessarily equates to being dramatically overweight. I do yoga, I'm very fit, but I have enormous breasts (38 DD). I wear size 12 yoga pants, but large yoga tops don't stretch over my breasts. Let me make clear, I am not fat. And yet, I am considered plus sized? That's the fashion industry... clothing built for hangers instead of women. But I am astonished that the active wear industry would fall prey to the same thing. The concept of plus sized needs to change, but in the mean time, YES. Make the clothing. Please.
ReplyDelete