(Filed Under wholesale Lingerie News). According to Tamera Venneman Vestal, national director of sales for Sky Hosiery/Music Legs, there is no questions that women are getting larger. “Through much research, this has been proven to be very true. Back in the 60’s, the average woman was a size 8 with measurements of 34B-24-33, today, the average size is a 14 with measurements of 36C-28-38.”

This has produced a significant market segment. “As a whole, the plus size women’s clothing business brings in over $7.5 billion in sales and more than 30 percent of the female population are purchasing plus sizes. I would say those numbers speak for themselves and are very important to our business. The plus-size market is expected to grow over 5% annually over the next 5 years to almost $10 billion, but overall sales are only expected to grow not quite 3%.”

To address this growing demand, Vestal reported “We have a designated section in our catalog dedicated to plus sizing and 25 of the 34 styles are all new styles this year. I have done research in this area during my years in the industry and found the customer wants a beautiful garment specifically designed for their voluptuous body type. We’ve created styles specifically for the plus size woman. This is extremely important.”

The firm has also “significantly increased our marketing and advertising dollars based upon the virtual “new line” of plus size lingerie. At the International Lingerie Show in Las Vegas in April, all the customers were extremely pleased with all the new styles and that our images were a true plus size model. We are well aware of the growth potential and plan to continue expanding the line,” she said.

And what are retailers saying to her about plus size? ““We need more!””

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Published 06-28-2013 by -