If you haven't read last week's entry, The Truth About Clothing Sizes, please do so now. This is the follow-on to that post!
Let’s say you’re a size 16. You’re right on the cusp between “misses” and “plus.” (Let’s actually include sizes 14 and 18 in this mix, since the size ranges tend to overlap a bit between sizes 10-20, depending on the line.) Maybe your body has “stuff” in areas that don’t fit the target market for the “misses” line. But maybe your body also doesn't have “stuff” in the areas that the “plus” line is expecting. What do you do (besides wail)1?
This is what we call the size chasm: there’s a group of people, around the 10-20 size range, who don’t have a lot of options when it comes to clothing. To make matters more complicated, the average American woman is a size 16 or 18. Which means that most folks who want to buy clothes in the women’s category have difficulty finding clothes that fit.
So if you’ve ever gone to the store and wondered why that super cute item of clothing doesn’t quite fit, now you know: designers are making their best guess at sizing, and it’s far from a perfect science. Fortunately, a lot of companies are starting to target this group of people as part of a broader effort to make clothes for everyone. Designers are already getting into this space for fashion and activewear; now it’s time for an adventure clothing company to make its mark. That’s where Alpine Parrot comes in. Chasms are for exploring, not for clothing!
Got five minutes? We need help understanding our target market - if you think this describes you, please fill out our first survey!
1 Ok, fair: you wail. And then you put your chin up and carry forward, because you're fantastic; it's the industry that's broken!
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A Bittersweet Farewell: Alpine Parrot's Final Chapter
Our bodies *can* do hard things, but they *do* do hard things, too 🏄🏽♀️
