SummaryAs well-meaning health experts continue to promote healthier eating and exercise habits, retailers across the nation are gradually bowing out of the plus size industry by carrying fewer items for this population. However, what they fail to recognize is that the plus size category will not be shrinking any time soon. It is important to recognize that the body does not make the person, but the soul being the ultimate distinction of a person. Therefore, it is imperative that the Plus Size population have access to quality fashion that will exude their personality and style. This cannot be achieved if more retailers limit the choices of available plus size wear. Plus size consumers are turning to online clothing stores at increasing rates in the hopes of finding value and variety; however, this process diminishes the enjoyability of shopping, and of feeling beautiful and a significant part of society. Online clothing stores for Plus Sized Women now have a greater responsibility of ensuring availability, variety, quality, and ease of shopping in order to meet a demand which physical retailers no longer care to cater.__________________________________________________________________________________________The late 90's to early 2000's afforded the Plus Size clothing industry a boost as full-figured women expressed their discontent with finding quality and stylish clothing. From that, designer labels and newer brands such as Lane Bryant and Torrid invested heavily on promoting larger sizes. Models like the late Anna Nicole Smith, and the currently famous Jennifer Hudson were the familiar and recognizable faces of Plus Size branding. Actresses such as Delta Burke of Designing Women, and Charlie's Angels icon, Jaclyn Smith, among others like Oscar de la Renta, and Donna Karan jumped on the bandwagon of branding Plus Size clothing. And even today, designers like Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein continue to be mainstays at Macy's department stores. But something happened - at some point, the influx of Plus Size clothing created a myriad of choices for this population, which led to the gradual decrease of quality and stylish clothing, not to mention supply. At some point, the once popular availability of quality material was degraded for cost cutting purposes and increase of profit margin. Moreover, the styles reverted back to T-shirts, jeans, and your grandma's Mumu like what you would find at Target; however, it is worth noting that there still exists the contemporary and hip styles of Torrid and Jessica Simpson's line, but these styles are not for everyone. Furthermore, big department stores either limited their Plus Size offerings to two to four racks way in the back of the Women's section, or like Sears, they completely eliminated their Plus Size section! So Plus Size clothing returned to the Dark Ages! Many full-figured women are either succumbing to wearing what they can find, driving from store to store to find something they like, paying a fortune for what they don't, or shopping online. The online option seems to be the most reasonable with regards to hunting for designs indicative of the individuals' style; however, the biggest draw back is that folks can't try out anything until their order is delivered. So instead of being able to try out 5-10 items in one fitting hour, one has to carefully choose what item to order and hope that it is a close-to-perfect fit once the item arrives. And if not - well then it's either repacked, or sold on Craigslist or EBay when returning is just too inconvenient. Then the hunt starts all over again. What can be good about o rdering online is that there are multiple vendors to choose from, and just about everyone's styles are offered. One can wait to purchase, conduct comparison-shopping, or contact Customer Service for questions. As a rule of thumb, a good Plus Size clothing online store will offer the following: a) a sizing chart for hip, waist, and bust/chest, b) a variety of styles and sizes, c) seasonal items, d) reasonable or Free shipping, and e) a prompt and considerate customer service department. So while department stores are slowly bringing Plus Size clothing into extinction, most online retail stores are gladly welcoming new customers everyday. ...read more