UK Women Comfortable In Tees and Polo Shirts

Wednesday 18th of August 2010 04:07:27 AM

UK Women Comfortable In Tees and Polo Shirts

Staying comfortable through the summer months isn’t always such an easy task unless you wear loose fitting t-shirts and polo shirts. Unfortunately some UK women are wearing loose clothes for another reason – size. The new figures from market researcher Mintel show that 6.2 million UK women are wearing a size 18 or larger which is 25 percent of the female population.

The women wearing large sizes often express dissatisfaction with the large-sized fashions. Their complaints run the gamut. Some women claim the fashions are too plain. Others resent the lack of styling in many plus sizes. Still others claim the clothes are simply not stylish.

When you consider the number of UK women wearing size 16 or larger, the number swells to over 10 million. That is a whopping 40 percent of the population. On WebMD, Tamara Sender, a Mintel fashion analyst, says that “Rising levels of obesity in the UK mean that plus-size consumers are increasing and these shoppers are looking for improved choice in plus-size clothing and more fashionable garments.”

One of the many advantages of wearing tees and polo shirts is that they are always in-style. But you can’t wear t-shirts everywhere you go, so the larger sized UK women are making it known they are a sizable niche market and want designers to pay them some attention. This means adding some fashionable styling to the designs in the bigger sizes.

One of the tricks of the trade the fashion industry has instituted is called “vanity sizing.” Vanity sizes represent clothes that are cut larger but are still labeled with a smaller size. Shoppers have trouble finding clothes that fit from retailer to retailer and end up shopping at the same shops that have clothes that fit right.

It is not just UK women that are wearing plus sizes. Approximately a third of the UK men are wearing clothes that are sized extra larger or larger. With the fashion industry beginning to pay attention to this niche market, more stylish plus sized clothing could soon hit the market.