As kids' waistlines grow, stores fill niche

With care, retailers are trying to meet rising demand for plus-size children's clothes.

By Michelle M. Melendez
NEWHOUSE NEWS SERVICE

Johnnette Holliday hated having to wear clothes "for old people."

The 16-year-old couldn't fit into teen girl fashions; she had to buy plus-size women's outfits. One day, to her horror, she and a cafeteria worker wore the same shirt to school.

"I was like, 'Oh my gosh,' " said Johnnette of Germantown, Md., re-enacting her cringe. "She had gray hair. It was not cool."

Designers and retailers are listening to frustrated young consumers and parents, selling age-appropriate clothing for large-and-youthful shapes.

As of 2002, 16 percent of youths aged 6 to 19 were overweight, according to federal statistics. That's roughly triple the proportion in 1980.

Big names, including J.C. Penney Co. Inc. and Old Navy Inc., have expanded their sizes for youths. Countless Web sites have joined the game, from the polished pages of www.alloy.com to the homespun links on www.jeenybeans .com. Torrid, an exclusively plus-size shop for teens and young women, will have 122 locations by the end of the month; it started with six in 2001.

Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at NPD Group in Port Washington, N.Y., said larger apparel for kids, "husky" boys in particular, in department stores in the late 1960s to early '70s faded as retailers feared singling out heavier children.

But for the past three years, Cohen said, there has been double-digit sales growth in the plus-size market for youths, sustained at 18 percent in 2004 and the first eight months of this year.

"The parents are frustrated because they're dressing their 8-year-olds in clothes for 13-, 14-year olds," Cohen said.

While marketers try to attract overweight youngsters with fashionable clothing that fits them, parents face a potentially uncomfortable question.

Madeline Temple, consumer strategist in fashion and retail for Iconoculture Inc. in Minneapolis, poses it this way: "If you celebrate that body size, simply from a health perspective . . . are you encouraging that child to live that unhealthy lifestyle?"

But Temple said well-fitting, stylish clothes can help young people feel better and perhaps motivate them to continue improving their appearance.

Ellyn Satter, author of "Your Child's Weight: Helping Without Harming," said success at the clothing store instills confidence.

"If misery made people thin, there wouldn't be any fat people," said Satter, a Madison, Wis., dietician and therapist. "Accepting a child's weight does not mean that you give up on parenting."

Penny Archibald, 41, of Goodland, Kan., embraces that message. She and her daughter, Taylor, 10, are both 5-foot 2-inches tall. Mom weighs 120 pounds; daughter is 170.

Archibald has taken Taylor to several specialists to manage the girl's weight and self-esteem. She and her daughter exercise together.

Until this summer, shopping had been "very discouraging," Archibald said. "For (overweight children), when you leave the store, they're in tears. And, as a parent, you're in tears, too."

Archibald searched the Internet for alternatives. She found Jeeny Beans.

A woman whose nieces had trouble finding clothes created the online store for plus-sized girls in 2001. Last year, Hudsonville, Mich., couple Al and Jan Venema took over the business. Its made-to-order fashions are girly: floral party dresses, embroidered jeans, fuzzy fleece tops.

The right sizes can help.

"They make me feel like an equal," Taylor said of her Jeeny Beans wardrobe, which includes jeans, skirts and tops.

Retailers appreciate the power of that emotion.

"Fashion is one of the factors in peer pressure," said Daphne Avila, spokeswoman for J.C. Penney. "It's one of the things kids use to fit in."

The department store chain sells plus-size clothes for children and teens in the styles available to slimmer kids, including ruffled skirts and carpenter jeans. The children's clothes are available in stores, online and from the catalog. The company sells plus-size teen apparel online and from the catalog. Last year, it introduced a young men's Big & Tall section in select locations.

Some stores, including J.C. Penney, dedicate special sections to larger clothes. Others, such as Old Navy, mix the merchandise, "so we're not segregating anyone," said Old Navy spokeswoman Andrea Lui.

Old Navy, a brand of San Francisco-based Gap Inc., began displaying roomier versions of its kids' clothes last year, starting with basic styles, such as five-pocket jeans.

The offerings have branched into the store's trendier trademarks, including cargo and capri pants.

For teens, the focus is generally on girls, who see shopping as a social event.

"I don't think that clothing is as important to teen guys," said Michael Wood, vice president of Teenage Research Unlimited in Northbrook, Ill. "For a lot of guys, their moms still buy their clothes."

Wood said that Torrid, based in City of Industry, Calif., with locations across the country, has been at the forefront of plus-size style for teen girls: "A lot of retailers have followed suit."

The company began as a pilot project of Hot Topic Inc., a chain of stores for young men and women that sells edgy wear on the darker side of fashion — lots of black. Focusing on teen girls and young women, Torrid stores are sleek and trendy, with sheer, ruffled tops, stretch denim skirts and sequined accessories that would dazzle teen girls of any size.

"The bottom line is: A young person wants to look just as cool as their friends," said Torrid President Patricia VanCleave.