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Published
Sep 18, 2015
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UK shoppers to spend £4.5bn on plus-size clothing this year

Published
Sep 18, 2015

According to new statistics from Conlumino, almost a quarter of the UK population, 24.8%, purchases plus-size clothes, and spending on plus-size clothes will reach £5.4bn this year. In 2014, the market was worth £5.1bn.


Conlumino is forecasting growth of 23.8% over 2014-19. The women's market is growing the fastest, and saw spend hit £3.1bn in 2014. Between 1993 and 2013, the proportion of UK males deemed either overweight or obese grew from 58% to 67%. For women, the number increased from 49% to 57%.

Plus-sized clothing has increased in popularity, thanks to a boom in press and social media from plus-size bloggers and models. Conlumino found that 76.4% of niche-sized customers, including plus size, say that they feel comfortable when shopping for their size.

Rebecca Marks, retail analyst at Conlumino remarks, “The appeal from social media, coupled with growing obesity rates, has helped to accelerate demand on the high street for more fashionable on-trend products in bigger sizes, bridging the barrier between brands and plus size consumers."

The most popular retailer for the women's plus-size market is Marks & Spencer, with 10.6% of all expenditure on women’s plus-size clothing spent in M&S in 2014. Evans comes in second place with 6.5% of the spend.

If the forecast £5.4bn 2015 forecast spend is correct, the plus-seize market will hold a 12.4% share of the overall UK clothing market.
 

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