Breaking the stereotypes with all inclusive fashion

Fashion is not restricted by constraints like figure, size, skin tone etc, contrary to what the popular myth may be. Neither is business which is ever so keen to generate profit out of any commodity that has the capacity to catch hold of market. If the two is blended, what the consumers get is a new booming fashion industry serving to the plus size women customers and very rapidly gaining footing in the business world in terms of profit.

Some of the biggest players in the sector like Larjjosa, Lurap and Lastinch, spoke to Retailer about this young venture.

 Aims and Goals
Neha Modi, founder of Lastinch which is a women’s clothing brand that caters to the plus-sized customer base said that Lastinch’s aim was to target the loophole in the fashion industry that existed in terms of women’s size and deliver latest trend and fashion to that segment who fail to procure apparels of their choice due to the same. They have been following the WGSN trend forecast like any other international women’s clothing lines. Lastinch’s ranges of clothes include bottom wears, tops/tees, dresses/maxis, shirts, skirts and several others.

Larjjosa Fashion’s founder and chief product officer Nanita Jadhav proudly claimed, “Larjjosa is the only fashion label in India to achieve 90% customer satisfaction”. She attributed this to the fact that only 7% of their orders have been returned so far. She revealed that according to management consultancy firm Technopak, the plus –size fashion industry in India is worth almost Rs 11,000 crore and is growing at an estimated rate of 25% per year. She pointed out the biggest challenge faced by the industry to be able to provide fitting clothes for plus-sized women, which is a segment that has been somewhat neglected by the domestic market. Nanita said that women in India are accepting their curves more than ever and are hence the segment of plus –size fashion is proving to be a positive trend. Larjjosa is almost set to capture the international market and will soon be serving global clients.

Vidit Sehgal, founder of Lurap, gave up a lucrative career as a banker after working for 4years in HSBC bank to open his own line of fashion garments store for plus size women. The company was initially operating in the US and Canada markets where the concept was already popular in no time, Lurap captured the Indian market too. He said, “We want to tell people that you need not to look size zero to look beautiful, being fat is not ugly”. The company provides custom sized and custom style garments under their own brand name. Women from all over the world in all sizes ranging from XS to 7XL are being provided for by the company. A special facility provided by the line is a virtual fitting room where customers can provide their details like size, skin tones, hair colour, height etc and a 3D model of the customer is created wherein they can try garments virtually. The company is expecting to reach a scale of 5000 orders per day by 2019.

Challenges
Talking about the challenges they face, Neha Modi said, “The biggest of all is fittings! It’s a common problem where a customer needs different size for different types of clothes but when we talk about plus size bodies, the proportions are not as per standard sizes.”  They had to face multiple rejections by e-commerce portals initially due to the absence of a viable market for plus-size fashion in India, but the Indian market trends have undergone a veritable change with brands like H&M and Forever21 making exclusive range of clothes for plus size women. Nanita jadhav of Larjjosa Fashion pointed out the biggest challenge faced by the industry to be able to provide fitting clothes for plus-sized women which is a segment that has been somewhat neglected by the domestic market.