Plus size revelation bigger women have cash too

Plus-Size Revelation: Bigger Women Have Cash, Too

Corseted into a size 18 white denim dress, wearing heels that made her about 6-foot-2, Gwen DeVoe, a former model and fashion-show producer, stepped onto a runway in Manhattan this week and made a pitch to retailers for the plus-size woman.

Those stores that don’t carry bigger sizes? “Shame on you, baby, shame on you,” Ms. DeVoe said. “Every curvy girl that has a dollar is willing to spend that dollar.”

So retailers are realizing.

That same day, a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 28 percent of the adult population was obese last year, the highest percentage yet. Almost two-thirds of American women are either overweight or obese, according to the most recent CDC figures.

As doctors and public health officials encourage Americans to slim down, the fashion industry is embracing Americans as they are. Both mass-market stores like Forever 21 and Target and expensive designers like Elie Tahari are deciding the fattening of America is a big business opportunity, and are reinvigorating a market that had faltered during the recession.

The standard clothing that most stores have focused on in recent years fits fewer and fewer people. And as retailers search for ways to invigorate sales, plus size is one of the few categories where there is growth. The plus-size market increased 1.4 percent while overall women’s apparel declined 0.8 percent in the 12 months leading up to April 2010 versus the same period a year earlier, the most recent figures available, according to NPD Group, a market research firm.

“It just makes business sense,” said Ms. DeVoe, who founded “Full-Figured Fashion Week” last year to press mainstream retailers to embrace bigger sizes. “I’ve been told several times that no one fantasizes about being a plus-size woman, and that’s probably true, but the fact remains that you have to work with what you have.”

That is not always so easy for retailers venturing into the world of larger shoppers. Some bigger women do not like to try on clothes in the same fitting rooms as smaller women. Plus-size stocks take up valuable storage space, and not everyone is big in the same way, meaning stores cannot count on, say, a size 16 dress fitting most 180-pound women — one might have a larger torso, another big thighs and another wider hips.

“There are variations not only in the frame, but if you’re looking at larger women, you’re also looking at the way fat deposits are arranged around the body,” said Susan Ashdown, a professor at Cornell who studies body shape and clothing fit by creating a three-dimensional scan of a person’s almost-nude body.

Plus-size clothes, which now generally begin at size 14, have been around for at least 90 years, since a Lithuanian immigrant, Lena Bryant (her name was later misspelled as “Lane” on a business form), turned a maternity-wear business into a line for stout women in the 1920s. There have been several efforts to make plus-size clothes more available, but, as the name of the 1980s-era plus-size chain The Forgotten Woman suggested, larger women have usually been relegated to stand-alone boutiques stocked with shapeless purple caftans.

“One of the things that happens with plus-size women is, as a rule, they’re pretty under-served,” said Bill Bass, president of Sonsi, a social networking and retail site for heavier women. “The big companies forget about them or ignore them, or make them go online to buy their clothes since they won’t have them in stores.”

Although Americans have grown steadily heavier in the last decade, women’s plus-size clothing still makes up only 17 percent of the women’s apparel market today, according to NPD. There just is not much supply or variation in plus-size clothes for women to buy, said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at NPD. And the big retailers have mostly stayed away.

Cost is one issue. Plus-size clothes are more difficult, and expensive, to make than more traditional sizes. Material can be the largest portion of a garment’s cost — up to about 60 percent — and larger sizes require not only more of it, but sometimes different production processes.

“Its not just about how much fabric is required,” said Deepa Neary, a retail consultant at A.T. Kearney, a consulting firm. “You’re actually using wider bolts of fabric, and that sometimes requires special machinery to produce the garments. You often don’t get to pass that on to the consumer, so your margins are not as high as the regular-size clothing.”

And with limited floor space, retailers say it’s hard to display, say, blouses from size 0 to 24. So the plus market “unfortunately gets treated like an exile,” said Kathy Bradley-Riley, senior vice president for merchandising at the trend forecasting firm Doneger Group.

Given those difficulties, some companies have pulled back on plus-size offerings. Old Navy and Ann Taylor stopped selling plus sizes in stores in the last few years, and now sell them only online. Liz Claiborne, which still sells some plus-size clothing, shut down its plus-size line Elisabeth, along with Sigrid Olsen, which carried larger sizes. It sold Ellen Tracy, which also had a plus-size offering. But given the strong sales in the sector more recently, and women becoming ever more overweight, some companies are giving the plus-size market a second look.

The chain Forever 21, which is based in California, introduced Faith 21, its larger-size line, last year. Though sales were much stronger than the company expected, that did not mean it had mastered the category. “We have been working through the kinks even now,” said Linda Chang, Forever 21’s director of marketing. “It doesn’t come as easily as maybe the smaller clothing would.”

Last summer, Target began carrying a line called Pure Energy that translated young, trendy clothes to larger sizes, adding to its more mature plus-size offerings.

“We definitely view this category as a growth opportunity,” said a Target spokeswoman, Katie Heinze. After testing Pure Energy in some stores, Target decided to carry it in all 1,740 outlets.

Elie Tahari, the high-end designer, began selling a plus-size line this year, and at Full-Figured Fashion Week, more than 25 other designers showed their plus-size clothes to an audience of retail buyers and plus-size women.

Backstage before a runway show on Wednesday night, it looked like a sorority house before a formal: shoes everywhere, makeup stacked on tables, the smell of hairspray and baby powder, and women lounging about in silk robes.

On stage, Ms. DeVoe emphasized that plus-size women were ready to buy clothes.

As the crowd whooped, Ms. DeVoe shouted, “My pockets are fat!”

From and see more at:http://shoes4woman.com/2010/06/22/plus-size-revelation-bigger-women-have-cash-too/

Top white gold engagement ring

Top White gold engagement ring

Men’s diamond rings are one the elegant pieces of men’s jewelry. Earlier, diamonds were considered a girl’s best friend, now men also have started appreciating the beauty of diamonds and diamond jewelry. Diamond jewelry has now become popular with celebrity men such as actors and pop stars choosing to wear these items. For the purpose of this article we will use the metal types that are unique to our manufacturers. There are many different names and types of metals but we cannot possibly cover every one that is available, so we will stick to the types that we use in our production.
Modern engagement rings are now a wide variety of stone cutting, metal type and design of the ring more unique and pace of current tastes. The trend of male engagement ring is slightly shifted somewhat away from the traditional plain gold band. Instead, a more detailed manner, and two or three gold rings are hot.
So, 18ct wedding rings for men is a good metal, provided that the ring is not easy to design, although more expensive than the 14 carat and 9 carat. One key advantage of a gold wedding ring is that simple gold wedding ring size will usually be a local jeweler. But a gold ring with ribbed edges, a wave or woven pattern or engraving may be a bit difficult without affecting the size of the ring pattern.
But it is recommended that if you buy the ring, then around the D and G Also, it is very expensive, make sure the rings are accompanied by a current certificate of jewelry houses, where the final seal of quality. Finally, the cut of the diamond is also very important to note that the radiation in some way related to the perfect cut. The carat diamond does not necessarily mean that it will be the best, because the light really depends on the rate of slaughter.
Then, to their surprise, when (if) something that happens in this ring of low quality, consumers are slapped with a $ 50 fee to replace the ring. There are some unscrupulous retailers, who advertise their shameless offer their lifetime warranty on the ring, but when you try to replace the defective ring, they charge $ 50 deductible who reputedly include processing costs for replacement of the ring, cost of the ring itself.
A simple thing that can look elegant when you customized. A single ring can be unique if it is also personal. Options to customize your own ring including network configuration options and the band itself. white gold rings.
All four factors determine the value of a diamond, but cutting is the most important factor. cut diamonds can only be determined by the radiation.
– Investigate and analyze the diamond 4Cs well, character, color, cut and clarity. Gold ring also consider the amount of gold ring, a brawl.
These rings and suits women of all ages, and that a unique charm and elegance of the whole personality. Vintage rings correspond to the best of birthdays, they display an eternal love, which is growing steadily, until eternity. love is something for everyone looking like a woman’s desire for diamonds.
When buying gold jewelry, it is better to stick with the higher karat gold. If gold jewelry is to be worn every day, make sure you are between 14 and 18 karat gold. (Karate measurement indicates what percentage of gold jewelry is pure gold.
And finally, the rings re-sized buffed to a bright shine. If this is the black gold will be re-rhodium plate.
A step cut facets is flat on top of stone, and rectangular. There are many steps to cut stones, square or rectangular, and the changes include reducing the emerald, baguette, and a diamond. Common pieces sparkle with natural diamond weight reduction measure that allows for larger diamond stone mold of the fire, carat weight, not losing too much. Square pieces are often mixed, but more sparkle than a typical stage, square stones.
Usually more expensive than gold, such as rare. Platinum can be acquired in a patina over time, which can be removed with soap and water and a gentle scrub with a soft bristle brush.

Public relations companies

The soaring popularity of public relation services have led to the emergence of many public relations companies in the market. All these companies make a tall claim of providing the best PR services, but there are only few that can deliver you the promised PR results. This makes choosing the right public relations company all the more important. There are a lot of factors that should be kept in mind before choosing the right public relations companies. These are:
Credibility of the company- It is very important that the company you choose for the PR campaign are credible. They should be innovative in their thoughts and should implement a well thought strategy that gives you the desired result. They should not only have the ability to market your brand well but also help you in the crisis situation when your brand’s reputation is at stake. The other factor that you should keep in mind before choosing public relations companies is that their services should be affordably priced. There are some public relations companies that quote exorbitant price for their services. You should always keep away from such companies. Many companies boast a lot about their PR services but in reality they do not provide you the desired result so make sure you choose the company that is known in the market for providing good PR results.
Ability to choose the right media- For success of any public relations campaign you should always choose the public relations companies that have the expertise of using the right media as per your target audience. If they feel that your target audiences are mostly television viewers rather than newspaper readers then they should arrange a talk show that effectively communicates your brand message in place of getting your brand coverage in leading newspapers. They should also have the required ability to use Internet to promote your brand as it is the most affordable media and it gives you long-term results. This is also beneficial as most of the people now days are Internet users and most of them are registered with major social networking sites. With the use of powerful blogs provided by these companies, you can easily lure these people towards your product and your brand would become a household name.
Expert PR professionals- Before going for any public relations companies you should always ensure that they have a pool expert PR professionals as these professionals would disseminate your brand message in the best possible way to the media and the people.
All these factors are very important in choosing the right public relations companies as the effectiveness as well as success of your PR campaign solely depends upon the quality of beauty PR or fashion PR or corporate PR services that these companies provide

Marketing public relations

In the present economic era when the world is feeling the heat of recession marketing public relations services have become the need of the hour. It helps you to achieve the results that would have not been possible with mere advertisements of your brand and products. It does not give you the short-term results like advertisements that people often forget after seeing it, but leaves an indelible impression on the people resulting in brand popularity for a longer period. The best part of marketing public relations is it generates people faith in your brand and people do not take it as a promotional gimmick. This is owing to the fact that the media in which your brand name or the product review features enjoys great reputation among people and people believe on each and every word that features in that media. In this recession time it becomes all the more important as the cost involved in a PR campaign is much lower in comparison to your advertisement campaigns.
In this recession time when public faith is eroding on the companies, marketing public relations help you to generate faith of the people in your brand and products. It will help you to generate interest in the product newly launched by you, targeting new markets and boosting your sales that you desperately need during this economic slump. You need to solidify your business message during this economic scenario and marketing public relations serve you the best. It reaches your brand message effectively to the people within very short time and you can feel the impact as soon as you launch your PR campaign. From press releases to articles to blogs every PR tools should be effectively used to garner the best result. You could also use the social networking sites for your marketing public relations campaigns as it will help you to reach to your target audience effectively at the same time give you higher ranking on the major search engines that would attract more and more relevant traffic to your website. This would help you to make more and more profit.
There are many service providers that provide effective marketing public relations services today. You could take the help of any reputed service providers. These reputed marketing public relations services providers provide effective corporate PR as well as fashion pr and beauty PR services that would help your brand to carve a niche in the market. These reputed PR service providers have a pool of expert media professionals who would help you to disseminate your brand message to the people in an effective way. So in this gripping time of recession make your brand shine above the rest by using effective marketing public relations services.