In the fashion industry, the message has been communicated loud and clear that the bigger, the better. A recent research has indicated that an average American woman is now wearing a size 16 or 18, which equals to a plus size 20w.

Approximately there are 100 million women in the world who wear a size 14 (this is generally labelled as the initiating point for the plus size).

The bigger the sale, the better it is, especially when it comes to sale in the apparels!! The fashion industry has been making persistent efforts in fueling the growth as well as adding the latest trends for the always most ignored lot, the plus size customers.

According to Sivaram Kowta, vice-president, menswear, Myntra “The plus-size segment is estimated to account for $5-6 billion in the $40-billion Indian online fashion apparel market by 2020, that is, 10-12% of the overall market”.

Plus size clothing is a term which is used for a clothing which has been proportioned precisely for the larger sized or the people who are overweight. Typically, the plus-size refers to clothes which are labelled as size (US) 12/ (UK) 16 and onwards for women.

This is also known as outsize in few of the countries (mainly the British), and this term has been taking lightly especially since the 1990s. A similar term is used for the men’s plus-size clothing is big and tall.

Fashion designers all over the world have now begun to look more closely at the potential earning coming from the plus-size clothing and have been using the plus-size models for showcasing their advertising campaigns and catwalks in top fashion shows.

There are quite a few plus-size clothing takers in India also now and this has perhaps emerged as one of the largest populations of overweight people in the world. Though the plus-size market is at a very early stage in India, however, its worth almost Rs 11,000 crore and seems to be growing rapidly and seems to be bringing in more money!

Lakhme fashion week Winter/Festive Aug 2016 edition has recently hosted an all exclusive plus-size fashion show in Mumbai and conducted in association with aLL The Plus Size Store. This was the first fashion show in India which featured a plus size show and this has become an annual event.

Along with exploring the market for plus size clothing, the ethnic Indian wear can be broadly termed as classic outfits. The traditional unstitched garments like Saree can be worn by anyone regardless of their size or girth.

Quite a few offline and online stores can be found in India Larjjosa, Pluss, Lurap, aLL The Plus Size Store, Myntra, Jabbong etc and these aim at helping the plus-size people carry the western too.

The Indian fashion designers have been paying attention to the plus size segment and added oodles of style to it. Designers like Falguni and Shane Peacock, Payal Singhal and Monisha Jaising have gone and stated that plus size cannot be ignored.

Even Bollywood the Indian movie industry has openly come out and supported as well as endorsed the body positive images and helped men and women accept themselves more positively than what was done in the earlier times and helped them realize and accept the fact that Fashion is for everyone; irrespective of the age, colour, size or shape.