Plus-size bridal gowns fill void in dress market
NEW YORK — Kate Schnakenberg was at a fifth store trying to find a wedding gown. Schnakenberg, 30, an operations manager at the Securities Training Corp. who lives in South Slope, Brooklyn, had made an appointment at Ella & Oak, which caters to plus-size women. It was a company she discovered on Instagram, where she learned it was running its first 10-week pop-up store, on West 29th Street in Manhattan.
“The last dress I tried on I couldn’t zip the back and the armholes weren’t large enough,” she said of her visit to a previous store. “I’m a 14, which is the national average size. The fact that I can’t try on a wedding dress or know how it will fit before I buy it because they don’t have my size is irrational.”
She found plenty of options at Ella & Oak. Until recently, the company’s focus had been on e-commerce with the occasional pop-up weekend taking place in Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago and other cities. This month the founders, Samantha Brody and Christine Callahan, opened their showroom in New York. They expect to be in the shop until March 8.
“The plus-size market is underserved and underrepresented,” said Callahan, 34, who handles the designing and merchandising for the brand. “Sixty-eight percent of American women are plussize. How can you buy a dress for your most important day if there aren’t samples in your size to try on?”
Frustration with the lack of options and the neglect the fashion industry has exhibited toward curvy women is nothing new. The way Brody and Callahan are choosing to address this problem, however, is.
STARTED EXTENDED POP-UP
Brody, 33, of Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, is responsible for the company’s customer experience, financing, data and research. “I found over 100 bridal boutiques across all five boroughs, but I have yet to find one that’s exclusive to plus-sizes,” she said. “That’s why we decided to start our extended pop-up here.”
They rented a 7,000-squarefoot space from a florist for $4,000 a month. They found the space on Craigslist and it included a beautiful flower arrangement, desk, chairs, small kitchen and bathroom. The pair then went to Ikea to stage the room, with a couch, mirror, wicker chairs, pillows, rugs and clothing racks.
On Jan. 11, the opening day of the pop-up, one-hour appointments started at 9 a.m. and ended at 9 p.m. Eighteen dresses, size 12-30, from the four independent designers Ella & Oak has exclusives with — Rebecca Schoneveld, Elizabeth Dye, Amanda Ergen-Jennings and Anne Barge — were available. Each designer specializes in handcrafted, non-mass produced, plus-size clothing. Six additional pieces, which are part of the Ella & Oak’s first attempt at creating a private label, arrived a few weeks ago. Prices ranged from $1,100 to $1,800 for the brand’s line and $1,500 to $3,200 for ones by their designers.
There is no additional charge for the larger-size garments, or what is called the fat tax.
Another issue the pair are tackling is the basic sizing chart the industry has accepted as standard.
“Not everyone’s body fits into a specific size, especially larger women who carry their weight differently,” Callahan said. “Designers are trying to make a generic body chart work for every person. We’re trying to change that through dimensional sizing or madeto-measure dresses.”
ANTIQUATED AND OBSOLETE
Others find the size chart antiquated and obsolete.
Justin Warshaw, the chief executive and the creative director of Justin Alexander, a designer and manufacturer of bridal gowns and accessories, started his plus-size line, size 16-32, in 2018. Plus-size sales are now 26% of the company’s bridal orders.
“I’ll be modernizing and regrading our size chart to ensure proper fit in smaller through larger sizes,” Warshaw said. “To do this, we’re using a company that specializes in real data and analytics, and 3-D body scanning.”
Darci Thoune, an associate professor of English at the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse, and a founder of Two Fat Professors, a website dedicated to fighting fat phobia with education and community building, said many designers are missing the financial opportunities this market can bring.
“There’s still a negative, unattractive, even bad association with fat bodies,” she said. “For designers, that’s generally not something they want to be associated with. There are women who want to spend money. This is an example of a cultural practice that could be changed in order to be more inclusive of all bodies.”
Some designers may be reluctant to extend their lines because of cost. “Offering plus-size dresses is a financial investment,” said Don O’Neill, the creative director for Theia, the evening wear, bridal and bridesmaids dress brand. “You have to include extra samples, additional photo shoots, expanded inventory and stock pieces.”
In 2018, Theia started its first plus-size line, Curve Size Collection with Lovely Bride, an independent bridal boutique with 18 locations in the United States. Theia’s plus-size collection offered six of its top silhouettes in 14W through 24W. Last year 28% of its business was attributed to sales in the curve-size range, according to the company.
EXPANDING PLUS-SIZE LINE
This year O’Neil plans to expand his plus-size line. “Offering inclusive sizes to full-figure and curvy girls is an important part of who we are,” he said. “This has really opened that market up for us.”
Twenty minutes into Schnakenberg’s session at Ella & Oak, Samantha Presal, her college friend from NYU, arrived.
Presal, 30, who is getting married later this year, has already been through the wedding-dress search and even though she is not a plus-size bride, she knows what it’s like to have something fit. “You feel empowered,” she said. “When you can’t zip the dress it’s defeating.”
“There’s a gap between the fashion industry and reality,” she said. “New York — it’s saturated with bridal stores, but almost no one includes plus sizes.”
This was Schnakenberg’s experience as well. “Most places I went to said, ‘90% of what we have won’t fit you,’” she said, as she stood before an elongated mirror and modeled her second dress of the day, which formed to her shape perfectly.
“It feels amazing to have a place that says everything we have will fit you,” she said. “I don’t feel like an afterthought in these. The designers really understood my body.”
If this 10-week experience is profitable, Brody and Callahan will look to extend, or find a permanent spot, possibly in New York. Funding from friends and family got them off the ground. Their next goal is to raise $750,000 from investors.
The fourth dress Schnakenberg tried on, the Anna, designed by Rebecca Schoneveld, prompted an excited call to her mother, who lives in Chicago. After hanging up, Schnakenberg made another appointment for later this month. This time she would be accompanied by her mother and soon-to-be mother-inlaw.
“This fits like a glove. I could just leave with it now,” she said. “This is the first time I felt I’m wearing something that resonates with me. It’s something I want to buy, not something I’m settling for, and that’s a really powerful sentiment.”