Dive Brief:
-
Draper James on Friday introduced extended sizing, available in stores and online, across its apparel assortment.
-
Starting with its spring collection available now, the Southern-style brand will offer dresses, tees, skirts and jackets in sizes ranging from 0 to 24 (XS to 3X) priced from $38 to $175, according to a company press release.
-
Each style regardless of size has the same print, pattern, fabric and price, the company said. All sizes are merchandised together in Draper James stores and on DraperJames.com, although the e-commerce site also has an extended size section for easier search.
Dive Insight:
After years of neglecting a key segment of the apparel market, many brands are taking the necessary steps to offer more sizes of their best-selling styles.
Drapers James says it heard from customers clamoring for the brand to offer its designs in more sizes, according to a statement from Founder and Creative Director Reese Witherspoon. And CEO Taylor Rettig said that the spring collection is only the beginning.
"I am proud that our team developed these products entirely in house and we will continue to gather feedback from the community and evolve, with a goal of offering all styles in a full size-range in the near future," he said in a statement.
The brand is also bringing inclusivity to its marketing, and is featuring "women of diverse body types to better represent the new size offerings," the company said. Witherspoon in 2015 launched her Southern-inspired designs in a Nashville store and online. Draper James, which also sells home goods, now has brick-and-mortar locations in Atlanta, Dallas and Lexington, Kentucky, as well.
The push for mainstream brands to offer more sizes springs from demand that has long existed but, as Witherspoon notes, is increasingly being expressed through social media. Marie Driscoll, managing director of Luxury & Fashion at retail think tank Coresight Research, calls it "a new psychology" among the companies that are responding to it.
"We're just seeing it grow," she told Retail Dive in an interview. "And it's going to grow faster because this has been an unmet need. And for women 40-plus, it's been unmet for a long time, and they will be loyal customers."
