Posts Tagged ‘husky’

According to the Centers for Disease Control, almost 17% of children aged 6 to 11 years old are now overweight.  Yet, apparel industry researchers have found that children who need extended clothing sizes often have limited options and styles available to them.  Parents are often forced to buy junior or adult-sized clothing that may not be age appropriate, that fits but isn’t fashionable or flattering, or that doesn’t fit well because it is just a larger cut of a regular size (rather than cut to match larger children’s unique proportions).

According to a 2006 National Textile Center Annual Report article on Apparel Product Development for Plus-sized Tween and Teen Boys:

“Lack of conformity singles them out and is damaging to self-concept. Health care professionals welcome having a greater selection of apparel for larger children.”

So what’s a parent to do in order to find truly appropriate fit and fashion for their child?

Meeting the Need

Since 2006, several companies have tried to address the lack of plus-sized clothing options.  Recently, I profiled the Happy Panda and RealKidz brands that were started specifically to address the need for plus-sized children’s clothes.

Like these brands, other small clothing manufacturers focus on kid’s extended clothing sizes by tailoring styles and sizes to these children’s body shapes, the latest fashions, and to parents’ budget constraints.  Many of these companies, like the Daniel Jacob Collection which designs boys’ husky size clothes and JeenyBeans which offers girls and teens plus size clothing, choose to sell their products online, directly to parents, in order to also provide their customers with sensitivity and expertise.

Where to Shop

In addition to small, emerging companies like the ones mentioned above, many parents shop at major retailers that have long offered husky and plus sized kids clothing, like Sears, JC Penney, and Walmart.com.

But, there are other options, as well. SizeTracker is introducing a Quick Fit Finder tool that was designed to help you find clothing brands that offer sizes suited to your little girl’s or boy’s unique body shape.  You can also calculate the correct size for your child and shop for some of these products directly from the SizeTracker web site.  See more children’s plus and husky clothing companies here.

I’d love to hear from parents out there:

If you have a plus-sized child what are the biggest challenges you face when shopping for your child? Can you recommend any stores or brands that cater to plus sized children?

Resources

• Childhood Overweight and Obesity, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Plus-size children apparel’s forgotten customer
• Apparel Product Development for Plus-sized Tween and Teen Boys, NTC Project: SO6-AC03, National Textile Center Annual Report: November 2006

For years, the terms “Husky” and “Plus” have been the standard in childrens’ clothing sizes intended for kids who are larger than average. These terms are pretty much used by every clothing designer that offers extended sizes – though some brands, like RealKidz, are now offering an intermediate “above average” size.

Today, I ran across a recent editorial in the HeraldNet out of Washington State in which the writer admonished JCPenney for continuing to use the term “husky”, stating that it was outdated and insulting. She proposed using S, M, L, and XL. Unfortunately, those sizes are already in use and have their own meaning.

The Gap, for example, offers both regular size S, M, L, XL, and even XXL as well as husky size M, L, XL, and XXL for boys tops. The fits differ. If Gap were to remove Husky sizing, they’d be left with either changing the fit of their existing regular sizes (to acommodate a wider range of measurements perhaps) or increasing the range of regular sizes to include XXXL, etc. The alternative would be to leave the larger than average sizes in place, but change the term used to describe them.

The questions is, what contemporary term would accurately and sympathetically replace the word “husky” while still conveying that the clothing sizes are larger? This is not a question that I have an answer to, so I’d appreciate your insights.