In terms of retail sales value, the total UK market for women's plus-size fashion increased by more than a quarter between 2003 and 2008.

Sales have been driven by growth in the proportion of women who are overweight or obese, as well as demographic factors. The latter include the rising number of women aged 45 or over, who are more likely than younger consumers to be overweight. Although celebrity culture promotes being a size zero, recent television programmes have shown viewers how to make the most of larger figures.

Over the past few years, the practice of `vanity sizing' — i.e. increasing the dimensions of sizes (for example, so that someone who is normally a size 16 can fit into a size 14) — has become widespread. However, a European Standards Committee is working on a new standardised clothing-sizes system to make buying clothes simpler.

Plus-size fashion specialist retailers are now facing more competition from non-specialists, particularly supermarkets. Apart from the rise in the popularity of supermarket clothing, another key factor has been the growth of the Internet. Although non-specialists have traditionally been reluctant to take up display space with less-requested sizes in their high-street outlets, those operating online tend to be more willing to stock such items. Nevertheless, Key Note's exclusive consumer research still found that more than two-fifths of respondents agreed that it was difficult to find larger-sized clothes in the latest fashions.

Key Note predicts that the UK market for plus-size fashion will grow by 15.2% between 2009 and 2013. Market growth will be driven by a continual increase in the number of women who are size 16 and over.

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