The obesity epidemic is impossible to ignore. In fact, over half of all women are either overweight or obese. And for middle-aged women, almost two-thirds are overweight. Obesity is running rampant in teenagers as well. These consumers want attractive, quality fashions and because of this growing population segment, the demand for clothing plus size and larger is increasing.

While the fashion industry has not fully met the demand, plus size clothing is the fastest growing market sector for business. Consistently, fashion trends lag behind in the plus size market. Often these are merely scaled versions of clothing designed for skinny people rather than actually being designed with the plus-sized body in mind.

The fashion industry has adjusted to the growing size of the population by inflating the size of items. What used to be a size 14 may today be a size 14. This gives the customer the idea that they are wearing a small size, without them having to face their larger figure. The result of this change is unhappy customers shopping for plus size fashion clothing.

There have been some recent encouraging changes. An American led consortium of plus size clothing manufactures has recently completed the most extensive sizing study of women since the Second World War, so that new designs will better fit today's women There are even some plus sized models and plus size only fashion shows, but these remain in the minority.

The obesity epidemic shows no signs of abating. Instead, it appears that for the near future at least, an even greater percentage of people will be overweight. The fashion industry is aware of this trend, but not to the extent the number of obese people would suggest. Indeed, instead of plus size clothing being a niche market, it is rapidly becoming the standard size sold to the majority of consumers. This new realty should be reflected by the fashion houses, with clothes that designed primarily for this demographic.