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Clothes Retailing: The Forgotten Majority
服裝零售：被遺忘的大多數
The fashion industry blatently pays attention to plus-size women.
時尚業將目光投向大碼女人。
A good fit is everything, stylists often counsel, but in assessing its market America's fashion business appears to have mislaid the measuring tape.
設計師常說，好身材就等同于一切，但美國時裝業評估其市場時，發現他們似乎放錯了尺碼。
A frequently-cited study done a few years ago by Plunkett Research, a market-research firm, found that 67% of American women were “plus-size”, meaning size 14 or larger.
一家市場調研公司普朗基特研究公司幾年前做的一項研究經常被人引用，其研究發現，67%的美國女人都屬于“大碼”，即所著服裝尺碼是14碼或者大于14碼。
That figure will not have changed much, but in 2016, only 18% of clothing sold was plus-size, according to NPD Group, another research firm.
這個數據還未發生大變動。但是在2016年，另一家市場調研公司NPD Group調查顯示，在已售衣服中，只有18%屬于大碼。
Designers and retailers have long thought of the plus-size segment as high-risk.
長期以來，設計師和零售商都將大碼服裝視作高風險類。
Predicting what these customers will buy can be difficult, as they tend to be more cautious about styles.
預測這些顧客會買什么困難重重，因為她們往往對于款式選擇更加小心謹慎。
Making larger clothes is more expensive; higher costs for fabric cannot always be passed on to consumers.
況且，衣服做的越大成本就越貴；而布料上的愈高的成本也不能總是加在顧客身上。
In turn, plus-size women shopped less because the industry was not serving them well.
反過來，由于時尚業不能為大碼女性提供優質服務，她們就很少購物。
“We have money but nowhere to spend it,” says Kristine Thompson, who runs a blog called Trendy Curvy and has nearly 150,000 followers on Instagram, a social-media site.
克里斯丁·湯姆森經營著一個名為“ 時尚曲線 ” 的博客，在社交網站Instagram 上有15萬粉絲，她說道，“我們有錢，卻無處可花”。
At last, that is changing.
而這種現象終于要改變了。
Fast-fashion brands, including Forever 21 and a fashion line sold in partnership with Target, a giant retailer, have expanded their plus-size collections.
Forever 21和與零售巨頭Target 合作的時尚線上銷售等快時尚品牌，擴展了其系列大碼女裝業務。
Lane Bryant, a plus-size retailer, and Prabal Garung, a designer, have done the same.
大碼女裝零售商萊恩·布萊恩特，和設計師品牌普拉巴·高隆，亦效仿行之。
In March Nike extended its “X-sized” sportswear range.
三月份，耐克也拓展了其運動裝的x碼的范圍。
Revenue in the plus-size category increased by 14% between 2013 and 2016, compared with growth of 7% for all apparel.
在2013-2016年間，與服裝業整體收益的增長率僅有7%相比，其中大號女裝收益的增長率為14%。
譯文來源考研英語時事閱讀
