Fashion to Figure's Kaplan on Growing Plus-Sized Market (Audio)

economic reports. The SMP five hundred index down less than half a point at eight six, Dow Industrials down twelve, a drop there of one tenth of one percent. That now at eighteen thousand, five hundred, twenty six, Gold down four eighty ounce, falling four tenths of one percent. Crude Oil West Texas it'll be the Accrude up today by one point four percent. I'm Charlie Pellet, and that's a Bloomberg Business Flash. You're listening to Taking Stock with Kathleen

pim Fox on Bloomberg Radio. Fashion fashion for women and teenagers sized at twelve to twenty six. That's the focus of Fashion to Figure. It focuses exclusively on women's plus size clothing and related accessories, and here to tell us more is the co founder and chief executive Michael Kathleen. Michael, thanks for coming in, Thanks for having me here. Tell us a little bit about your background and how you

came to create Fashion to Figure. Well, it's it's a bit of a mixed combination of um wanting to continue a great legacy that my family started in intern of the last century when my great grandmother, owned by the name of Lane Bryant, created special sized clothing and really pioneered the category bringing fashion to the figure. Are our company name really draws its history from a famous quote of hers which was never asked a woman to conform

their figure to fashion. Always bring fashion to the figure.

And when I was at in graduate school, I saw a great opportunity to kind of modernize the retail experience or the shopping experience for this consumer, and so my brother and I literally started the proverbial single store that we ran ourselves every day for a year and a half and a decade later, we now sell our our very contemporary fashion product and five channels, um our own stores, digital marketplaces online at Fashion to Figure dot Com, through

wholesale partners, and through new disruptive um subscription box companies, and really what we do is provide up to the minute, very fast fashion trends across a very contemporary on trend lifestyle that people can really forget about being special size or size related. They're really getting access to the latest fashion that that really anybody would deem as contemporary. Now your background, you worked at Lazard, Your brother Nicholas was

previously at Sacks. What was it like going from the banking industry into the retail business that already Well, it's very it's very different. I mean, I think working on wall streets very different than main street. And I think in our case, um my brother and I brought a great combination of skills, his with the retail background in mind with more of a finance background. I don't think that either of us would be here without the combination

of those skills coming together. But for me, it certainly was an adjustment. But it's much more rewarding work now with all the people that work inside of our business being really both our customers and our employees who we call ft F family members, seeing how real hard working people are out there in shopping malls across America and shopping and consuming American products and you know, really creating

the economy. It's very different to be out there among the people and serving them than it is behind a desk in Rockefeller Center and analyzing reports. Now you mentioned customers, you mentioned your employees. Tell us about your vendors, because that makes you a slightly different retail company in that you don't create the products yourself. You work with I guess over a hundred vendors to bring those products to market. We actually do create the product ourselves. Basically, we Um.

We bring hundreds of styles across basic dressing and casual categories, so that our customers literally every time they come to our website or every time they come to our store can see a new dress, a new top. They can always get a basic item of any need or or in any for any area of their life in a different color, in an updated, you know, style or contemporary trend. We create all that stuff with our own designers, and we have terrific um manufacturing partners all across the world.

They can manufacture things anywhere from four tough you know, sixteen weeks for us and get a very fast flow of product to the floor, so that our customers always see that newness, that freshness of fashion. At fashion and Figure dot com, for example, you'll see new things there every single day and you'll rarely see an item more

than you know, sixty five dollars. Where you mentioned the price point and I just want to offer detail right dresses around fifty dollars, tops around thirty five dollars, in jeans retailing for about forty dollars that we we think that what our innovation in the market has been has been to offer very up to the minute trends at a quality and price point that is has a combination of that fashion, quality, price point, speed of flow that

is not matched anywhere in the large size market. We think that we're the fastest moving assortment of on trend fashion at a quality and price point that our customers can have so they can always feel great with us, looking great and really with up to the minute items across any of these channel and touch points that they

have with us. Now, while we started as a store business, you know, we're we're very much into the every aspect of the new economy now, whether it be a box subscription partner that we have, whether it be our own store, whether it be you know, digital market places or third party brand of vendors or any of that. What's your

estimate for how big the marketplace is for plus size fashion. Well, it's a very fast and dynamic run market today, UM and I think this is one of the opportunities which is why a lot of people are jumping on the bandwagon or you know, dusting off the kind of UM brand story of businesses and vertically expanding into the spaces. Because it's about an eighteen billion dollar market for apparel

in today's in the US economy. Today, it's about seventy million women in the United States economy, depending upon how you slice the numbers that are wearing above sized fourteen, so it's really one in three women in America. So really to call it a specialty market is a bit

of a misnomer. Having said that, there's a real paucity of suppliers and retailers serving that market, and that's why many people are entering in the market today, whether it be teen retailers, whether it be department stores, whether it be online startup companies or others. So a lot of people going into this market and you know, I know it's a little counterintuitive for us to say, but we're

happy that our customers have more choices. Um, you know, we're really a terrific fashion option for them at a compelling price and value. Now, Michael, just last point where I know you're raised about four hundred thousand dollars from

Angel investors. I believe to your first store when we started, right, We've raised significant amounts of money after that, and we're you know, we operate in eight states today with our own stores, a global website, third party marketplaces, subscription box partners, and traditional wholesale partners. So we've come a long way since that first story that we borrowed one or dollars for. I want to congratulate you and thanks very much for

coming in and telling your story. Appreciate being here. Look forward to seeing you soon. All right. Michael Kaplan is the chief executive and the co founder of Fashion to Figure. This is taking Stock. I'm pim Fox, my co host Kathleen Hayes, Thank you for listening. Our producer Sam Lenga, our engineer Reggie Basil. Coming up Bloomberg Law. This is Bloomberg coming up Bloomberg Laws. Brought you by Bentley University.

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