Very to add more plus size brands as category demand soars

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Dec 21, 2021

Demand for plus size fashion is soaring. That’s according to category specialist Very Group and is the reason why the UK-based digital retailer is set to expand on its already 90-brand plus size offer even further.

Since July, the group said it has seen the category grow 75%, boosted by additions to its Yours, Evans, City Chic and Avenue brands.

Additionally, more than 420,000 of its customers have shopped plus size since the summer. Customer searches for ‘plus size’ and ‘curve’ on Very’s website are also up 14% year-on-year for the last 12 months.

So Very is gearing up to partner with even more brands in 2022 and increase the number of products available across all price points, it said Tuesday. 

At the same time, Very will also continue to grow V by Very Curve, its extensive own-brand range, which offers 400 fashion items up to size 32. 

Emma Alexander, fashion director at The Very Group, said: “We’re focused on creating a fashion offer that helps real women feel confident every day, whatever their clothes size. 

“Expanding our plus size ranges is an important part of making our overall fashion offer even more diverse and we’re excited to be adding more brands at pace.”

Very Group is building on an already strong start to the financial year with Q1 group sales in the three months to 2 October rising 3.9% to £484.1 million.

Sales at its core Very brand grew an even better 9.6% to £403.8 million as it benefited from a selection of strong brands. Core earnings also rose 21.5% to £17 million.

It noted that the pandemic-influenced big-growth categories of last year tuned to working and living at home were now being replaced with the Fashion category.

Sales here rose 14.5% as women's high street brands, plus men's and women's casualwear turned in particularly strong performances.