Size 14: Average, But Underserved

If the average woman is size 14, why isn't it represented more in clothing lines? Very good question, Racked!

It's the high end of straight sizes, but low in the plus size range. Still, go to any store near you and chances are size 14 isn't stocked to reflect the times. From Racked:

"It’s as if in-betweeners are a foreign species that can’t be properly categorized, and therefore are easier to ignore or, if there must be a label, label incorrectly."

Why does this happen? "I read a quote that fuller-figured women often spend less on purchases with the assumption that they will be losing the weight soon—an attitude set into motion by an industry that sets an unrealistic standard for size," says Sidney Morgan-PetroIt retail editor, WGSN to Racked. "It makes sense to use marketing to remove this stigma, and to tell women that the size you are isn't something that needs to be negotiated, that it's fine to just be you."

Some retailers that are blurring the lines between straight and plus sizes. Shoppers are responding strongly to Universal Standard, Modcloth and JC Penney's in-between sizing to become repeat customers. Like the plus size movement itself, size inclusion will only happen when the public demands it, and demands it often.