Retailers have been slow to address the need on the side of plus-sized children’s clothes. Until now

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Guerra and her daughter: RealKidz made its debut in May Donna Terek

by Aili McConnon

Merrill Guerra of Ypsilanti, Mich., used to desperation when buying clothes for her overweight daughter Gabi, now 11. Older children’s sizes that fit Gabi’s trunk would be too long in the pant legs and shirtsleeves, and the styles were often too sexy for a young girl. “When I talked to other girlfriends, I realized I was not lonely in my frustrations,” Guerra says. So she decided to form RealKidz, a plus-sized garments company for girls ages 5 to 12. She started selling capris, leggings, and T-shirts online in May and plans to roll out a back-to-school line this August.

Guerra is tapping into one of the hottest areas of retail: fashion for overweight kids. The $6.2 billion market in plus-sized children’s vesture is proving to be as lucrative since the clothing market for overweight adults. Together, sales are expected to grow 41% by 2012, according to market research firm Packaged Facts. With overall clothing sales in a funk, established brands similar as Lands’ End, J.C. Penney (JCP), and Old Navy are competing with a growing number of specialty retailers to expand their offerings for “plus” and “husky” junior customers.

Over the past year, Lands’ End has introduced wider shoes for chubby little feet and plus sizes for the whole of of its kids’ pants. “Parents kept telling us that verdict children’s larger sizes was rigid, and the choices were limited,” says spokeswoman Michele Casper.

While one-third of American children now are classified as overweight, retailers have been slow to adapt their designs to the more rectangular carcass shape and other indispensably of such consumers. For years the offerings were limited to a handful of items in larger sizes or features like as expandable waistbands. Then brands such as French Toast began offering a sever line of plus-sized styles in 2006. It has since expanded the sizing of its best-selling formal lines, and others be favored with done the same. The goal, says Laura Batey, vice-president of J.C. Penney Girls, is to let every girl “paroxysm into exactly what the girl next to her is wearing.”

Even as added companies try to cater to overweight children, notwithstanding that, many remain reluctant to trumpet their efforts. Old Navy offers the more than half of its plus-sized options online. Retailers argue that store floors are crammed already. But analysts think some dress in’t want to be perceived as profiting from a trend chiefly the million view as a puzzle. More important, perhaps, retailers may worry that vestments for chubby children aren’t seen as cold-blooded. Lenda Jo Connell, a professor of consumer affairs at Alabama’s Auburn University, notes that retailers think “there is more status associated through normal-sized clothing.”

But clothing chains increasingly perform that larger sizes can translate to larger profits. Most mothers of heavier children express they be possible to’t find clothes that spasm their offspring, according to a 2007 study by retail consultant NPD Group. One result, says Connell, is that such parents are less price-sensitive than many shoppers.

They may also be open to other approaches to the point to be solved. Guerra intends to launch a social network for parents of overweight kids alongside the descant of her RealKidz garments row of words. One height of one’s ambition is to swap strategies for healthy eating. Guerra’s next venture: a line for skinny kids who don’t sudden standard sizes, either.