经济学人:服装零售:被遗忘的大多数(1)

 　　Business 商业

　　Clothes Retailing¹: The Forgotten Majority 服装零售：被遗忘的大多数

　　The fashion industry blatently pays attention to plus-size women. 时尚业将目光投向大码女人。

　　A good fit is everything, stylists often counsel, but in assessing its market America's fashion business appears to have mislaid the measuring tape. 设计师常说，好身材就等同于一切，但美国时装业评估其市场时，发现他们似乎放错了尺码。

　　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. 一家市场调研公司普朗基特研究公司几年前做的一项研究经常被人引用，其研究发现，67%的美国女人都属于“大码”，即所着服装尺码是14码或者大于14码。

　　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. 这个数据还未发生大变动。但是在2016年，另一家市场调研公司NPD Group调查显示，在已售衣服中，只有18%属于大码。

　　Designers and retailers³ have long thought of the plus-size segment as high-risk. 长期以来，设计师和零售商都将大码服装视作高风险类。

　　Predicting what these customers will buy can be difficult, as they tend to be more cautious about styles. 预测这些顾客会买什么困难重重，因为她们往往对于款式选择更加小心谨慎。

　　Making larger clothes is more expensive; higher costs for fabric⁴ cannot always be passed on to consumers. 况且，衣服做的越大成本就越贵；而布料上的愈高的成本也不能总是加在顾客身上。

　　In turn, plus-size women shopped less because the industry was not serving them well. 反过来，由于时尚业不能为大码女性提供优质服务，她们就很少购物。

　　“We have money but nowhere to spend it,” says Kristine Thompson, who runs a blog called Trendy Curvy and has nearly 150,000 followers⁵ on Instagram, a social-media site. 克里斯丁·汤姆森经营着一个名为“ 时尚曲线 ” 的博客，在社交网站Instagram 上有15万粉丝，她说道，“我们有钱，却无处可花”。

　　At last, that is changing. 而这种现象终于要改变了。

　　Fast-fashion brands, including Forever 21 and a fashion line sold in partnership⁶ with Target, a giant retailer², have expanded their plus-size collections. Forever 21和与零售巨头Target 合作的时尚线上销售等快时尚品牌，扩展了其系列大码女装业务。

　　Lane Bryant, a plus-size retailer, and Prabal Garung, a designer, have done the same. 大码女装零售商莱恩·布莱恩特，和设计师品牌普拉巴·高隆，亦效仿行之。

　　In March Nike extended its “X-sized” sportswear range. 三月份，耐克也拓展了其运动装的x码的范围。

　　Revenue in the plus-size category increased by 14% between 2013 and 2016, compared with growth of 7% for all apparel. 在2013-2016年间，与服装业整体收益的增长率仅有7%相比，其中大号女装收益的增长率为14%。

1 retailing   

n.零售业v.零售(retail的现在分词)

参考例句：

• career opportunities in retailing 零售业的职业机会
• He is fond of retailing the news. 他喜欢传播消息。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 retailer   

n.零售商(人)

参考例句：

• What are the retailer requirements?零售商会有哪些要求呢？
• The retailer has assembled a team in Shanghai to examine the question.这家零售商在上海组建了一支团队研究这个问题。

3 retailers   

零售商，零售店( retailer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• High street retailers reported a marked increase in sales before Christmas. 商业街的零售商报告说圣诞节前销售量显著提高。
• Retailers have a statutory duty to provide goods suitable for their purpose. 零售商有为他们提供符合要求的货品的法定义务。

4 fabric   

n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织

参考例句：

• The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
• I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。

5 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

6 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。