Why the lack of cute plus sized clothing?

[Jones]

I loooove some of those jerseys, but their web site is a bit frustrating. It's hard to see what they look like from those tiny little pictures. And when you click on the picture, the link is broken.

I think an order may be in my future. Thanks for pointing this out!

I think there may be an order in my future too.

Since I have taken up riding my size has been any where from an xl to a xxxl depending on brand. I guess I have been lucky though because I really like pink and I have always been able to find stuff I like. I do think it is frustrating that I am an xl in one brand and an xxl in another brand is way to small and it always too small across my back. What's up with that?
Anyway if I order a Sprint Jersey from Oz I will wait until I am done loosing weight which should be about next year at this time.

[Vanderkitten]

The Vanderkitten jerseys for 2009 are actually about a 14+ for XL. AND, you can return anything for a refund or exchange.

But the weird thing about women's cycling apparel- We are ALWAYS getting told how we need more bigger sizes. 2 years ago we made XL and XXL... and I believe they are all still sitting here or were liquidated to Bicycling HUb (who has since sold them). This year we did every jersey in an XL (which is about a size larger than many XL's), and we've sold 7.

Every year, about this time, this becomes a discussion- Do we sell XL? We have to buy so many pieces per size from the MFG, and layout artwork, etc, that it becomes a huge investment in something that has not worked for us consistently since 2004.

Anyhow, that's our experience. Our point of view comes from racing, so perhaps that might cause potential consumers to looks elsewhere?

2010 cuts are going back to racier cuts after all of the complaints this year about our relaxed "big" cuts. So... now might be the time grab a jersey or 5!

[jusdooit]

Has anyone ever done an actual market study to see if larger size clothing would sell. I think it's a prejudice assumption that larger women (and men) don't exercise so there will be no market. BIG MISTAKE. In my area it's hard to find women's bike clothing at any LBS. They just seem to cater more to the men's market. And i don't want to buy everything online either.

[Kris]

I've got a pair of padded underwear and one jersey (with Curious George on it, purchased at TE). Most of the time I wear ordinary shorts and a t-shirt for bicycling. I have lost about 50 pounds recently, but don't feel like I want to "accentuate the positive" as my mom used to say, by wearing skin-tight clothes. I've had rude teenagers shout insults at me, even without bike clothes. And I figure if I ride without padding on my ordinary rides, I'm prepping the parts of my body that contact the seat for a longer ride when I do put on the padded stuff.
Where I live (Central Illinois) I see a lot of women biking, not as many as men, but a lot, and the only ones in lycra are going really fast, and they're skinny. I don't know if it's because someone is missing the market, or because lycra pants and close-fitting jerseys put most of us in fear of looking ridiculous. There isn't any place in town where I can actually try on the lycra pants and see how bad they look before I buy them. That's got to be a factor. And if you buy online and it doesn't fit, you're out the postage both ways.

[witeowl]

I gave up caring about looking ridiculous a long time ago. Comfort wins. Lycra shorts and a properly-fitting jersey with rear pockets rock my cycling world. When I was over a hundred pounds overweight, it's not like a loose t-shirt and baggy shorts were going to fool anyone.

[shootingstar]

I've got a pair of padded underwear and one jersey (with Curious George on it, purchased at TE). Most of the time I wear ordinary shorts and a t-shirt for bicycling. I have lost about 50 pounds recently, but don't feel like I want to "accentuate the positive" as my mom used to say, by wearing skin-tight clothes. I've had rude teenagers shout insults at me, even without bike clothes. And I figure if I ride without padding on my ordinary rides, I'm prepping the parts of my body that contact the seat for a longer ride when I do put on the padded stuff.
Where I live (Central Illinois) I see a lot of women biking, not as many as men, but a lot, and the only ones in lycra are going really fast, and they're skinny. I don't know if it's because someone is missing the market, or because lycra pants and close-fitting jerseys put most of us in fear of looking ridiculous. There isn't any place in town where I can actually try on the lycra pants and see how bad they look before I buy them. That's got to be a factor. And if you buy online and it doesn't fit, you're out the postage both ways.

Congrats. on your weight loss, Kris! As for wearing clothing for cycling that's not skin, tight...that would be more me. And I'm slim/small all over.

I dislike skin-tight jerseys while cycling..it actually makes me feel hotter particularily in more humid weather and wish not even think about if I look curvy up top. That's great for others but I figure hardly anyone notices little me trudging along on bike nor do I look attractive to anyone with messed up hair and sweat after getting off the bike and walking around. I'm pretty low-key in cycling attire and avoid cycling-racing kit look.

I converted to jerseys (from t-shirts) about 13 years after cycling regularily. I resisted wearing cycling jerseys and spandex shorts simply because I had a lower self-image of myself as a less competent cyclist. Meanwhile I was averaging during T-shirt cycling years of 4,000-6,000 kms. of cycling annually which included touring trips far greater distances than what I do now.

[redrhodie]

I've had rude teenagers shout insults at me, even without bike clothes.

That has nothing to do with you or your size, or what you're wearing. It happens to all of us, even skinny guys. Something about seeing a person on a bike makes some teenagers (usually in groups in cars) obnoxious.

Don't take it personally.

[Kris]

I had no idea everyone got shouted at. I don't know if it's good or bad, but it's good to know I'm not the only one. Thanks.

[owlice]

I got a pair of shorts from aerotechdesigns.com, and have three more (all different ones) coming from them any day now. I don't know how they compare to other places, except to say they do have shorts in big sizes.

[deeaimond]

That has nothing to do with you or your size, or what you're wearing. It happens to all of us, even skinny guys. Something about seeing a person on a bike makes some teenagers (usually in groups in cars) obnoxious.

Don't take it personally.

fortunately we don't have that here. (teenagers cannot afford to drive cars. hahha. If they can they're less inclined to shout out of their windows.)

but when riding in malaysia, packs of teenagers would ride past on motorbikes and some of them would start pedalling furiously on their motorbikes. hahhha.. very funny to look at. cracked me up every time.

Do people give you a thumbs up or an encouraging toot of the horn? focus on those times? I also had truck drivers drive past with raised bottles of water. hahha. they ask if i'd like a drink.

** and oh no its not coz i'm a skinny sexy chick on a bike. hehhe. I'm quite large by local standards and covered from head to toe. long sleeves, long tights, buff and sunglasses covering the entire face.

[Susan Otcenas]

While I won't give you percentages, suffice to say that PLUS size apparel makes up a fairly significant percentage of our sales. It's a very important part of our customer base. In fact, we are always asking our vendors for MORE plus size options! Some of the options you see in our plus size specialty shop are custom-made for Team Estrogen as we are always seeing demand for more designs, styles & colors.

http://www.teamestrogen.com/product/...lty_03-p0.html

Always happy to hear your feedback on what you would like to see added to this section of the website.

Susan

[sundial]

Susan, I'm glad to read this because I need XL tops for my airbags. I believe that younger women are wearing larger sizes in clothing, including shoes, and retailers should expand their clothing sizes.

Take for instance shoes. I wear 43s and I have to resort to wearing men's shoes because for some dumb reason women's cycling shoes end at 42s. My street shoes are 10's, but in cycling I really need 11's.

Also, I wish manufacturers would offer more than frumpy, geo-print, flowerdy plus size clothing. I'd rather wear a mu-mu before I wear some of the stuff that's floating out there. Note: flowerdy skorts are not included in the bash.

I would also rather wear men's designed jerseys because they are longer, have more generous pockets, and are not skin tight. I don't need aerodynamic style clothing because frankly, I'm a windsail on my bike. Luckily, Shebeest offers a cut in some of their jerseys that are similar to a men's cut.

[Susan Otcenas]

Take for instance shoes. I wear 43s and I have to resort to wearing men's shoes because for some dumb reason women's cycling shoes end at 42s. My street shoes are 10's, but in cycling I really need 11's.

Also, I wish manufacturers would offer more than frumpy, geo-print, flowerdy plus size clothing. I'd rather wear a mu-mu before I wear some of the stuff that's floating out there. Note: flowerdy skorts are not included in the bash.

Sundial - You're in luck! We just so happen to have multiple WOMEN's shoe options in 43 *and* 44!

Take a look at these:

All of these come in 43!
http://www.teamestrogen.com/product/...100002~43.html

All of these come in 44!
http://www.teamestrogen.com/product/...100002~44.html

Note: to find these on our website, go to the apparel tab-->shoes. Then use the "size" filter on the left side menu to search for the shoe size you need. In this case, these are the search results for 43 and 44.


As for designs for plus size cycle jerseys for women - I agree that the choices are more limited than in the regular sizes. There *are* many solid color options though, especially from Mt. Borah & Canari. And for next year, we are working on doing a much expanded plus size selection using prints from an entirely different (top secret! ) source.... So don't give up hope yet.

Susan

[KnottedYet]

Wooo-hooo!

Thank you, Susan!

[OakLeaf]

As long as we're drifting into shoes... Susan, can you talk about the differences between women's cycling shoes and men's?

I didn't know whether to rejoice or simmer when the Mizuno rep told me that it was okay that my favorite running shoe had been discontinued in women's Wide, because men's standard is the same shoe... all the while their website makes a big deal about how their women's shoes are designed to work with a woman's specific biomechanics.