Plus size clothing has been around for a long time, but almost always under the auspices of the term 'plus size'. Though there's nothing too awfully wrong with this term, many women find it slightly offensive, and it's not difficult to see why. Though it's not outrageously derogatory (as it would be if these clothes were called, say 'fat size'), the term is



certainly not a positive one and it is one that causes negative feelings and takes away some of the joy that women usually feel in their shopping endeavors.

It is quite natural that women enjoy going out and shopping for all kinds of new and beautiful things; perhaps women should not link their self-image and their happiness to how good they look in their clothing, but it's incontestable that when a woman puts on a new outfit that she thinks she looks good in, her face radiates more of her natural beauty and

happiness. Looking good in clothes is not just about the clothes being pretty and them fitting well; looking good also has a lot to do with how a woman feels in her clothes, and let's face it, it's not fun to be faced with a label that says 'plus size' every time one puts clothing on, takes it off, or puts it through the laundry.

There are many reasons for which the trend in naming bigger sized clothing 'plus size'clothing is hanging. One reason is that terms tend to evolve to include more politically correct terms as the concept involves. Many examples of this can be seen throughout history, most prominently with words that refer to race, ethnicity, and disease. Another reason that the term 'plus size' is beginning to be replaced is that many more women are finding themselves in this size clothing than ever before. Americans, and people across the globe to a certain extent, are growing and unfortunately, they are growing faster outwards than

upwards. This means that more and more women are wearing size 14 and above than ever before.

In addition, different manufacturers have different concepts of where the cut-off between 'regular size' and 'plus size' lies. What this means is that some companies place a size ten or a size twelve among their plus size lines. This does not help matters.

In an effort to combat this problem, some retailers are replacing the traditional term with other terms that are less confrontational. For example, some manufacturers have two distinctions for women's clothing, such as 'Misses' sizes and 'Women's' sizes; this is one way to make the size distinction that is more politically correct and just plain more attractive than the traditional distinctions. Other manufacturers use terms like 'Generous' to refer to their lines of larger-sized clothing for women. Both of these options are currently preferred, and might even contribute to drumming up business for the companies that find nicer ways to refer to larger sizes of clothing.