News!
| |
 |
 |
|
| 2006 NAAFA Convention, August 9 to 13 | ||
 |
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Dear Peggy, Summer's almost here, and that means it's time to get ready for the NAAFA Convention! Lots of you responded to Peggy's announcement of the hotel information and got your hotel reservations in (but if you didn't yet, see details on how to do so below). But now it's time to register for the Convention itself. Join us, won't you?
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
|
Keep checking in at http://www.bigsummerfun.com for the latest! Bill Weitze NAAFA, Inc. email: newsletter@naafa.org phone: 916-558-6880 web: http://naafa.org |
Retailers
heed plea from plus-size customers
Joseph Galante
Special for The Republic
Jun. 1, 2006
Fashion is intuitive for Allie Tellef.
Tellef always has had a knack for visualizing and piecing together
outfits. Call it a sixth sense. Call it genetics. Whatever it is,
she said she's thankful for it.
That's because Tellef is a Size 16. And when you're a full-figured
woman, finding stores that carry cute outfits in your size can be a
challenge.
"It's hard to find fashionable plus-size clothing," said Tellef, a
20-year-old college student. "As long as you can put an outfit
together, you can accessorize and do stuff to make it work."
Tellef is part of a demographic that is getting increased attention
from the retail world. As Americans continue to get bigger, clothing
retailers are starting to take notice. In the last five years, the
plus-size apparel industry, which is defined as Size 14 and larger,
has grown by as much as 50 percent, market research indicates.
"We're opening stores as quickly as we can," said Christine
Thompson, marketing director for Torrid, a plus-size retailer with
five stores in Arizona and 123 nationwide.
Torrid's not alone. Walk into major department stores and plus-size
clothing racks are springing up next to smaller sizes. Stores such
as Old Navy have begun carrying larger jeans and tops for women, as
well.
Silhouettes, a plus-size online and catalog retailer, modernized its
look last year to keep pace with increased competition by launching
a hip seasonal catalog and jazzing up its logo.
"We don't want our customer to be bored," said Fran Kauchner,
merchandise director for Silhouettes. "She does have other avenues.
She can go to other stores."
These days, being a Size 18 in a Size 6 world isn't so lonely
anymore.
"We've been hoping for that for a long time," said Linda Ramos,
president of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Association to
Advance Fat Acceptance. "We've been wanting to be treated equally.
And we have huge buying power."
"Women are getting more comfortable with themselves," Kauchner
said. "You don't have to be a Size 8 to be comfortable with
yourself. You can be a Size 18."
(Betsy: or a size 80!. :))
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/mesa/articles/0601mr-
plussize0601Z11.html
THE
ARTS/CULTURAL DESK | March 10, 2004, Wednesday (New
York Times)
By ANTHONY
TOMMASINI (NYT) 1027 words
Late Edition - Final , Section E ,
Page 1 , Column 3
ABSTRACT - Anthony Tommasini Critic's Notebook column on decision by Royal Opera at Covent Garden, London, to drop soprano Deborah Voigt from new production of Ariadne auf Naxos because she was deemed too heavy to wear slinky black dress; photos (M)
Correction: March 12, 2004, Friday
A picture caption on Wednesday with a Critic's Notebook article about the decision
reversed the identities of two women. Anne Schwanewilms, who is to replace Ms. Voigt, was
at the center, behind Philip Langridge, and Magdalena Kozena was at the right. The
Wednesday article also characterized the production incorrectly. It is a revival of a 2002
production, not a new one.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/10/arts/music/10TOMM.html?ex=1079920778&ei=1&en=d898eaf8aca3f1a8
TANKAH, Mexico (June 7) - In a world enthralled by thin, perhaps
no place is more slanted toward the slender or more daunting for the double-chinned than
the beach.
No more. The beach is being made safe for the amply built with the opening of what claims
to be the world's first ``size-friendly, all inclusive beach resort.'' At the Freedom
Paradise resort south of Cancun, the motto is: ``Live Large, Live Free!''
The resort, which formally opens June 15, targets people afraid to go out on the sand with
a few extra pounds, or a few extra dozens of pounds. No more enduring cruel jokes on the
beach, or wisecracks from the staff.
``We have hired personnel of all sizes, and have specially trained our slim staff, because
there's a lot of discrimination in everyday life,'' said Jurriaan Klink, commercial
director of the resort, about 85 miles south of Cancun. ``There are a lot of people who
put off vacations, saying 'I'll buy that bikini when I lose 15 pounds.' We say, why wait
to lose weight, when you can enjoy life now?''
That sounds good to Angel Alonzo, a rotund 28-year-old from Cancun frolicking in one of
the hotel's four pools, which boast wide steps instead of flimsy aluminum pool ladders.
``It's marvelous because it's not just for one size. Everybody fits here,'' said Alonzo,
one of the few pre-opening guests.
Alonzo's biggest gripe about regular hotels are the flimsy beach chairs: ``I don't know
why they make them out of such cheap plastic. They just collapse under you.''
Freedom Paradise has big, wide benches made of tree trunks, four-foot-wide chaise lounges,
and 26-inch wide dining room chairs. All the furniture is reinforced and made of wood.
No more getting stuck in a chair with armrests, because there are no armrests. No more
getting stared at on crowded beaches, because the hotel's Tankah beach is 250 yards long
and relatively secluded.
Cindy Sabo, spokeswoman for the Sacramento, Calif.-based National Association to Advance
Fat Acceptance, NAAFA, said the beach can be both a place of anxiety and freedom.
``One of the most empowering things I ever did was when I turned 40, I bought a two-piece
bathing suit and went out in it. My husband thinks I look cute, and I feel good,'' said
Sabo, who places herself in the ``oversize'' category at around 400 pounds.
She recalled a less pleasant experience on a recent vacation in Hawaii.
``We had some terrible experiences with some other tourists,'' she recalled. ``Especially
some people from Asian countries would walk right up to you on the beach, poke you in the
belly and make some rude joke.''
At Freedom Paradise, the staff pledges that nobody is going to look at you funny if you
ask for second helpings. Klink says that many of the front-desk staffers are what Sabo
would call ``our slim allies.''
The 112-room property has plenty of places to eat as part of its $150 per-night
double-occupancy rate. The owners expanded from two restaurants to five, each with a
different theme: international, Italian, Mexican, a steakhouse, a Hawaiian-style seafood
room and a snack bar.
``Who better to understand the problems of heavy people than heavy people, to make guests
feel at ease without being surrounded entirely by skinny people, or be all
self-conscious,'' said resort sales representative Enrique Lopez.
Other vacation spots bill themselves as ``size-friendly.'' For example, Juno's Stables,
near Yuba City, Calif., advertises riding classes using draft horses, saying it is
``dedicated to putting big beautiful women on horseback.''
Lopez says other resorts for large people exist are oriented toward weight loss. ``Here,
we don't care. We accept all weights.''
``The tendency toward overweight adults is increasing, they're now a majority in the
United States,'' Klink said. ``But this is something many businesses are refusing to
accept. People are getting bigger, and products are getting smaller.''
So if we're all getting bigger, why battle the bulge rather than enjoy it? ``There's a lot
of pressure about the health advantages of losing weight, but what about mental health?''
Klink asked. ``Isn't it just as important to be happy?''
Sabo said that Freedom Paradise ``is talking the talk'' of size-friendliness, but asked,
``Can they walk the walk?''
``Speaking of walking, that's not as easy for some of us as it is for other people,'' she
said. ``Is the place all spread out?''
Check, says Klink: The hotel's ``big'' rooms are on the ground floor, with ample walkways.
Railings and access rails on pools and in showers? Check. Extra large, reinforced beds and
doublewide doors? Check.
Whatever the wrinkles that remain to be worked out, there's no doubt it's a large step
ahead for big people.
``At our conferences, we have pool parties,'' Sabo said. ``A lot of people come out who
haven't put on a swimsuit in years, and it's so great to just be out there, and be
comfortable and be ourselves.''
06/07/03 13:00 EDT
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press.
