Plus-size and Premium
If most premium denim is designed for skinny minnies roughly the shape of a carrot, new denim brands Rozzie Rae and C.enne.V (pronounced “sea-envy”) are making denim for women shaped like apples and pears.
Focusing on cool jeans cut to make the most of a womanly figure—specifically apples, women who carry their weight in their midsection, and pears, women with fuller thighs and rear—the two Southern California–based companies are convinced there is a market for their approach to denim.
Rozana Garza, chief executive of Whittier, Calif.-based Rozzie Rae and a self-professed pear, has spent years in the denim industry working for brands such as Mossimo, BCBG, Guess and Earl Jeans. “I have been in the denim business a long time, and I’ve always been this shape and a fuller woman. It has always been hard for me to find a pair of jeans that fits,” she said. Martha Reynoso, Rozzie Rae’s chief financial officer, is an apple and has run into the same problem. Cheyenne Valenzuela, owner of Hollywood, Calif.–based C.enne.V, also launched her brand after a lifetime of difficulty finding clothes to flatter her fuller, apple-shaped figure and love of fashion. “We just want to wear all the cute clothes everyone else gets to wear, but we’ve been ignored. There are women willing to spend good money on premium denim, but they can’t find any that fits them and makes them look great,” Valenzuela said.
According to the National Women’s Health Information Center, 50 percent of women aged 20 to 74 are overweight or obese in the United States. Valenzuela says most premium-denim brands haven’t targeted this demographic because of what she calls “fat phobia.” Brands simply don’t want to be associated with the plus-size market. Besides, she said, fitting larger bodies is much harder than simply sizing up from a sample size 26. “By the time you reach a size 36 you’ve lost all sense of proportion.”
With their body-type specific fits, Rozzie Rae and C.enne.V are looking to make denim the great equalizer. Using plus-sized pearand apple-shaped fit models allowed both brands to reach their ideal fits. Staying away from the muchhyped skinny jean, C.enne.V is offering one slightly flared and one boot-cut fit in 1 percent stretch denim from the Cone Denim mill. Both styles fit women sizes 12 to 24 and wholesale for $81–$85.
Rozzie Rae, which has been in development since 2004, hired denim designer Michael Abbey to create its signature fits. “It’s hard to make a body like mine look good in a jean,” Garza joked. Her target market is women between the sizes of 8 and 16. Wholesale prices for the line are $54–$61.
With their dark washes and clean design, Rozzie Rae and C.enne.V denim are identical to other premium denim, save for the size. “I don’t want to draw attention to the fact we’re a plus-size brand. Women don’t need another reminder that they’re bigger; we already know,” Valenzuela said. For more information on C.enne.V, call (877) 236-6386. Rozzie Rae may be reached at (562) 698-9040. —Erin Barajas
