Larger size women's clothes stores
 

I'll be in the US for 4 weeks over August. I'll be visiting LA, Vegas, Boston, Washington and New York. Can anyone please advise of stores which stock larger size clothes for women? I'm 34 and tend to dress rather casually ie jeans and t-shirts, although wear better pants and shirts to work. I'm conservative rather than trendy and don't buy polyester tops as they are too hot.

Also are there any particular brands of women's shoes which are wider fitting? I only wear flat shoes, including casual and dressier for work.

The city I live in doesn't offer a great variety of larger size clothes, especially for younger women.

Almost every major department store in the US carries larger-size clothing (the majority of women in the USA are now "plus size" so they pretty much have to). Usually there is a separate "womens" section catering to size 14 and over, often on a lower floor away from the "regular" sizes.

For stores that cater exclusively to larger sizes, there is Marina Rinaldi (upscale) and Lane Bryant (more affordable).

Charming Shoppes owns two retail concepts dedicated to plus sized clothes.

Here's their store count by state:

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix....rol-storestate

It's been awhile since I was involved in the apparel sector on a regular basis but I remember discussing back in 2002 that the average size for women's clothes was between a 12 and 14.

If any of those cities has Macy's or Nordstrom department stores, both have a good plus size section. Lane Bryant is another independent store you'll find most often located in shopping malls that is entirely plus sized and aimed at younger fashion.

Talbots has a great women's section. You can browse it all online and see where their women's stores are. Even better they have women's petite.

Check out marmi shoes in New York and other locations, they are known for carrying their shoes in wide widths.

and as someone else suggested Nordstroms, but there's no Nordstroms in NY so your best bet is to go in one of your other stops especially california.

The department you are looking for is "Women's" or "Women's Sizes". That means larger sizes. "Misses" is the smaller sizes.

Nordstrom has a huge Women's department. All the big department stores will.

I think Avenue is another good store.

Here is a link of Women's retail stores:

http://www.apparelsearch.com/retail_...plus_sizes.htm

For shoes, Easy Spirit makes very comfortable, well-made shoes. They have wide sizes in the store. If you can find an outlet Easy Spirit store, prices are really really good.

Happy shopping! I don't know where you are from, but I'm sure I envy your exchange rate!

p.s. One packing tip. If you have nesting suitcases, put everything you are bringing to the US in the middle size, and zip it inside the big size. That way you only have one bag on the way here, but then you have a whole giant empty bag you can fill up!

With my family needing wide shoes, I buy them from www.shoebuy.com

Where it indicates "Free Shipping" across the top of the page, it also says "see details" on the right. The shipping isn't free for international shipping; however they send them internationally by DHL. They offer a variety of styles. I have no complaints with this company. Prompt service, easy return, etc.

Munro shoes come in wider widths, as do some Vaneli shoes, and I am sure there are more I'm not familiar with.

I have foot and fit problems, yet there are $$ shoes which always fit me in a certain size. Easy spirit in 8, same for Cole Haan. Try some on at store, then shop for them on ebay. Lots of times, you can find brand new shoes for a fraction of the cost. Register there, then sign up for the feature that sends a message to your mail box when new ones are listed.

Depending on your schedule (and whether you'll have a car or not), you might want to also check out some of the outlet malls. Check out www.outletbound.com for a listing. One of my favorite clothing places is Coldwater Creek. Unfortunately, I usually find more things I like online than in the stores, but the stores do have plus sizes. Also, all of the major department stores (Macys, Lord and Taylor, etc.) have plus size/women's sections but for some reason, I tend to do better at Dillards (which are not in the NY/NJ area).
If you have a car, just outside of DC (in Springfield, VA), right off 95, there's a Talbots outlet store!
Happy travels (and shopping!)

For cheap shoes, Payless Shoes offers some wide widths and great prices. Now, these are not of great quality, but I have found some comfortable shoes there.

You can find some larger sizes at Old Navy -- the styles are younger than some of the other stores mentioned here (check out their website for an idea of what they offer -- since you'll be in the States so long you may be able to shop online and have it delivered to where you're staying). And let me put on my flame-retardant jacket before I say this, I LOVE some of the plus size clothes at Wal-Mart and always complain that they should have the same styles in smaller sizes.

Including all those mentioned above are Dress Barn Woman and Cato Plus and Catherine's. I think those are all national stores. You'll find those in malls or strip malls.

Macy's has a great variety of "larger" sizes in "Womens" dept.--both casual and types appropriate for work..
Lane Bryant has almost same type but maybe little less fancy and cheaper..
Catherines is very much like Lane Bryant quality.
Good luck

Our Macy's has a section; also there used to be a store called Lane Bryant in our area. I've also seen some cute items at Coldwater Creek - they have cute casual clothes.

Oh, and Chicos has larger sizes too, don't they? That is a good store especially for jeans.

Besides major department stores (Macy's, Nordstrom) and specialty shops like Lane Bryant, Avenue, you can find a plus size section in off-price retailers like TJ Maxx, Ross Dress for Less, Marshalls or Daffy's. The off-price retailers always have shoe departments and sometimes stock wide width shoes.

Old Navy and Torrid offer casual clothing in plus sizes. Cacique carries lingerie, bras and underwear.

For work clothing (besides big department stores and Talbot's mentioned above), Banana Republic carries sizes up to a 16 (XL) and Jones New York also has some plus size stock.

Nope, Chico's does NOT have plus sizes (their largest is termed a "3" which is equivalent to a regular misses's size 16).

The plus department at Nordstroms is called Encore.

I too recommend Cold Water Creek and you'll find a store in Las Vegas. I think their tops are too pricey but love their jackets, casual but classy. You can probably find some great plus size casual clothes at Kohl's. They're fairly new in our area of New England. When they have sales, they have great sales. Like their slacks and jeans but not as much as Liz Clairborne which has a brand Audra which fits me perfectly. JC Penny's and Sears also have plus size departments but tend to be more polyester. As long as your feet are smaller than a 10 you should find a selection of wide shoes in any store.

I buy most of my clothes at the Avenue which is a plus-size store, US sizes 14 and up. Macys has an excellent large size department, most department stores have large size departments, however, I think Macys has quite a bit more than the others. Personally, I am not very successful at Old Navy, I think that their large sizes are geared towards younger large women. Coldwater Creek does have a nice collection of large sizes. Chico's does not have large sizes, however, much of their clothing is cut very full and I sometimes find clothes there. Lands End which is now sold in Sears also carries large sizes. I have also been lucky at Marshalls and TJMaxx.

Not to get too personal, but most of the stores that I mentioned go up to size 3X.

I suggest that you browse the websites of some of these stores to see if their styles suit your needs.

Does Liz Claiborne still have the Elisabeth stores? If so, that is there larger sized fashions from the Liz Claiborne label.