Plus Size Voices

Lots of news in the world of bras today! OK, two pieces, actually. But how many did you read about yesterday?

First, we have the delightful (though somewhat misleading) headline “Breast Wobble Could Hold Key to Women’s Chest Pain.” A recent study by Dr. Joanna Scurr, a leading authority on sports-related breast movement (seriously), found the speed at which your boobs bounce when you’re running is more likely to cause breast damage than the amount that they wobble. How did she figure that out? After having her subjects run on treadmills with sensors attached to their girls, “She plotted the distance traveled by the breasts and calculated the speed at which they moved up and down, in and out and from side to side.”

Even though that sentence cracked me up (see also: “the points at which the breast was in the process of accelerating or decelerating”), there’s a serious purpose to measuring boob travel. Scurr found that 50 percent of the women suffered from exercise-related breast pain. And her research has the potential to help women in numerous ways, including by influencing the design of sports bras — lingerie manufacturers have already expressed interest in working with her. As someone who hit DD in eighth grade and went on to develop what I now lovingly call the Rack of Doom, I welcome any advances in sports bra technology.

Even better news for my big-busted, and generally bigger, sisters: A new line of bras is coming your way from plus-size retailer Ashley Stewart, “inspired by” singer and actor Jill Scott. Scott, blessed with her own Rack of Doom, described her unmet needs as a consumer to the design team, and they created the Butterfly bra accordingly. (Nice work if you can get it, huh? I’d love to get paid to design bras, but unfortunately, I can’t sing or act.)

I can’t resist mentioning that Scott’s needs — a bra that wouldn’t dig into her shoulders and would smooth out her back fat rolls, according to the promotional video — actually sound to me like the result of wearing too large a band size, not the wrong kind of bra. If you have the right band size, it should be doing most of the work, which will keep the straps from cutting into your shoulders; and the majority of all back-roll issues can be solved by pulling the band down lower across your back. No. 1 cause of the band riding up? It’s too damn big. As the owner of Lee Lee’s Valise, an awesome plus-size boutique in Brooklyn, N.Y., explains in this video, that’s a common mistake for large-busted women to make. Cup sizes go up along with band size, so the cups on a readily available 40 DD might fit you, when what you really need is a much harder to find 36 F.

But setting that PSA aside, the Butterfly bras are reportedly comfy, much cuter than the “grandma” bras the well-endowed are usually stuck with, and more affordable than many brands that offer bigger sizes. That’s worth celebrating, even if Scott probably could have saved herself the trouble of becoming a lingerie designer by getting properly fitted for a bra.

Check out our comfy plus size bras

West Hills, Calif (May 5, 2008) — PlusSizeCloset.com, an online store for big sizes of women’s clothing , offers new styles dedicated to offering fashionable big size women’s clothing for the full figured consumer.

“We currently have over 1000 big size women’s clothing for consumers to choose from,” said Richard Naimy, Plussizecloset.com founder. “I have recognized the need for fashionable clothing geared towards the full figured consumer. Our clothing line includes big size women’s clothing in plus size blouses, plus size pants, plus size skirts, plus size lingerie, plus size dresses and plus size bras.”

“Our big size women’s clothing line has increased year after year since 2001,” said Naimy. “Now, our full figured customers can find new fashions in their sizes and order the items right from our web site.”

Plussizecloset.com focuses on offering a wide variety of big size women’s clothing styles to meet the needs of women and teens.

Big size women’s clothing U.S. sales are expected to reach $47 billion by 2005, representing a 49% increase over year 2000 sales.

Women’s Plus Size Clothing
Welcome! Plus size women’s clothing - Having to spend more and more money for gas and food means less money for your summer wardrobe. So here’s the good news….SALES are everywhere! Check out the amazing prices on trendy summer fashions. Plus Size Clothing for Women & Plus size fashion for women

If you are looking for women’s plus size clothing stores in your neighborhood, here are the local addresses and phone numbers for local Plus Size stores in California. Our list of Plus size stores in CA are quite extensive. We broke the plus size directory onto several pages.

Queens Closet

625 Morro Bay Blvd.
Morro Bay, CA 93442
(805) 772-4288

Angie’s Fashions & Plus Sizes

1021 Highland Avenue
National City, CA 91950
(619) 474-1171

Catherines Plus Sizes

8986 Tampa Avenue
Northridge, CA 91324
(818) 998-8920
Store details: Women’s plus sizes 14W to 36W (0x-5x)

Nesha Plus Size Girls

Norwalk, CA 90650
(562) 355-5341

1st Class Boutique

3815 MacArthur Blvd.
Oakland, CA 94619
(510) 482-3274

In Full Swing

5937 College Ave.
Oakland, CA 94618
(510) 654-5144
Mizaan Gift Boutique
4050 MacArthur Blvd
Oakland, CA 94619
(510) 530-8300

Catherines Plus Sizes

2455 Vista Way Suite M
Oceanside, CA 92054
(760) 439-9770
Store details: Women’s plus sizes 14W to 36W (0x-5x)

Catherines Plus Sizes

311 West Esplanade Drive
Oxnard, CA 93036
(805) 983-4245
Store details: Women’s plus sizes 14W to 36W (0x-5x)

Catherines Plus Sizes

39202 10th Street West
Palmdale, CA 93551
(661) 266-2934
Store details: Women’s plus sizes 14W to 36W (0x-5x)

Catherines Plus Sizes

3831 East Foothill Boulevard
Pasadena, CA 91107
(626) 351-2050

Perfect Curves Boutique

2310 E Colorado Blvd
Pasadena, CA 91107
(626) 796-3136

Kaos Clothing Company

3966 Missouri Flat Rd, # J
Placerville, CA 95667
(530) 622-6930

Circa Now Plus Sizes

14861 Pomerado Road
Poway, CA 92064
(858) 748-3210
C.J. Banks

900 Dana Drive

Redding, CA 96003
(530) 222-2246
Store details: Women’s plus sizes 14W to 24W

Catherines Plus Sizes

5647 In The Victoria Gard
Redlands, CA 92373
(909) 793-1072
Store details: Women’s plus sizes 14W to 36W (0x-5x)

2dye4 Plus Size Clothing

3758 La Sierra
Riverside, CA 92505
(909) 424-4242

Kaos Clothing Company

1850 Douglas Boulevard
Roseville, CA 95661
(916) 774-1440

Catherines Plus Sizes

1755 Arden Way
Sacramento, CA 95815
(916) 923-5675
Store details: Women’s plus sizes 14W to 36W (0x-5x)

Catherines Plus Sizes

7235 Franklin Boulevard
Sacramento, CA 95823
(916) 395-5506
Store details: Women’s plus sizes 14W to 36W (0x-5x)

Irene’s Fashions At Large

2939 Arden Way
Sacramento, CA 95825
(916) 483-1065

Catherines Plus Sizes

4267 Genesee Avenue
San Diego, CA 92117
(858) 279-1750

California Plus Size Directory is brought to you by the help of all our loyal customers. If you have a Plus Size Store in your neighborhood, please drop us an email and let us know. We would love to add it to our continually growing list of California Plus Size Stores!