请阅读 Passage1,完成第21~25小题。
Passage 1
The fashion industry
blatantly pays attention to plus-size women. A good fit is everything,stylists often counsel, but in assessing its market America's fashion business appears to have mislaid the measuring tape. A frequently-cited study done a few years ago by Plunkett Research, a market-research firm, found that 67% of American women were "plus-size", meaning size 14 or larger That figure will not have changed much, but in 2016, only 18% of clothing sold was plus-size,according to NPD Group, another research firm.
Designers and retailers have long thought of the plus-size segment as high-risk Predicting what these customers will buy can be difficult, as they tend to be more cautious about styles. Making larger clothes is more expensive, higher costs for fabric cannot always be passed on to consumers In turn, plus-size women shopped less because the industry was not serving them well. We have money but nowhere to spend it, "says Kristine Thompson, who runs a blog called Trendy Curvy and has nearly 150000 followers on Instagram, a social-media site.
At last, that is changing. Fast-fashion brands, including Forever 21 and a fashion line sold in partnership with Target, a giant retailer, have expanded their plus-size collections. Lane Bryant, a plus-size retailer, and Prabal Garung, a designer, have done the same. In March, Nike extended its X-sized sportswear range. Revenue in the plus-size category increased by 14% between 2013 and2016, compared with growth of 7% for all apparel.
Social media has played an important role in changing attitudes in the fashion business, says Madeline Jones, editor and co-founder of PLUS Model Magazine. Nonetheless, designer brands still hold back(Walmart sells the most plus-size apparel). Some brands, such as Michael Kors, do sell plus-size ranges but do not advertise them or display them on websites. Gwynnie Bee, Stitch Fix and Dia&Co, for example, share information with designers on preferred styles and fits. Tracy Reese,a designer known for creating Michelle Obama's dress for the Democratic National Convention in 2012, is one brand that recently enlisted Gwynnie Bee's help to create a new plus-size collection Gwynnie Bee prompted the label to create bigger patterns and more appealing designs.
Not all plus-size shoppers are convinced. Laura Fuentes, a hairstylist from Abilene, Texas, says that many upmarket department stores still keep their plus-size clothing sections poorly organized,badly stocked and dimly lit, if they stock larger clothes at all. Yet such complaints should be taken with a pinch of salt, says Ms. Thompson. “We're nowhere near where we should be but we’ve made progress, ”she says.
