High street retailers

Primary research was conducted in order to explore the oversize trend within high-street stores in Nottingham city centre. The oversized clothing was trending within a mass of stores when looking on the high street. It’s evident that high-street retailers knew of the mass appeal this trend has to consumers. When observing store fronts, a multitude of the mannequins were clothed in the oversize trend, either having just singular pieces such as oversized pants, or full outfits. All the high-end stores evidently were trying to appeal to the millennial market, due to the stylisation of the mannequins and stocks within store. Key items being oversized trousers, paired with an oversized longsleeved t-shirt and chunky trainers to finish the look.

With the trend expanding to different areas of clothing such as the extension to formal wear, the trend is now broadening in the mainstream market. This could be an indication of a lengthier trend life cycle. This an additional factor to trend awareness for consumers; leading to the probability of the trend becoming commercialised, becoming part of common apparel. Retailers such as Urban Outfitters were heavily stocked with the trend. The visual merchandising within the store would immediately grab a consumer’s attention. The trend was staggered throughout the store, with there being a variation of different items. In comparison to stores such as Fat face and Ted Baker, who as brands are conscious of the trend, but haven’t fully adopted that within their stores. Having just a few items such as boiler suits or denim overalls for the summer season. Reasons for that being, target market. These brands target an older demographic, who wouldn’t necessarily purchase clothing from stores such as Urban Outfitters. Specifically, for the oversized trend, millennials are now more inclined to shop from charity and vintage stores such as Braderie and Wild clothing. Purchasing from vintage stores, gives the consumer a sense of exclusivity, as these are pre-owned dated items. Especially for the youth that are more fashion conscious or trend chasers, there is easy access to the trend, as a lot of the clothing within the store can date back to the 90’s.