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I was listening to NPR on my way home last night. The story started with a statistic that grabbed my attention. Fully 66% of Americans are considered overweight. Humm, interesting. The market for big and tall men’s clothing is a $5billion dollar market. OK, that’s attention getting. The story went on to profile a company that is addressing this market. Trendy fashion designer Colossal Clothing  has partnered with America Apparel to manufacture, in Los Angeles, a stylish, high quality, well priced line of clothing for the big and tall market. Ahhh, a classic recipe for marketing success.

Now it gets interesting. The company is targeting the “Bear” market. A sports team? No, Bears are a subset of the gay community, known for their large waistlines, masculine physiques and “scruffy” appearance. Whoa! Now we’ve got us a marketing story! The estimated 1.4 million Bears in the U.S. have an average household income of $90,000. With gays, in general, known to be interested in men’s fashion and fiercely loyal to brands that understand and appeal to them, I have to conclude that Colossal Clothing is on to something.

This story has so many marketing lessons on so many levels. A thoughtfully designed line of products, made in the USA, smartly and cheerfully targeting an affluent, loyal and influential market. Access the full NPR story at http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/01/16/colossal_clothing/

Will Colossal Clothing make it big? What do you think?

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