By ALISON BERT
THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: January 17, 2007)

Fashion to Figure, a plus-size woman's apparel retailer with stores in the Palisades Center of West Nyack and Livingston Mall in New Jersey, is looking to open two new stores in Westchester. The company is negotiating with malls in hopes of opening a Yonkers store by the fall and a White Plains site in the next year, chief executive Michael Kaplan said.

Meanwhile, a new store will open this spring in the Jersey Gardens Mall in Elizabeth, N.J.

"Our concept has really taken off," Kaplan said, describing a wide selection of fashionable clothing with good prices and personalized service.

"Sex and the City's" Carrie Bradshaw may wear a size 2, but more women are going for the double digits. In a survey by Mintel International Group Limited, a market research firm with U.S. headquarters in Chicago, half of respondents age 18 and older said they buy plus-size clothing. In addition, they're choosing to dress fashionably "rather than hiding their full figures in style-less, tent-like clothing," the 2006 report says.

To cater to these women, more mass merchandizers are getting into a business that was once the domain of specialty retailers like Lane Bryant and Avenue. Local retailers with plus-size collections include Target, Wal-Mart, Dress Barn and Old Navy. Designer brands, such as Liz Claiborne, also have plus-size lines.

As a small company, Kaplan said, Fashion to Figure is able to respond quickly to new trends.

He said their merchandise got a big boost from the addition of Frances Freixas, who joined the company a year ago as chief merchant.

Previously, she was a buyer for designer sportswear at Saks Fifth Avenue, where she held positions in operations and corporate management for 15 years. During her tenure at Fashion to Figure, sales have increased 20 percent with less merchandise, "which means that the stuff is vastly more appealing," Kaplan said. "She's really scoured the Earth" for fashionable clothing and accessories from more than 100 vendors, and the company is about to start its own label.

Big sellers include the eclectic collection of Bohemian "cheap chic" jewelry that ranges from $5 to $15; jersey cotton dresses with colorful geometric prints; and LEI Jeans, by a division of Jones New York.

In September, the company introduced its online store.

Kristina Staiano, a college student from Pompton Plains, N.J., who was shopping at the Palisades store on Monday, said she likes the "younger style" she finds there, along with the quality and prices.

Melina Salvador of Haverstraw, a senior at North Rockland High School, said, "They have really nice clothes and cheap prices - cheaper prices than most stores."

Shoppers also said they like the attention they get from sales associates, known as "stylists." Stylists Dontura Cole of Nyack and Dolores Ruiz of Stony Point help customers choose the best colors and cuts for their physique.

"Everyone who works here is wonderful," said April Rizzardi, a medical assistant from Westwood, N.J. "They'll give me their honest opinion on if something looks good. I leave feeling good. I leave feeling thin, like I can find clothes that fit."

She said she didn't find that service at another plus-size store she shopped at. "They just open the dressing room door and that's it," she said. "Here I feel like I'm part of their family."

In fact, this is a family business. It's owned by Kaplan, 34, who uses his background in venture capital and start-ups to plan company strategy, and his brother, Nicholas Kaplan, 36, who uses his retail background to oversee day-to-day business as chief operating officer.

Above the dressing rooms are framed portraits of their great-grandmother, Lena H. Bryant. After emigrating from Lithuania in the 1890s, she pioneered the plus-sized business in the United States by creating the first maternity dress and founded Lane Bryant from her Manhattan apartment.

"My great-grandmother fought for five years to advertise in the New York Herald Tribune," Michael Kaplan said. "My great-grandmother's story is one of never giving up. She was a widow and lived the American dream before women even had the right to vote."

In 1982, the family sold the public company to The Limited.

When the brothers founded Fashion to Figure in 2004, they vowed to carry on the tradition of customer service she valued.

"Compassion is the key ingredient of what we do," Michael Kaplan said.

The title of their store came from Bryant's comments in a Glamour magazine article from the 1950s. Asked the secret of her success, she responded: "Never ask women to conform their figures to fashion but rather bring fashion to the figure."