Adieu to the Muumuu

By Dody Tsiantar/North Attleboro

For Sarah Bouser, 17, shopping for clothes was never fun. Unlike her thinner friends, she always had trouble finding fashionable clothes that fit her full-size figure. Then she discovered Torrid, the first mall-based boutique for plus-size teens. "Before, I wore a lot of boys' clothes," she says, browsing the Torrid store in Brea, Calif., one of the chain's six outlets. "[Now] I feel more feminine."

For teens like Sarah who have grown up in fashion hell, fashion heaven has arrived. The 1-year-old Torrid is geared to selling trendy junior fashions and accessories (read: body jewelry) to customers who have never had this kind of choice: young women, ages 15 to 29, who wear sizes 14 to 26. "When you think fashionable, you think of young, sexy and fun," says Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Elizabeth Pierce. "No one has wanted to put 'plus' into the same sentence. Torrid has."

Torrid is obviously hitting a sweet spot--and the timing could not be better for its 361-store parent, Hot Topic, which is hitting some growth bumps in its namesake brand. The $336 million-a-year company, based in City of Industry, Calif., will add 15 Torrid stores this year. "It's about style, not about size," notes Hot Topic CEO Betsy McLaughlin, who says the idea for Torrid blossomed out of pleas from Hot Topic customers for larger-size merchandise. In North Attleboro, Mass., store manager Amy Lynn, 23, who sports purple-streaked hair and a tongue stud, says she hears girls shriek: "Finally, something that fits me!" Torrid suits Wall Street too. Hot Topic's stock price has risen 33% since Torrid's launch. Says Wells Fargo securities analyst Jennifer Black: "The market for Torrid is huge, no pun intended."

The claim isn't oversize. Half of all U.S. women 15 and older wear a size 14 or larger. And market research firm NPD Fashionworld figures plus-size women spent $17.1 billion on clothes last year, a 22% increase from the year before.

These numbers are not just tipping scales at Torrid. Lane Bryant, the plus-size chain, is getting trendier to draw a younger crowd. Victoria's Secret recently introduced its first 40-DD bra. And designers Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren, with plus-size lines planned, are realizing there are as many wide bodies as waifs out there.

Still, Torrid has a fashion edge that differentiates it from other retailers. The store's floor-to-ceiling racks are filled with black corsets, sassy T shirts (notice me. your boyfriend is about to), leather pants, lace-up jeans, plaid miniskirts, even sexy lingerie--much of it with sought-after teenage labels like Paris Blues, HotKiss and Dickies. The store's lush look (New Orleans romantic fantasy meets Gothic) is unique too. Red-vinyl-upholstered benches ring the shoe area, hand-blown chandeliers hang from the ceiling, and gargoyles grace the cash-wrap.

Will black-lace-trimmed purple panties play in Peoria? Why not? Cool is the common denominator of teens everywhere. "Torrid makes it so you don't want to hate yourself," says Maria Gutierrez, 17, who recently drove 40 miles to the Brea store to look for a prom dress. The challenge for Torrid is to stay true to its mission: to serve disenfranchised customers, like Gutierrez, who want to fit in but also want to stand out. --With reporting by Deborah Edler Brown/Brea

With reporting by Deborah Edler Brown/Brea