A recent conversation with the Petite Buyer for a national department store chain alarmed me enough to call out to all women 5″4″ and under, the newly named “Sisterhood of the Petite Women,” to UNITE!!! It is time to stand tall and be heard!
The economy is forcing retailers to re-evaluate their buying plans, and I fear that Petite Departments are going to get the short end of the deal. There are rumblings within the fashion industry that some Petite Departments will be shrunk and possibly eliminated. Here we go again! Didn’t we this just happen 2 years ago with Saks and Neiman’s? Some major retailers have the mistaken notion that all petite customers are little old ladies with one foot in the grave. I’ve got news for them. The “Sisterhood of the Petite Women” includes 45 million women of ALL ages with tremendous buying power!
So “Sisterhood of the Petite Women,” make some noise out there! Speak your mind! We want fashion. We want selection. We want quality. We want updated items in the Petite Department, not just dull, boring basics. If you are not content with the merchandise offered by your favorite petite store, let somebody know about it! Make it somebody with the authority to make a difference. Complaining to a salesperson gets you nowhere. They have zero control over what their store sells. You need to get to the buyers, the people with the power. Ask for the address and phone number of the buying office or corporate office. Write, call, send an email. Believe it or not, most buyers actually like customer comments. They are just too busy to go out and solicit them. Send feedback to your local newspaper or favorite magazine. Ask for more articles devoted to petite women. Tell the ladies at The View. Tell Oprah. I have been working on Oprah for years, trying to convince her to do a show or segment on petite women. I just know that my perservance will pay off one day. So be relentless. The combined voices of the “Sisterhood of the Petite Women” speaking out across America will show that we may be petite, but we are powerful!
