In 2013 Eden Miller was the first designer of plus-size apparel to have a show at New York’s Fashion Week. Not just the special fashion week for plus-size fashion—a newish and enticing thing in itself—but plain old Fashion Week.

Miller, who designs her own high-fashion plus-size line called Cabiria, can tell you why that was such a big deal; she isn’t shy about criticizing fashion and retail when it comes to the plus size space. 

"There's a [judgment about] plus sized from the straight sized market saying, 'We're not going to give you the square footage on our sales floor because we don't want you in our store,'" Miller told Fashionista magazine. "They're saying it doesn't sell, when in actuality there's not enough diversity in the offerings and it's shoved in a back room."

But in secluding this whole category of merchandise in a back room—​or failing to offer it at all—many believe that retailers are leaving money on the table. 

The cultural bias

It’s really not much of a surprise—in a world where fat-shaming is still largely acceptable and where models are Photoshopped to seem even skinnier and more perfect—that marketers, designers, and retailers aren’t often forthright in their approach to plus-size clothing.

Plenty of studies show that people who are above average in weight experience workplace discrimination and social stigma. And the problem comes not only on the playground or the office, but also from family and friends. 

Designer Isaac Mizrahi, for one, loathes the “condescending” approach of fashion for women of a certain size, and, as a designer and retailer, eschews the category altogether. He offers a range of sizes in his collection for QVC, for example. And his sensitivity comes from not just his love of fashion, but also his own experience.

“I don’t want to speak to a plus-sized woman differently than I speak to a woman,” he told HuffPost Live last year. “I think, having been plus-size in my life, you know, I don’t like being spoken down to and ushered off to the 'husky' section. When I was a little boy, I hated that."

'It's become such an angry section of fashion'

Some experts cite plenty of reasons why plus sizes aren’t workable for retailers, but those are a bit puzzling. One argument holds that some brands — like Abercrombie & Fitch or Lululemon, whose top execs have been pretty nasty about the topic — just aren’t conducive to heavier customers because of their demographics. Old Navy recently caught a lot of bad press over its pricing of women's vs. men's plus-size clothing and online-only sales of its plus sizes, and its reasoning for the moves hasn't gone over well.

When it comes to marketing, there’s a lot of talk about how some in the plus-size blogosphere complain or create controversy when plus-size models, content, or merchandise don’t meet certain criteria. That seems to cause some marketers to throw up their hands.

"It's become such an angry section of fashion," one anonymous plus-size blogger told Fashionista. "Everyone has an opinion, and it's such a negative, negative environment, and it sounds sad, but they want to tear each other apart. Models get it all the time, brands especially. They'll say, 'Oh we can't use that model again because they say that she's too skinny.'"

And retail consultant Sarah Conley also told Fashionista that size 8 models test better than size 14 models among plus-size customers themselves. 

Yet, of course, these are proven phenomena of consumers’ attitudes regarding clothing sizes and marketing for non-plus clothing as well. One study showed that women prefer ads featuring thin models and say they’re more likely to buy clothing than in ads showing what the researchers called "regular-size models.” 

Leaving money on the table

The real question for retailers is: Are the complexities of producing, pricing, and selling plus-size merchandise equal to losing out on what is an enthusiastic and growing market?

Women's clothing size 14 and up accounted for $16.2 billion in sales in 2013, up 7.2% year over year, according to the NPD Group. And while the average U.S. woman's size is 14, according to several sources, her choices are limited.

At a time when “disruption” is the name of the game, plus-size retail is ripe and ready to be disrupted. After all, the area suffers from marketing and merchandising neglect, but also has potential customers clamoring to buy. 

The hashtag #plussizeplease, for example, aims to push retailers and designers to make nice clothes for women who have both money and fashion sense.

I NEED these copper sequined pants from the #Kempner presentation. #plussizeplease #NYFW http://t.co/TOvKm38a6x

— Sarah Chiwaya aka Curvily (@Curvily) February 13, 2015

“How often have you been shopping and you come across something that is just PERFECT, but does not go up to your size? Over 60% of American women wear a size 14 or above, but only 17% of clothing sold is 14 & up,” writes blogger Sarah Chiwaya, who blogs as "Curvily​" and tells her followers to snap and hashtag photos of items they’d buy, if only it came in their size. “That is a ridiculous disparity.”

Change is coming

This spring will see the first plus-size model, size 12 Robyn Lawley, featured in Sports Illustrated’s iconic swimsuit issue, a development that Time magazine calls “historic.” 

There are designers and retailers that do want in on the game. That includes actress Melissa McCarthy, a former Fashion Institute of Technology student who’s been critical of plus-size retail and has worn her own designs on the red carpet.

McCarthy recently announced a deal with Sunrise Brands, which owns Seven7, American Rag and Superdry, to launch a plus-size line of clothing that isn't just designed to be comfortable or to hide a woman's body.

Meanwhile, that throw-down from Abercrombie & Fitch? The retailer recently changed its mind, not just about offering plus-size clothing, but also about having Mike Jeffries as CEO. And Lululemon has opened a door to a legion of competitors in the category. 

Plus-size success

Vintage-inspired e-retailer ModCloth two years ago vowed to increase its range of sizes, pay better attention to a greater diversity of women, and feature nonprofessional models with “real” bodies in its materials. ​Now it says its “extended sizes” sales nearly doubled in just a year.  

Actress McCarthy isn't surprised.

"I have experience dressing me as a 6, a 12 and more," she says. "And when you go above a size 12, you don't lose your love of fashion.”