Michelle

Oval fills a clothing niche

By Kellie B. Gormly
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, January 12, 2008

Shadyside resident Diane Dube Lindblade, who has been frustrated for years with the lack of available clothing that fits shorter plus-size women, hopes to solve her and other people's fashion problems with her new business venture.

[Only Registered Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register] LLC, which opened on Jan. 6 as an online store, sells shirts that are designed specifically for petite plus-size women, who range in height from 4 feet, 11 inches to 5 feet, 3 inches. Such oval-shaped women usually have a hard time finding clothes that fit, Lindblade says, because regular plus sizes are too tall from shoulder to bottom, but not wide enough in the middle.

"People can't button their shirts," says Lindblade, 60. "People ... are thick in the middle. A plus size won't fit you in the shoulder; it will probably come down to our knees. You have to buy it so large to fit in the front.

"I got really sick and tired of going to the store and coming out with nothing," Lindblade says. She says she hopes to expand her business to include pants.

Oval Clothing's shirts are wider at the waist, bust and hip. The shoulders are narrower, and the length is shorter. This ensures that the shirts button, and both fit and flatter the figure of a petite plus-size woman, Lindblade says.

Some of the shirts for sale include v-neck knit shirts ($60) in five sold colors -- including black, white and Pompeian, a red shade -- and the "Go Any Where Classic" stretched, striped, buttoned shirt ($129). Then, there's the "Purity in Classic Form," a white-on-white-striped cotton and Lycra shirt ($132).

Lindblade -- a Sugar Hill, N.H., native -- has no background in the fashion industry, and jokingly says she knows nothing about the field. She does, however, enjoy sewing, and wants to help other women with her body shape by fulfilling a largely unmet need, she says.

About two years ago, Lindblade's idea took form when she and a family member used a T-shirt and duct tape to make a mini-mannequin of her torso. Then, she used the pattern to create a shirt, and sent it to a manufacturer. Now, manufacturers in New York and California make Lindblade's shirts under the Oval Clothing label.