https://doi.org/10.1177/2051570719863648 Recherche et Applications en Marketing 1–22 © l’Association Française du Marketing, 2019 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/2051570719863648 journals.sagepub.com/home/rme RAM Between the ages of 20 and 27 I was a size 36; then when I became pregnant at the age of 27, I started to be a 40, then a 42. I even went up to size 46 because I put on 20 kg during my pregnancy. Then I lost 10 and had ups and downs after that. That’s when I became aware of the problem. The truth was staring me in the face: when you’re not thin, things are tough. You need to be thin to have fun with fashion, to do what you want. As soon as you go over a size 42, you struggle to find a trendy pair of jeans or clothes that come in nice colours. Sometimes if you go over a size 44 or 46, you’re barely through the door before you’re told: ‘Don’t bother Madam, we don’t have your size’. It’s a pretty harsh state of affairs and one I experienced first- hand. (Blanche) Like Blanche, many curvaceous women would like to buy certain clothing brands but not many of them sell in plus sizes. The best-known fashion Dynamics between market categories: A study of the (in) visibility of the plus-size fashion market Delphine Dion* ESSEC Business School, France Béatrice Tachet* Institut d’Administration des Entreprises de Paris, France Abstract By studying fashion market, this research analyzes domination stakes existing between two market categories: the primary market of mainstream fashion and the secondary market of plus size fashion. It observes dynamics based on practices and material tools which create symbolic and physical (in)visibility of market categories. This study opens up new perspectives in our efforts to understand market dynamics. First, it shows that categorisation is not only a matter of representations, discourses or social interactions, but also involves material initiatives. Materiality emerges as a tool of visibility and invisibility. Second, this study reveals the stakes of social visibility. Behind physical invisibility (not being seen, being hidden, …) lies social invisibility (not existing socially), which explains the feelings of stigmatization and exclusion among curvaceous women. Keywords legitimacy, market category, market dynamics, materiality, visibility, plus size fashion Corresponding author: Béatrice Tachet, Institut d’Administration des Entreprises de Paris, 75013 Paris, France. Email: beatrice@tachet.com *Both authors contributed equally to the article 863648RME 0 0 10.1177/2051570719863648Rechercheet Applications en Marketing (English Edition)Tachet and Dion research-article 2019 Research Article