Thank you for your interest in Big and Tall Associates (BATA). BATA is a non-profit trade association that was formed in 1972. The members are all specialists in Big and Tall men’s apparel. The association has almost 91 retail members operating about 220 stores. We have representation in nearly all states, Puerto Rico, and international members located in Canada, Australia, France, England, Russia, Poland, and The United Arab Emirates.

BATA has two major selling shows a year, held in conjunction with the Chicago Collective at the Merchandise Mart in downtown Chicago. They are generally scheduled for early February and early August. These are strictly selling meetings and have proven to be a very effective method of pooling retailers’ buying power into meaningful orders for vendors.

BATA works on a 3% commission. Approximately 2% of sales go back to the retailer in the form of travel/advertising allowance/patronage dividend to make it easier for the retailer to attend our shows and to bring additional buyers, if they see fit.

All sales are made to the members of Big and Tall Associates as individual stores, as each of them has individual buyers, customer demographics and credit histories. BATA’s function is to pool members’ volume so they can buy competitively as though they were one large company. This is the only way we know to assure the retailers that minimum cuttings will be reached, allowing them the advantage of earlier deliveries, and advantageous prices. It is also the only method we know of which can assure the manufacturer of these minimum cuts when they’re dealing with a group of independent specialty stores.

At each of our shows, most of our vendors offer a Show Special which is an item specially priced for the show and carrying a discount of at least 10%. Some vendors produce “private Label” merchandise for us and/or Target Buys, both of which consist of items pre-selected by our Merchandise Committee during their semi-annual trips to New York. Private Label merchandise is exclusive to BATA members and Target Buys are priced at least 20% below line.

We make regular mailings to all of our retail members to alert them to any new vendors, new items supplied by those vendors, special pricing incentives, close-outs, etc. We also make regular mailings to all of the vendors and keep them apprised of the goings-on with the retailers, as far as new members and general information in regard to our show dates, special items requested by the retailers, etc.

Although there is quite a bit more involved, hopefully this will give you some idea of what we do and how BATA operates. By and large, our retailers are middle-to-better stores. We are constantly trying to upgrade both the retail stores and our manufacturer base, as we don’t want to compete with low-end or discount Big and Tall chains.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.