A new plus-sized clothing range aimed at children as young as three has been launched at Next.

The new range, for boys and girls aged between 3-16, offers larger waistbands to accommodate children of all shapes and sizes.

The 47-piece collection called 'Plus Fit', includes school uniforms, tracksuit bottoms and jeans, our sister paper The Coventry Telegraph reports.

An 'age three plus fit' pair of trousers has a waistband 5cm larger than standard at 58cm - compared to 53cm on the standard pair.

And "Age 10 plus fit" trousers have a waistband of 69cm in size, compared to a 64cm measure on standard "age 10" trousers.

Tam Fry, chief executive of the National Obesity Forum, said: "Next isn’t setting a new trend, they are catering for the market.

“Mothers wanting to clothe their fat children just can’t find the clothes for them. They are responding to the current state of affairs.

"It has been in a bad state for a long time but this just shows it has now gone beyond the point of a crisis.

“The UK is sitting on a time bomb of childhood obesity, children are several times fatter than they were in 2002."

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