ARLINGTON, United States: At about noon on a square in Arlington, Virginia, food trucks line up, offering soups and sandwiches to the lunchtime crowd. Lia Lee’s truck is there, too — but she’s selling dresses and jewelry.

“I just restocked this blouse. This is a very nice office top — perfect for summer,” the 27-year-old Lee told one customer browsing in her Street Boutique, a cream and black truck parked in this Washington suburb.

Food trucks have already taken many US cities by storm, but fashion is now also a business on the move in America.

Lee’s truck is set up like a regular brick-and-mortar store, with an elegantly appointed interior lined with racks of dresses and blouses, jewelry cases and even a tiny dressing room.

“In late 2010, there were probably five in the nation,” said Jeanine Romo, the co-founder and vice president of the American Mobile Retail Association, which brings together the country’s mobile stores.

Today, there are between 300 and 400 nationwide, most of them focused on selling clothes. A few offer shoes, beauty products and even pet accessories.

“We just see that growth kind of keeps going,” Romo told AFP.

Lee long dreamed of having her own store — one that didn’t move. But money was tight.

“After writing several business plans and going to consulting, I realized it was not financially possible for me to do,” Lee explained. “This is more affordable, and it fits my personality better. I like the variety, going to different neighborhoods.”

Like Lee, Donna Hundley, a 30-something fashionista, did some research and found that, in California, fashion trucks are all the rage.