"Shopping for clothes is already intimidating. There are so many options and styles to consider, as well as factors like sustainability and ethics.
But for people in fat, disabled, or queer and gender-nonconforming bodies, it’s even more arduous.
Nico Herzetty, Emma K. Clark, and Paul Herzetty wondered: What if there was a way people could shop — not necessarily by color or size — but by measurements, materials, and ethics?
So they set off to create their website: Phoria.
Here, shoppers can set up a free profile, add their body measurements (and “typical fit challenges”) and peruse over 270 brands. Once these data points are entered, users can personalize their pages with “saved,” “recommended,” or “hidden” brands.
Pages can be totally private, or shared with the community to connect over styles and brands.
Aside from fit, brands in the Phoria database (which claims to be “the largest database of plus-friendly brands”) can also be filtered as “gender-neutral,” “woman-run,” “small business,” or “natural fibers.” Users can also filter for price, preferred styles, and more.
Pictured: A screenshot of the "Fit Challenges" feature on a Phoria user's profile.
Some brands include popular names like Athleta, Levi’s, and Patagonia. Others are small businesses, like Beefcake Swimwear, or Hey Peach.
“For so many people, it feels too damn hard to find and keep clothing that fits in all the ways that really matter. So we’re doing something about it,” the Phoria website reads.
“Unlike most online shopping experiences, we center the needs of plus-size women, nonbinary, and trans people, and prioritize supporting clothing brands focused on sustainability, ethics, and inclusion.” ...
That team — made up of Clark, and Nico and Paul Herzetty — calls themselves “fat, disabled, and very, very queer.”
“These are some of the main ways we identify, and they’re qualities that have directly impacted our ability to get dressed every day in a way that feels good,” the Phoria team introduces themselves on the website.
Pictured: A screenshot of Phoria's plus-size clothing brand database.
In addition to catering the user experience to women, non-binary, and trans people, Phoria is also a benefit corporation, or a B corp.
“We’ve legally required ourselves to consider the interests of all our stakeholders — customers, employees, the planet, and our shareholders,” the Phoria website explains.
“Our specific public benefit purpose is to reduce people’s dependence on buying mass-produced items made in unsustainable ways and to use human-centered business models to boldly challenge economic systems of inequity.”
Right now, in the early stages of the company’s business, it doesn’t make any money.
“We’re focused on building something that genuinely solves plus-size people’s challenges around clothes shopping and supports smaller and more sustainable brands,” Phoria’s website states.
So, spreading the word seems to be of utmost importance...
Additionally, TikTok creators @couplagoofs (a queer couple named Morgan and Phoebe), recently shared a video in which they discovered Phoria. They met the website’s creators at a fat liberation event in their city and were introduced to the tool.
Quickly, commenters responded with gratitude and excitement.
“It is so disappointing to sort through pages of plus size clothes that aren’t even plus size,” a TikTok user commented. “This is gonna be such a good tool!”
Some even shared emotional responses, speaking to the need at the heart of Phoria’s mission.
“I’m… gonna cry,” another commenter wrote. “I’ve needed this my whole life.”"
-via Goodgoodgood, November 20, 2023
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hi, i saw your recent ask and i was wondering. how do you build an androgynous/femme outfit? especially for AMAB people who tend to have a more rectangular body shape.
thanks in advance!!
I think being able to separate clothing from gender is an important part of being able to present how you want to present.
Of course, there is a lot of cultural pressure around certain pieces of clothing being associated with certain gender presentations. However, I find that clothing is not the main thing that helps me with androgyneity. For me, that would be shapewear in the form of hip pads, butt pads (these are basically boxer shorts with inserts for specifically shaped pads), and breast forms.
Here is how I present most days I go out compared with a more masc look:
The main differences between these are the makeup and the shapewear for the femme look. Otherwise, the cargo pants are the same, and the vneck t-shirts are the same brand.
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Astro Observations #1
€Libras are dramatic and lie to maintain peace only when unevolved
€Cap rising females get hate from girls! They be jealous and/or intimidated from the native
€Libra sun cap rising males can be so sexyy especially with martian energy prominent like scorpio/aries moon/mars in a birth chart
€I love leo venus! They are so sexy??? Esp Women omg 🔥
€Jupiter-Asc aspects hate pessimistic and criticizing personalities or find them annoying/ hard to deal with
€Sag mars are so wild. They also tend to be bisexual. The thing is they'll definitely try everything once. It's a life mission to them. 💋
€Libra mercury in 10th house speak my daddy is RICH 💴 🔥
€cancer mars women? I don't get yall but your character makes me wanna fwy in a goood way 🔥🥺 (being a sag mars)
Comment if you want a part II 🫶
Love for all 💋
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