Meet Samantha, founder of FITSO, a mission-driven accessories and fashion brand built for plus-size bodies, by someone who lives in one. In this spotlight, she tells us about why she created FITSO, the importance of intention, and the small but powerful details woven into her pieces, including the affirmations hidden inside. Plus, she gives us a sneak peek at what’s to come for FITSO!
Hi Samantha! Can you please introduce yourself and FITSO?
Hi, I'm Samantha, founder of FITSO (Fit In To Stand Out): a mission-driven accessories and fashion brand built for plus-size bodies, by someone who lives in one. FITSO exists because I got tired of waiting for the fashion industry to catch up. We design pieces that are functional, stylish, and made exclusively with large bodies in mind — not as an afterthought. Every detail, from sizing to the words tucked into our products, is chosen with intention. FITSO isn't just a brand. It's a community, a statement, and an invitation to take up space unapologetically.
Can you please elaborate on what 'FITSO' stands for, and what inspired that name?
FITSO stands for Fit In To Stand Out — and yes, I know that sounds like a contradiction at first. But that's the point. For so long, plus-size people have been told to shrink, to blend in, to make themselves easier for the world to tolerate. FITSO flips that. It is a natural human desire to want to fit in and we should have the choice to fit into the latest trends and/or stand out voluntarily. That tension between belonging and boldness? That's the whole brand.
How does “Fit In To Stand Out” show up in your design process?
It shows up in every single decision. Fit In means our sizing goes from 0X to 7X — tested on real bodies, not outdated fit model avatars. Stand Out means we don't do muted, we don't do apologetic, we don't do "flattering." We do bold. We do functional. We change the clothes — so you never have to change for them.
Why did you create FITSO?
Honestly? I started FITSO a little out of spite. A little bit of "fine, don't create for me — I'll do it myself, and I'll do it better." You know, that hyper-independent trauma response most of us have carefully curated over our fat years.
I created FITSO because I never stopped existing — no matter how many years I spent begging myself to shrink. And the accessories and fashion I wanted simply didn't exist in my size. (But somehow had no problem existing in sizes smaller than mine. Interesting.) And when plus-size options did exist, they were laughably designed for an imaginary fat person. Belt bags you can only sling across your chest because the strap won't reach around your actual waist. Waistbands so aggressively high-rise they've got you out here looking like Winnie the Pooh. Sizing that stops at XXXL and takes a full Bridgerton bow for being "extended."
I created FITSO because I was done waiting, done being lied to by brands, and done settling. The gap wasn't just in the market — or the pants — it was in the intention behind the designs. That's what was missing: someone who actually knew what it felt like to live in this body, and loved it enough to design for it with real care.
What was missing from fashion, accessories, or activewear that made you feel like this brand needed to exist?
Intention. Full stop. The industry wasn't just missing plus sizes — it was missing the care that should come with them. There's a difference between tolerating a body and designing for it. For too long, plus-size fashion has been an afterthought, a grudging extension, a "fine, we'll add a 1X" moment that nobody celebrated because nobody meant it. What was missing was a brand that started the design process with bigger bodies at the center — not as an accommodation, but as the inspiration. That's the gap FITSO exists to fill.
FITSO was created by you, someone with lived experience in a plus-size body. How does that influence your design process?
It means I'm not guessing. I know where straps dig in. I know the specific humiliation of something being "technically your size" but clearly designed for someone the brand imagined, not someone who actually exists. I know what it feels like to love a trend and be locked out of it. That lived experience isn't just my backstory — it's my best design tool. It means I ask different questions, catch different problems, and I don't sign off on anything until it actually works. Not "works for most bodies." Works for these bodies. The ones we're actually here for.
Your belt bags fit sizes 0X–7X, which is so rare for a product that has become such a trendy, everyday staple. What does it mean to make something functional and actually accessible to bigger bodies?
It means treating accessibility as the starting point, not the finish line. A belt bag that only works on one body type isn't really a belt bag — it's a belt bag for some people, marketed to everyone.
And can we talk about the fat tax for a second? Most plus-size people have to order everything online — no trying it on, no knowing if it'll actually fit, no returns that don't cost half what you paid. Imagine if a straight-sized person had to pay to "return" the garment they tried on in the dressing room. Now imagine that times every single clothing item you own. That's the reality. It's a tax on existing in a bigger body, and the fashion industry has quietly accepted it as someone else's problem.
But here's what really gets me: go to almost any brand's website and look up their belt bags. They'll list the bag's height. They'll list the depth. (Eye roll for the world's most pointless measurements.) But strap length? The one number that actually tells a plus-size person whether this bag will go around their body? Nowhere. It's not an oversight. It's a choice — and it tells you exactly who they designed it for.
Designing for 0X–7X means thinking about strap length, weight distribution, how the bag actually sits against a belly or a hip, and how it moves with a body instead of fighting it. When I see someone wearing a FITSO belt bag around their waist, doing its job, looking good, protecting bellies — that's not a nice moment. That's the whole point.
FITSO’s pieces are gender-inclusive and loved by so many people across identities. Why is it important to you that your pieces aren’t boxed into one gender or one way of being worn?
Because bodies don't follow rules, and neither should style. FITSO pieces are for anyone who wants them. Queens performing in our mesh cropped hoodie. Men grabbing our black belt bag because it's clean, functional, and doesn't apologize for existing. People across every identity finding something that just works for them — the way they want to wear it, on the body they actually have. Watching our community style the same piece a dozen different ways across a dozen different identities? That's not a surprise. That's exactly what we built it for.
What does it mean to you to create pieces that allow plus-size folks, queer folks, and anyone who has been told to “tone it down” to feel comfortable taking up space?
It means everything. "Tone it down" has been aimed at so many of us for so long — our size, our style, our identity, our volume, our very existence. FITSO is a direct response to that. I didn't start this brand to make people feel acceptable in society. I started it to remind people they already are. When someone who has spent years making themselves smaller puts on something that was made for them — with intention, with love, with their actual body in mind — and they stand up a little straighter? That's not a transaction. That's the whole reason I'm here.
You include affirmations inside your products, which feels so tender and intentional. What inspired that detail?
I thought about the moment. That specific moment when you open something new and there's an unexpected note waiting for you — and it stops you.
Because let's be honest: getting dressed is already hard enough for plus-size people. The online purchase. The trying it on. The hoping — really hoping — it actually fits this time. That whole process deserves more than a packing slip. I wanted that moment to say something real. Not a chirpy "you're amazing!" that could've been written for anyone. Something that actually meets people where they are — right there, in that vulnerable in-between of unwrapping something and not yet knowing if it's going to work. A quiet, intentional reminder that this piece was made with them in mind.
What do you hope someone feels when they find those words?
Seen. Genuinely, unexpectedly seen. Like someone thought of them — specifically — before they ever clicked "add to cart."
What are 1–2 pieces in your current collection that you’re especially excited about right now, and why?
Right now I am so excited about our belt bags in new colors — lilac, a beige neutral, and a deep cherry red — each with an updated fit and adjustable straps on both sides of the buckle. Because the original was good, but good enough is never the finish line at FITSO.
And honestly? I'm just getting warmed up. More accessories are coming, and I have my eye on a denim line and plus-size petite undergarments. Random categories, I know — but are they though? Because there is still so much room for improvement in plus-size offerings across the board, and someone has to care enough to do it right. Might as well be us.
What do you hope someone feels the first time they put on a piece from FITSO?
That it fits. Not just physically — though yes, it should actually fit — but that it fits them. Their life, their energy, their body, their whole situation. I want that first wear to feel like exhaling. Like: oh. This is what it was supposed to feel like the whole time. And then I want them to walk out the door and not think about it again — because it's just doing its job. That's the dream.
What does it mean to you to have FITSO spotlighted and available to shop at Viva Voce?
It means showing up in a space that actually gives a damn — and that alignment matters to me. Visibility for a brand like FITSO isn't just good for business. It's a signal to plus-size shoppers that have often felt like an afterthought, that there are spaces that see them and brands that were built for them. It's an opportunity to reach more of our community — the people who have always deserved to be created for, and are just now starting to be. Being part of the Viva Voce community is an honor!
If you had a megaphone and the whole world was listening, what would you say?
Your body is not the problem. It never was. The clothes that didn't fit, the spaces that didn't include you, the styles that magically stopped at a size 12 — that was the problem.
And maybe that's why malls are failing. Because when 60% of women in the US are living in plus sizes and your store stops at a 12, you haven't built a shopping destination for the masses — you've built a waiting room for people who already know they're leaving empty-handed. The market didn't shrink. The industry just refused to see who was standing right in front of them.
You deserved better from the beginning. FITSO is my answer to that. And I am just getting started.