JOYTOAST was born out of a craving for joy after a lifetime of frustration and exclusion. Growing up fat meant never having access to clothes that felt like me. It meant wearing adult clothes as a young child. It meant shopping at plus-size stores catering to middle-aged women in my teen years. It meant having my Mom sew my dresses for every homecoming and prom, limited to the few plus-size patterns at our local craft store.
It meant saying no to going out or going to the pool because I didn’t have access to an outfit that was appropriate much less empowering. It meant holding my friend’s bags as they shopped at every store at the mall that never carried my size.
It meant feeling deeply inspired by fashion and trends but never having access to them. It meant paying ten times as much for clothing I didn’t like. It meant never seeing a body like mine portrayed in a positive light
And even now it means never ever being able to shop for clothing in person, even though I live in the third biggest city in the US. JOYTOAST is simply the brand younger me needed, and the brand current me deeply deserves. It’s clothing that feels like me. Clothes full of play, joy + color I never had access to. Carrying sizes the way every brand should be: based on the reality of bodies and the sizes they actually are based on data, and not the warped narrative the fashion industry subscribes to. We knew the fashion world we wanted to live in, so we created it here.
making clothes that fit most bodies makes sense, it’s not that hard, and it shouldn’t be a big freaking deal.
