Welcome to Big Undies

We need to talk about clothes.

We live our lives in clothes. We stain them with sweat and blood, we use them to wipe tears and greasy fingers. You only have to watch one episode of Naked & Afraid to understand how necessary to survival a pair of pants can be—they protect us from stinging bugs, burning sun, ice, snow, and rain.

Clothes communicate identity.

Big Cheese Photo, Getty Images

Yet so much of the media about clothes focuses FASHION. It’s applauding brands that make clothes that don’t fit most people. It’s about galas that most of us could never afford to attend. It’s being asked “who are you wearing?”

I don’t care who Kim Kardashian is wearing (block Kim K). That information isn’t going to help me find pants that fit. I care about feeling comfortable. I care about being able to wear clothes that make me feel like myself. I’d like to feel less worried about working conditions of people making my clothes and the environmental impact of returning stuff that doesn’t fit when I can’t shop in most stores to begin with.

I want to know what clothes make other people feel at ease. What are you wearing to do your job? To get around? To live your life?

If you feel perpetually underserved and frustrated by the basic need to clothe your body in a way that feels even just okay, Big Undies is for you. Let’s find solutions to the problems that are not being solved by red carpets and Shein hauls. Nobody is living their life in a cold shoulder top.

Welcome to Big Undies.

I’m Corinne Fay. Since 2018 I’ve run SellTradePlus, a peer-to-peer plus size resale community. I’m also the producer of

Burnt Toast by Virginia Sole-Smith

, a newsletter and podcast about diet culture and anti-fat bias. I’ve written about underwear science and weightlifting as a fat person. And I co-host the Indulgence Gospel with Virginia, where we’ve been answering your fat fashion questions for the past 3 years.

Here’s how Big Undies works:

• One big post a week. Style questionnaires, link roundups, and deep dives into brands and specific items of clothing.

• A weekly open thread where we’ll channel our collective wisdom into deciphering nonbinary wedding guest attire and finding clogs you can actually walk in.

• Subscribe now for $6/month

  • Subscribers get access to our weekly community threads and link roundups.

  • A subscription to Big Undies supports research about clothes and our growing community. Subscriptions also allow us to offer comp subscriptions to anyone who needs one (if you need one, just email me at bigbigundies@gmail.com).

  • You'll also get a 20% discount to Burnt Toast, which means you can have both newsletters for just $10 per month.

I want to hear your ideas!

If you have topics or themes or conundrums that you want Big Undies to tackle, please drop them in the comments!