Fat Body Hotties is here to celebrate fat joy in Milwaukee, and they’re proud about it.
Sarah Chojnacki started the collective after experiencing firsthand the need for affordable and size-inclusive clothing in both retail and thrift spaces in the city.
“This world was not made for bodies that are bigger or that look anything other than a smaller size and able-bodied, and I just never had a space where it was full of fat people,” Chojnacki says.
In an effort to be part of the change they wanted to see, Chojnacki, alongside their co-organizer, Ashley Mertes, started to regularly host free clothing swaps for fat folks. Each swap offers clothes ranging from sizes XL through 8X+ or sizes 16 through 64+.
Since 2023, Fat Body Hotties has grown beyond hosting clothing swaps — it’s built a welcoming community through its inclusive and accessible events.
“The opposite of capitalism is community,” Mertes says. “And being there for each other and celebrating our uniqueness is something so beautiful, and we need to acknowledge those differences — that's how to be a good community member.”
Lake Effect’s Xcaret Nuñez spoke with Chojnacki and Mertes about how the group has created a safe space celebrating fat joy and body liberation.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Xcaret Nuñez: Can you talk more about the meaning behind the name 'Fat Body Hotties' and how this group first started?
Sarah Chojnacki: So I moved here to Milwaukee in 2021 and started 'Fat Body Hotties' in 2023. I was going to different thrift stores and not finding anything in my size. There's this fat tax with clothing, not necessarily from thrift stores — although I do sometimes see that the prices are different, but more so from stores geared towards fat bodies like Lane Bryant or Torrid. So as I was entering the workforce, I didn't have any professional clothes that fit me or looked good on me, so I thought, ”Oh, I have clothes that I don't wear anymore. What if I just host a little get-together with a couple of folks where we exchange clothing?” So that’s how the idea got started. And the name ['Fat Body Hotties']: I wanted it to be catchy but also positive. So we're not only trying to provide this clothing swap, we're also wanting to uplift the folks that we're working with. Not necessarily talking about body positivity, while that is important, we're more so talking about and working towards body liberation.
Ashley Mertes: I attended the swaps that Sarah had at their apartment, and I just absolutely loved what Sarah was putting together. I have a background in mutual aid, like Food Not Bombs and organizing is so much easier when it's more of a collaborative effort. So all of our clothes are XL and above and gender-inclusive. We have ASL interpreters on site and Sherman Phoenix is also wheelchair accessible. We recently decided on [hosting clothing swaps at] Sherman Phoenix going forward, and feel like that's our home. For anyone who's not familiar, Sherman Phoenix is like a mini mall, but instead of corporations, it's majority black-owned small businesses. So we're putting our best foot forward with being anti-consumerist with the clothing swap, and then when you're done enjoying the swap, you can browse the small businesses and have a good time as well. So we just love our partnership together with Sherman Phoenix.
Nuñez: I want to talk about the phrase and experience of fat joy. What is fat joy? And how do spaces like Fat Body Hotties clothing swaps create or encourage it?
Chojnacki: When I first started this, I also wanted it to be a space with the intention of joy and happiness. I think we live in a society where they don't want people to be happy, or they don't want people who are outside of a cis, straight man to be happy. Joy is resistance. So bringing people together and giving them clothing — this meets essential needs that people have. We're connecting with people who probably feel isolated or who haven't had this experience before.
Another thing I want to mention is that a lot of trans people and queer people come to our swaps because this is where they're able to find clothing that fits them. So we've had people come up to us and tell us this is gender affirming care. I'm not able to find this anywhere else. I'm able to be myself in this space, and I feel accepted, respected, happy and meeting new people. And this is what we want — to be in a space to celebrate who you are without any worries. And I feel that Ashley and I have been really successful with that. We’re making this space for fat people. It's by fat people, for fat people.
And of course we’ve had non-fat people come to our events. At first, I wasn't sure if I necessarily wanted that. However, I don't want to be exclusionary. Everyone is welcome. It's just that when non-fat people are in that space, they need to know why they're in that space, what that space is for, and who it's for. So we want fat folks to be at the center, getting all of the items they need.
Nuñez: What should people know about the clothing swaps if they want to attend and participate?
Chojnacki: This is a completely free clothing swap. You don't have to bring anything to participate, but of course, it's great when people do so. We have a bunch of tables set up, organized by clothes size, people can bring their own reusable bags and we’ll have some too. There's no limit as to what people can grab, and there are also usually bathrooms that people can go to to try things on.
Mertes: Just bring your awesome self, and leftover clothes go to various awesome organizations like Pathfinders, Milwaukee LGBT Community Center and Harambee Kitchen. We have Aurora Behavioral Health and Froedert that are going to pick up clothes from the upcoming swap. One of the organizations that Sarah and I are so proud to have donated to is a correction center — I want to emphasize that we're completely against the prison system, but we want to do everything we can to help those who have been affected by it and who are transitioning out. This correction center emphasizes helping people who are transitioning out of the prison system and back into regular life. A lot of these people do not have any clothes whatsoever, and they’re potentially getting really nice stuff with the leftovers from the clothing swap. So we absolutely love all of the organizations we work with.
You can visit the next Fat Body Hotties Clothing Swap on Saturday, Oct. 11. The event will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Sherman Phoenix. After this one, the next swap date this year is on Dec. 13, and next year on Feb. 28, 2026 and April 25, 2026.
