Welcome to FabUPlus! We are so happy that you have found us. I'd like to take a few minutes to introduce myself and share how FabUPlus came to be.
My name is Kristi and I have always been a big girl. My first memory of realizing I was considered different from other girls my age was in kindergarten. You know at that age you are still supposed to have that belief that you are beautiful, special and basically everyone likes you and are good people. I remember the day like it was yesterday because I think in some way it started shaping how I felt about myself. Yes, even as young as a kindergartner.
Everyone was supposed to line up from recess and I was assigned the door leader, the person who holds the door open for everyone. I was standing there like I had seen all the other kids, holding the door open with your entire body. Two classmates on their way through the door poked me in the stomach and called me Porky Pig. I remember feeling horribly sad. I just wanted people to like me. I'm sure I probably did but I have no memory of ever being the door leader again. Course, that could be because the rest of my time spent at the school was filled with other horrible memories.
I was transferred to another school by the second grade and things were better until the seventh grade. The horrible preteen/junior high years started and well, they were not good to me...at all. That year I had a great best friend but I believe her mother viewed me as a project. Plus size fashion has really came a long ways since my teen years when it was pretty much unheard of for anyone younger than the age of 40 to be plus size. My only options for clothes were Walmart and Catherines. At the time I had never heard of Lane Bryant or Catos until my friend's mom took me to Catos to find clothes. I think she felt sorry for me because they went shopping and I wasn't able to find anything because of my size. There was a shirt she bought me that at the time I loved but now looking back I can't for the life of me understand why I thought it looked good. Haha!
My aunt also took me shopping once at the mall and I remember she kept mentioning all these stores that had these fantastic sales but each time I had to tell her that they didn't carry my size. I think that the people closest to you never view you as a "fat girl", "big girl" or anything else referring to your size. I believe that's because they just love you and look beyond your body.
Skip ahead to adulthood and it became a whole new level of frustration with a wide array of feelings. I personally lacked any confidence until a few years ago. I was mostly disgusted with myself and frustrated with the options I was given for shopping. As I said, plus size fashion has came a long ways but let's be honest...most options we have are either old looking, frumpy, black, or expensive.
When I gained confidence in myself and decided that if I wanted a change, I was responsible for that change, I started taking more pride in the way I dressed, presented myself and for the first time in my life, really put effort into trying to lose weight. My life had changed drastically and I wanted my outward appearance to reflect how I was feeling on the inside. I no longer wanted to settle for frumpy or all black. I wanted to look sexy, confident, young but again the options seemed to all be the same and really expensive for a single girl. I tried going to some boutiques that said they offered plus size only to be incredibly disappointed. I found that most didn't understand the sizing for plus size or didn't have much of a selection at all. And so out of frustration, FabUPlus was born.
I've always been an entrepreneur to some degree. I have a journal that I write all my ideas for businesses in. When I started writing my ideas out for FabUPlus, they flowed right out of me. I've taken most of my frustrations with shopping and have turned them into ideas for a shopping experience. Since opening FabUPlus, I've discovered that I wasn't alone in my feelings in regards to shopping. My vision is to always keep those comments from customers and my personal frustrations as the fuel for a successful business.
With all that being said, know that I am with you in this life of a plus size woman and that you are my motivation for everything that I do for FabUPlus.
Be Fab, Be You, Be FabUPlus!
Thank you for shopping with us.
Hugs!