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Curvy bodies are often an afterthought in the conventional fashion industry. Shopping off the rack is hard enough for straight-sized folks, but securing a piece that complements your shape and style can feel just shy of impossible for those whose bodies don’t adhere to industry standards. (Read: most of us.) Unless you’ve commissioned a tailor to alter your entire wardrobe, chances are your initial excitement to piece together a polished outfit has been deflated more than once by chafed thighs, constricting T-shirt sleeves, and the infamous waist gap. While major fashion brands have failed to cater to curvy bodies, 26-year-old entrepreneur and Shiny by Nature Founder Alex Ochoa Suo has taken the opportunity to create functional clothing for full-figured women.
“I had so many issues finding clothing that fit me with such a large waist-to-hip ratio so I wanted to [solve that],” Ochoa Suo tells The Quality Edit. “It’s so sad when you order a piece of cute clothing in the mail and then it just fits so differently than what you expected, which was a daily occurrence for me.” For hundreds of full-figured shoppers, Ochoa Suo’s curve-inclusive fashion brand, Shiny by Nature, has been the answer to years of styling issues. Though the brand launched in 2021, Ochoa Suo’s fashion enterprise has been over a decade in the making.
Designing for “Ultra-Curvy” Bodies
At 13 years old, Ochoa Suo dedicated Saturday mornings to crafting handmade earrings and necklaces for her Etsy shop based out of Rio Grande Valley, Texas. “I taught myself how to market on the Etsy website and then I would go to school on Monday and my mom would help me send orders to the post office,” she recalls. “I would pack everything up and she would drop it off. I loved running that little handmade jewelry business.”
"I felt like I had the privilege to try to do something about it."
After high school, Ochoa Suo relocated to New York City to study engineering at NYU. On the side, she dedicated her time to running an online jewelry business — a step up from her Etsy shop — and sharing OOTD posts to her Instagram account. During her sophomore year, as Instagram’s algorithms shifted and fashion influencers began to pick up steam on the social media platform, Ochoa Suo saw her sporadic style posts attracting a larger audience. “At that time, my following was growing pretty rapidly, especially as I was digging into the short-form video,” she says. “That was pretty amazing because I could really focus full-time on that and take it to the next level.”
In 2020, Ochoa Suo began attending grad school but soon dropped out to pursue her entrepreneurial passion. “I just really felt that it wasn’t going to help me reach my goals,” she says, adding that her aspirations had shifted in favor of launching a fashion business. With the help of YouTube videos, she taught herself to sew, often relying on friends to test her creations, which catered specifically to “ultra-curvy” bodies. “I felt like I was in a unique position to be able to offer some solutions to the problems we [as curvy women] had been facing instead of just suffering,” she says. ”I felt like I had the privilege to try to do something about it.”
Wearing Her Heart on Her . . . Jeans
As a young Mexican-American woman, Ochoa Suo found breaking into the startup space difficult. “I’ve been taken less seriously in business situations where people don’t realize I’m the founder or don’t give me the same respect as [they would] other people, unfortunately,” Ochoa Suo says, adding that these obstacles have inspired her to invest her time and efforts into her business tenfold. “I really value the experience because I feel like I have to work harder and build my skills even more to compete in the same field,” she says. “My identity is a huge factor in me really feeling the fire to succeed. I hope I can show other girls who come from a similar culture or background that you can do it, too. Don’t let others put you down. We can do anything we set our minds to.”
"My identity is a huge factor in me really feeling the fire to succeed."
Committed to improving the scope of curvy fashion products on the market, Ochoa Suo and her husband, T.S. Suo launched Shiny by Nature in sizes S to 6X to provide clothing for curvier bodies — tapered waists and wide hips, thick thighs, broad shoulders, and apron bellies. With product development, attention to detail was key, as exemplified by the brand’s first product, the Super Socks. “They are specifically made to be looser at the top and to fit people with bigger calves,” says Ochoa Suo.
On Shiny by Nature, Ochoa Suo also offers popular products like the High-Rise Comfy Denim Shorts, a Long-Sleeve Linen Button-Up, a Denim Micro-Skirt, and Heart Cutout Jeans, one of the brand’s most popular products. “ I am obsessed with heart motifs,” Ochoa Suo says. “People have really been loving them!”
Of course, Shiny by Nature’s entire business model is based on customer satisfaction, so Ochoa Suo makes a point of ensuring shoppers know how much their opinion is valued. “We love customer suggestions because they really guide future designs,” she says. “As a small brand, it’s really hard to make forecasting decisions without input from the customers. We’ve made mistakes in the past where we’ll just go ahead and make something without giving our audience a preview and reception has been poor, so we really love to poll the audience and see what they think before we make the big financial decisions.”
Wear Your Shine
As her business and Instagram following continue to grow, Ochoa Suo strives to use her platform to encourage people with curvier bodies to shop confidently by sharing some of her favorite tips she’s picked up as a seasoned style expert. “If you’re shopping in person, I would definitely recommend knowing your measurements,” she offers as her most crucial piece of advice. “Really take a look at your favorite pair of jeans at home and get a tangible idea of the sizing. That way, you can go into the store and have better luck selecting your size.” Of course, sizes vary from store to store, so rather than rely on labels and arbitrary sizing scales, Ochoa Suo recommends going into the fitting room with as much information as possible.
If you’re not a fan of in-store shopping, she also recommends tailoring your social media feed to fit your style by following creators with similar body types and fashion sense. From there, pay attention to the brands featured in your favorite videos, and don’t be afraid to go into a deep dive in the comments or review section for any sizing, fit, color, or style issues to keep in mind.
Though Ochoa Suo doesn’t plan to rectify decades of untapped fashion potential for “ultra-curvy” bodies overnight, her business motto, “Wear your shine,” is an instant reminder that style is for everyone, whether the larger fashion industry acknowledges it or not. “‘Wear your shine’ is just the feeling of being able to express yourself the way you want to. That’s ultimately the goal with the brand,” she says. “We really would like people to be comfortable in what they’re wearing, which is a representation of who they are and how they express themselves. It’s really about wearing your inner shine on the outside.”
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