At PEOPLELIKEUS, shorter proportions, expressive designs, and thoughtful fit details reflect the community behind the clothes.
For founder Gaymochii, finding clothes they liked that actually fit was a persistent frustration. As a petite masc-presenting person who prefers menswear, they struggled to express their identity through fashion. The limited options affected their self-esteem, and before their top surgery, getting dressed often left them feeling dysphoric about their gender.
PEOPLELIKEUS, a queer-owned streetwear brand based in Bangkok and Singapore, brings those searches together. Founded by Gaymochii (they/them), the online brand makes clothing with shorter masc-presenting folks in mind, including boxy tees, jorts, and jeans. The proportions are part of the design from the beginning.
Conversations with queer friends helped Gaymochii realise that others were dealing with the same struggle. With encouragement from the people around them, they decided to start a clothing brand for people like themselves.
They started PEOPLELIKEUS in 2023 after being laid off from a full-time job in Auckland, New Zealand. Their background was in graphic design and branding, but burnout had left them questioning how they wanted to keep working and creating.
“If I wanted to keep creating, it had to be on my own terms,” they say.
That shift eventually took them across the ocean and into building PLU. Today, the business is run by Gaymochii and their girlfriend. Between them, they handle the work of bringing collections to life and getting orders packed and sent out. Gaymochii is the sole creative behind the brand.
The care that goes into the clothing is easiest to understand through the fit. Gaymochii says PLU does not use factory blanks. Each piece starts with the brand’s own patterns and goes through multiple rounds of sampling until they are happy with the fit.
Tops have shorter lengths and raised collars for better binder coverage. The brand uses midweight to heavyweight fabrics, which Gaymochii says many masc-presenting folks prefer for their structure and coverage. Surveys within the community have also helped shape the designs.
The Marble Wash Curve Jeans offer another example. Gaymochii highlighted them as a favourite from the brand’s latest drop in their responses to EveryQueer. These jeans are designed for a height range of 4’11” to 5’5″, with adjustable hems that allow the wearer to shorten the length a little further.
Style gets the same consideration. In their own search for gender-neutral clothing, Gaymochii often came across basic tees that still ran too large. With PLU, they wanted room for more expression. Bold graphics and streetwear silhouettes became part of the brand from its first collection.
The ideas behind those collections are personal, too. The first, Death of Gender, reflected Gaymochii’s experience of moving away from expectations around binary gender and gender roles. The second explored gender euphoria through reconnecting with your core identity and becoming who you were supposed to be all along.
That perspective carries into the way they talk about the masc community. Gaymochii has noticed how often beauty standards favour people who are tall, lean, or considered “in good shape.” They want shorter masc and transmasc people to feel represented and confident in their clothes, including those who don’t see themselves reflected in those expectations.
“People who don’t fit society’s beauty standards can have aura too!” they say.
There is still work they want to do. Gaymochii says figuring out how to make sizing as inclusive as possible has been one of the biggest challenges. They would love to offer a wider size range, but doing so takes time and resources. They continue to listen to what the community needs and work with the resources available to them.
The most meaningful encouragement often arrives in customer messages. Some people tell them they’ve never found clothing that fits so well. Others share that the clothes help them feel more euphoric about their gender. Photos of customers wearing and styling PLU give Gaymochii a chance to see what those pieces become in someone else’s life.
Those exchanges connect the business back to the experience that started it: wanting to get dressed in a way that feels like you. At PEOPLELIKEUS, that experience guides decisions as specific as a collar height, a fabric weight, or the length of a hem. For the people those details serve, they can change how it feels to put something on.
Explore PEOPLELIKEUS online, follow @peoplelikeus.store on Instagram and TikTok, and find Gaymochii at @gay.mochii.
