What is special about British bras?



For the last 15 years in Britain, there was, and is still going on, an ?underwear revolution? comprising two aspects: a human and a commercial. Since the mid-1990s, there were huge changes in the women's attitude towards their underwear wardrobe and in their ability to spend money on themselves. This resulted in a boom in lingerie business. At present, British women are buying more bras, better quality and sexier than in the early 1990s. Recent studies by Rigby & Peller (corsetiere to the Queen) show that the British spend more on underwear than any other nation in Europe.

What did trigger this revolution in Britain?

It is a complex question. First of all, the world now is more consumer-oriented than 15 years ago. In the early 1990s, women weren't drowning in choice the way they are now, so it is hardly surprising that on average, they only bought one bra a year. However, the most important factor behind the boom in bras, and the one that is hardest to quantify, is that women are not the same as they were in the yearly 1990s. According to a recent article in Telegraph by Jo Craven, two events in 1994 dramatically altered the history of the British bra: Eva Herzigova in the 'Hello boys!' Wonderbra advert and the opening of a small shop in Soho called Agent Provocateur, with a scantily clad dummy in the window. Darkened windows in lingerie shops became history. Today there is not a high street in the country without 'come hither' lingerie shops vying for our attention.

In 2001, there was another event in the underwear revolution which shook the best half of the nation: In the ?What Not to Wear? television show, Trinny and Susannah's relentless assault on laughably awful underwear shamed many of us to take a long hard look at our boobs and realise we, too, needed to go shopping. Wearing the right bra size miraculously made us feel more confident - giving us a better posture and making us look slimmer. British women now buy on average four bras a year - the most per head in Europe.

These days women know all too well what they want, they are going to ask for it, and they are certainly not waiting for a man to buy it for them. Women don't feel the need to look good for anyone but themselves and if someone else appreciates their lingerie, then that's a bonus. Whether it is sexual confidence or social change, it has had a big impact on the psychology of the average bra shopper. 'Women today exist in a "have it all" society?, says Franceska Luther, the creative director of Myla. ?We strive to be the best we can be - both at work and at home. We want the most fabulous clothes, the best beauty products and this must be complemented by the finest lingerie.' Even if we can not afford ?79 for a bra, we are seduced into buying it anyway. British women's relationship with their underwear has moved on from being about functionality. They now buy into it for its ?feelgood? factor. Lingerie has become a fashion accessory.

The underwear revolution affected the average British bra size. The headline news is that the nation's breasts are getting bigger. Where once the average British bra size was 34B, it is now 36D or 38C or 34E depending who is talking. In fact, bra designers claim that about 80-85 per cent of women in UK wear wrong-size bras. Thus, the mysterious bra-size increase does not mean that, for the last 15 years, the nation's breasts are literally getting bigger?this means that, for the last 15 years, British boobs got their right-size bras. The bad side of the wearing of the wrong-size bra is that it can lead to back, neck and posture problems.

Lingerie business in Britain

There is an exhausting energy in bra land. Since the early 1990s, the number of lingerie brands available in high-street shops is increased exponentially. At the same time, the price of designer lingerie went down, that makes buying into the big-brand experience affordable. The business of bras is increasingly a place of takeovers where small labels struggle to grow and compete. In 2006, we spent ?2.48 billion on our lingerie in Britain. Since then, the underwear market expands by about 2.6 per cent per year. Marks & Spencer sold 20 million bras in 2007 - 10 per cent more than in 2006. The growth is definitely set to continue. A bra is not too expensive a thing to buy to make you feel good when you are feeling the credit crunch.

Recent development of online businesses profoundly changed our attitudes to shopping. Most people prefer to shop on internet sitting comfortably at home - less stress, cheaper, bigger choice, 24 hours a day, and 365 days a year. Online sales are definitely a growing force, including lingerie market. Every brand you can think of can now be bought online. Online stores make the brand competition fairer: small, independent lingerie brands can co-exist and, even, compete with big ones, occupying a certain niche of the Britain market. In many cases, the ratio of quality/price of bras and knickers of small-size lingerie brands is better than that of big brands. You pay just for the product, not for a big-brand name and a product attached to it.

New lingerie brands on the British market

New lingerie brands continue to break into the British market. The upmarket Russian lingerie company Wild Orchid, which has a turnover of ?50 million with 216 stores throughout Russia and Ukraine, made recently its British debut. Wild Orchid is the first Russian retail chain to break into the European market. The Italian company Tezenis opened recently on Regent Street selling competitively priced underwear. Tezenis has 100 stores in Italy and is aggressively expanding throughout Europe.

Mid-size lingerie brands knock at the door of the British market too. A newly launched web-site www.EliteBraLingerie.com presents to the British public a new lingerie brand ALUR. In French pronunciation, Alur sounds similar to Allure, a Canadian lingerie brand designers of which concentrate more on sex appeal of lingerie, mainly, in leather. As Wild Orchid, Alur is an East European brand, and very popular over there. What makes Alur bras popular is their quality, competitive pricing and colour gamut. They are very practical and long lasting. The nine-years old Alur is one of the first, if not the first, who started to use large-size live models to present its lingerie. They say that ?big? is not necessary ugly ? ?big? can be beautiful too (see the picture).

(Alur lingerie model at the International Exhibition ?Kiev Fashion? in 42DD bra.)

What do women want? A perfect bra: underwired or not?

Charlotte Williamson in her 2006 article in Telegraph described her trip to Paris, to visit a famous bra designer Poupie Cadolle who makes hand-made bras called 'Cara'. It costs 550 euros (?380 at that time), takes three months to make and is supposed to create the perfect bust. But is the bespoke 'Cara' really the ultimate bra? 'OK, what do you want from your bra?' asks Mme Cadolle when they meet. Charlotte replies ?I want support and lift and a fabulous shape?. 'Then you need the Cara! This is the perfect bra.' says Mme Cadolle. After a few months (and one additional fitting in-between), Charlotte received her Cara by post. Her final conclusion is that the Cara may be not the ultimate bra but, at least, it is a perfect one. The Cara is an underwired bra.

During the meeting in Paris, Mme Cadolle explained that ?It should last two, three, four years, with proper care.' ?What is the proper care?? 'You have to hand-wash it every week, at least. You must not use detergent. Use a pure shampoo.' ?A hair shampoo?? 'Why not! What gets ruined is the elastic. And no Woolite! It is a killer of elastics.'

In Paris, Mme Cadolle also remarked that 'The Italians love coloured bras, they have no complex about colour. The English love colour, too - they buy red, blue and emerald.?

What about the credit crunch?

So despite the credit crunch, can women's seemingly insatiable appetite for lingerie make it recession-proof? 'Some women may trade up for investment bras, and some may trade down for something cheaper. If you only pay ?5 for a bra then it's a guilt-free treat,' Mintel's Sally Bain comments. But with so much evidence of competitive pricing, Michelle Mone is adamant that 'the bra that does the job will survive whereas the bra that is just a brand will disappear.' Achieving growth is definitely going to be tougher going. And the jostling between product innovation, price, fashion and functionality within a bra that also needs to make us feel and look good at the same time is a fine balance. One thing is for sure, there is no going back; this is a battle that will run and run. It is good news for the Alur brand (http://www.elitebralingerie.com).