Lingerie: bigger sizes, more comfort
The value of the global underwear market is growing, and SA manufacturers are working to keep up with the trend. By
Whatever one’s style or size, underwear is the one sector of the apparel market that may not be visible but remains ubiquitous. The international industry is undergoing significant growth and changes, and South Africa seems to be following the trend.
A report earlier this year by the international research firm The Insight Partners estimated that the women’s lingerie market would double by 2027 from about $35-billion in 2018. Importantly, it’s not just growing, but changing.
The research service Wonder found that consumer behaviour was shifting towards more inclusive sizing and colour, specifically of nude items. It notes a clear pivot towards functionality. For instance, there is a notable move away from the more performative push-up bras towards less constrictive bralette styles.
The clearest harbinger of this comfortable news is the stereotypically sexy Victoria’s Secret, which remains the US’s largest lingerie retailer, but which has suffered in the past decades.
It is difficult to find clear indications for whether South African knicker buyers are moving towards similar preferences. Head of equities research at Old Mutual Investment Group Meryl Pick says this isn’t a big enough category locally as an investment case and there are not any standout listed players.
However, anecdotally she has seen that “the advertising has become a lot more bodytype inclusive”.
Michael Lawrence, the executive director of the National Clothing Retail Federation of South Africa, says that buying trends are
There was a gap for fashionable yet comfortable lingerie. Curvy, voluptuous - this is the new norm in our society. We want to cater to reality.
dependent on the market segment a particular retailer is catering to. “Customer demand is driven between a mix of what is affordable, what is desirable, and what is out in terms of what they are seeing.”
But smaller lingerie businesses are often quite clearly embracing these trends, and carving out niches by focusing on a particular sector of the market or ethos.
Co-founder of Ohmybra Saskia Naujok focuses on larger bras of cup sizes C to H, because she saw a gap for “fashionable yet comfortable lingerie” for what she considers to be average size. She says, “curvy, voluptuous – this is the new norm in our society. We want to cater to reality.”
Ohmybra also values sustainability by making all products to order and sticking to more timeless styles. The company is researching a wider range of nude tones and says this is long overdue in the industry.
Founder and CEO of Thursdays Lingerie and Swimwear, Shona Macdonald, also focuses on larger sizes and says she has seen a greater move towards inclusivity locally, including in how lingerie is being marketed. “I am pleased to see that this shift is largely being driven by the consumers themselves, posting body positive content online and advocating for a change in the media space.”
Disruptions in the sector may be welcome to consumers but aren’t easy for the smaller players. Macdonald says that “the lingerie manufacturing sector in South Africa is on the edge of extinction”. Naujok adds that it “has been quite tricky when it comes to entering as a new, small brand”. “Distribution channels have been in the hands of a few, strong distributors for many years.”
Although this may be the case in many sectors, particularly those linked to the textile industry, lingerie has particularities of its own. The average Thursdays bra has 17 components, and matching colours can be tricky. Naujok says they have up to 53 size variations and even a few millimeter’s error can make it ill-fitting.
Lawrence adds that the fabrics used are often more complex than for other garments and are usually imported. He says: “We struggle to invest in more modern technology in this country in the manufacturing sector and the technologies for lingerie are expensive.”
Despite this, there may be significant growth ahead. The retail, clothing, textile, footwear and leather Value Chain Master Plan developed by the Department of Trade and Industry, aims to increase local production to above 60% of sales by 2030. Lawrence says this will inevitably include the lingerie sector. DM168