Digital first will remain dominant way to shop
Co-founders Priya Downes and Sophie Morgenthaler met while working together at Fiorucci launching Fiorucci’s underwear collection. They quickly realised that they were a dream team to bring a new, much-needed lingerie brand to the market and founded Nudea. Downes shared Nudea’s growth story with Fibre2Fashion, about how it competes with world renowned lingerie brands and plans for future.
How was Nudea conceptualised?
I[Priya Downes] spent 10 years working in luxury fashion at brands, including Chanel and Burberry and, prior to that, 5 years working at the World Bank Group on sustainability projects. My experience in luxury fashion has instilled a huge appreciation for quality, design and craftmanship which I seek in all my own personal purchases, but this idea of caring for the people and planet around us has never strayed too far from my own principles. I have always been disappointed at the choices on offer in the underwear market and my appreciation for product has really influenced the direction we have taken with Nudea – a true focus on product and delivering on quality fit and comfort first with a responsible eye on the planet we live in.
Have the complaints come down compared to before times?
As a brand we have a strong focus on getting the fit right throughout your shopping experience. That goes from your first fitting right the way to after purchase try-on. We want to replicate the in-store personal experience, which includes an expert helping you to put your bra on and check your fit. This is just as important as getting sized up. We offer complimentary virtual fit consultations to all our customers at any time. Not only does it offer that personal touch which is so appreciated by our customers, it also helps keep our returns rate low.
What major factors are influencing the lingerie market? Does Brexit have any impact on it?
Body diversity and digital first. Whilst the industry was slow to embrace diversity not just in product ranges but also in marketing, it has started to pick up pace on a much more needed approach for women. Furthermore, Covid has accelerated the need for a digital first approach to the industry which has for a very long time relied on physical fitting and try-on.
Brexit doesn’t really hinder any of this movement. Whilst it does make a DTC approach for a UK based brand more difficult, this is temporary, as solutions for combatting shipping and fulfilment are becoming ever slicker.
Two years down the line…what has been the growth story of Nudea?
We’ve certainly come a long way in two momentous years since launch in September 2019. There’s never been a more exciting and challenging time to be in an early-stage start-up particularly in retail. The pandemic has served as a tailwind for us to grow even faster than we could have predicted, given our value proposition of self-fitting, simple online purchasing and hassle-free returns. We have also seen that COVID-19 has accelerated digital change in the shopping space by 3 to 4 years in the space of just a few months. Looking ahead it’s clear that digital first will remain the dominant way to shop, with physical retail adapting around this to offer more experiences. Nudea is embracing the return to a new physical, with strategic relationships with retailers that offer the customer a more curated shopping experience. For example, we recently launched with London-based independent brand The Pantry.
What are your weapons to compete against established lingerie brands of the world?
Nudea launched in 2019 and is a digital-first business disrupting the bra shopping experience from measurement to try on. 80 per cent of women wear the wrong bra size because 75 per cent haven’t been fitted in over three years. This is why we created our own custom fitting tools including the trademarked Fit Tape designed for accurate self-measurement at home. We have already supported over 15,000 women to size up at home throughout lockdown and are reshaping underwear shopping for good.
In addition, sustainability is ever more prevalent in customer decision making. Covid has further fueled the need for all to shop more consciously. Sustainability is at the core of our business, and as a small brand we have been able to rapidly adapt and continuously improve. For example, we are one of the only lingerie brands to be carbon zero and we will continue to embrace new technologies and processes quickly.
The pandemic has changed a lot of market dynamics. Do you feel there will be an increase in ‘Made in UK’ and near-shoring now especially in lingerie and swimwear categories?
Consumer awareness of sustainability in fashion is growing rapidly. There is wider awareness of the importance of near shoring, carbon footprints and more conscious manufacturing processes and this is coming through in customer demand for better made products. Our customers are drawn to our strong sustainability credentials but ultimately the product has to perform and last. There is little point in being “Made in the UK” if your product doesn’t offer the customer something else that’s superior. At Nudea we feel that customers should buy less and buy better.
Going ahead, do you want to still go online or would you look into other retail options as well?
We originally launched as an online business and we will remain a digital first brand so our website will always remain our main sales channel. However, we do see retail partnerships as a strategic outlet for reaching new customers and geographies as well as great way to offer physical touchpoints. Our first partnership has been with John Lewis, who has a growing customer base online since the pandemic started.
What are the technicalities involved in making the perfectly sized lingerie for people of various body types and sizes?
When designing our underwear, we are very conscious that different sized busts and shapes need different levels of support and coverage. For example, a larger bust needs more support throughout the underband and straps so we design our bras with double layered meshes and slightly wider underbands and straps to help with lift and comfort.
In addition, we put a lot of emphasis on the fabrics and componentry we use, because as technical experts on fit we know the quality of materials are key for delivering on this. This is made more challenging by our requirements for recycled or natural materials, as generally recycled yarns loose some of their stretch and hold properties in the recycling process. Our material suppliers know this and this is why we work in partnership to find the right combination of recycled yarns that offer the same level and quality as virgin fabrics. For us, there is little point in offering products that are made from recycled materials but then end up in landfills more quickly. It’s important to us that our bras fit as long as possible as this is fundamental part of our ethos.
How many sizes do you retail? Do you make customised lingerie?
We have 43 bra sizes and 7 knicker sizes. We don’t make customised lingerie but by offering a wider range of sizes made with better componentry and stretch means that our styles fit and support more women. Making custom bras would elongate the time delivery to the customer and we can offer our customers a more immediate better fit.
What new product offerings on the anvil?
We are excited to be launching our first range of seamless bralettes and underwear all made from recycled nylon later this year as well as expanding our core range of lingerie to include more sizes, fabrics and colours. We are also looking to creating a range of hybrid loungewear/underwear pieces to complement our main collections.
Sustainability has gained more importance in the current scenario. What steps is Nudea taking in this direction?
Since launch, we’ve focused on better sourcing, for example recycled fabrics emit four times less carbon than virgin fabrics. This is one of the major reasons we have a relatively small footprint. We are continuing to source our fabrics and componentry from recycled or naturally occurring sources and producing in Portugal, which doesn’t require any air transport.
Nudea’s products are thoughtfully designed to last longer and responsibly manufactured out of premium fabrics crafted from recycled yarns and all components including fabrics and trims are sourced and manufactured within Europe. And the brand’s commitment to sustainability already includes easy-to-use fitting tools to deliver on fit for conscious, responsible shopping, signature recycled fabric and yarns, a thoughtfully designed selection of styles made in partnership with responsible suppliers who pay fair living wages, produced in a GOTS and SLCP fully certified factory in Portugal and all delivered in recycled and recyclable packaging.
We have also taken the step to become carbon neutral as a business. We take responsibility for our carbon footprint and ensure we do what we can to keep this at a minimum and what we can’t we manage through a considered and vetted carbon reducing offset programme.
Which are your major markets at present?
We deliver worldwide, but currently our major markets are the UK and Ireland and we’re moving into Europe over the coming months. Brexit has made delivering to customers in the continent even harder but we offer duty/tax paid to European customers who shop directly with us. That said we see retail partnerships as a great way to expand in the continent and we are onboarding a few European retail partners in the coming months.
How do you resolve complaints received from customers related to various fit and size issues?
As a brand we have a strong focus on getting the fit right throughout your shopping experience. That goes from your first fitting right the way to after purchase try-on. We want to replicate the in-store personal experience, which includes an expert helping you to put your bra on and check your fit. This is just as important as getting sized up. We offer complimentary virtual fit consultations to all our customers at any time. Not only does it offer that personal touch which is so appreciated by our customers, it also helps keep our returns rate low.
With the new round of seed funding received, how do you plan to grow and market your brand in future?
We are looking at scaling and testing new markets through retail partnerships as well as further investing in new marketing channels with a good balance of offline and online channels.
How successful has your toolkit been that you introduced last year for self-measuring and bra-fitting?
Launching as a brand with a vision to disrupt bra shopping by bringing the whole process – from measurement to try on – to people’s homes, Nudea was already well-placed for growth when the pandemic hit. Business growth was exponential during the 2020/2021 lockdowns due to the core mission being on the pulse to what women needed at that this time – a way to safely get fitted at home and also purchase a product that genuinely serviced the need for comfort in the new work for home culture. Since launch, a total of 15,000 women have been fitted using Nudea’s range of fitting tools and we don’t see this growth slowing down. Women have been for too long let down on access to fitting in a modern way, which is what has contributed to women putting up with ill-fitting bras. Not only does self-fitting offer a more convenient way to shop, it also encourages frequent fitting and as a result better self-care.
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