Nudea: Lingerie Made For Real Women Not Just The "Male Gaze"
“Nudea was born out of our personal frustration when shopping for intimates which were either boring basics or extravagant pieces for special occasions, usually designed for the “male gaze”. As modern women we didn’t feel inspired by the product or the shopping experience that currently exists. ”
Fun fact 80% of women are wearing the wrong bra size!
What? I know right, it made me think twice about my bra size too. Another fun fact brought to you by Nudea, the average woman owns 16 bras but only actually wears 6 of them. Guilty of this one, I have my usuals that I keep on constant rotation the others just sit in the drawer.
Now imagine recruiting over 600 women to help you create lingerie that not only makes you feel good but can also be worn daily. That’s 600 pairs of breasts in all shapes and sizes and 600 different opinions of what feels good and what doesn’t to take into consideration.
In order to create the lingerie company Nudea, that is exactly what Co Founders, Priya and Shopie did. Armed with the mission to celebrate real women with real bodies and lifestyles they took the experiences of these 600 women and created intimates for women by women. With Priya’s extensive background in luxury fashion such as Burberry and Chanel combined with Sophie’s experience as ex-Head of Bra Innovation Design at Victoria Secret these two are the dream team when it comes to creating quality, comfortable lingerie for women.
We had the chance to talk with the Co Founders about the world of lingerie, what makes Nudea different from other brands, as well as how we can fix the problem of making sure we are wearing bras that actually fit?
WHAT INSPIRED YOU BOTH TO CREATE NUDEA?
A real passion for product and a drive to leave a legacy that was lasting and inspiring for other women.
Nudea was born out of our personal frustration when shopping for intimates which were either boring basics or extravagant pieces for special occasions, usually designed for the “male gaze”. As modern women we didn’t feel inspired by the product or the shopping experience that currently exists.
Together, we’ve been building Nudea to fill a gap in the market: beautifully made lingerie that actually fits. A brand built for real women like us who don’t want to compromise.
HOW HAS YOUR EXTENSIVE BACKGROUNDS IN FASHION HELPED YOU TO CREATE NUDEA?
Finding each other was more than fortuitous; together we are uniquely suited to creating something that is hard to find anywhere else. Sophie has been a creative designer focused solely on lingerie for 25 years, having worked at many brands through her extensive career and most recently as Head of Design for Bra Innovation at Victoria’s Secret, she’s created and innovated for some of the best in class.
[Priya] My personal experience working for global luxury brands like Burberry and Chanel has instilled in me the values of authenticity, strong design and craftsmanship. All values that Nudea has been built on - the idea that an often-overlooked category which is the foundation of your daily wardrobe, can be just as beautiful and inspiring as the clothes you wear over them. Being an industry outsider also means I can challenge industry norms and inject disruptive thinking into our business, from re-thinking manufacturing to customer fitting and delivery. Our bespoke measuring tape is a great example of this, looking at a measuring process that has been kicking around the industry for decades and asking ourselves why does it need to be so complicated?
WHAT MAKES NUDEA DIFFERENT FROM ALL OTHER LINGERIE BRANDS?
Lingerie made for women to buy for themselves and each other. The name Nudea came from the merging of the Latin word for new (Nu) and goddess (Dea), and encompasses how we want women to feel when they find the Nudea bra and knickers that fit just as amazingly as they look.
There are many brands out there which provide niche solutions, such as plus size, or seamless underwear or paired back basics. There are also other brands that are built specifically on aesthetic, beautiful fabrics and trims. However there isn’t a brand out there offering both style AND everyday comfort, and that’s what Nudea is all about – comfortable underwear that still un-boxes as special lingerie.
NUDEA HAS AN ONLINE FITTING ROOM, TELL US HOW THAT WORKS.
Carlotta, Nudea’s in house Bra technologist and expert fitter, has been instrumental in creating our online fitting room. She personally has fitted thousands of women over her 30-year career in the intimates world. Bra fitting is as much an art as it is a science and we have watched her over countless workshops and hundreds of hours of fit trials to see how we can bring the best of her “brain” to the online world.
For example, a good Bra Fitter will not only size you but also help you choose styles that work for your breast shape and body shape. They also recommend one of 2 or 3 sizes to try. Our Fitting Room aims to not only offer you the best size but also a personalized product recommendation, through a quick set of questions that you can complete in less than 60 seconds.
WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE PIECES AND WHY?
Our Easy Does it Bralette in sheer deco – a non-wired, non-cupped style that literally feels like you have nothing on. The sheer geometric print is so pretty and takes me from day-to-night. It’s wonderful under sheer tops and provides great coverage.
Our microfibre hugger knicker is also a great investment piece, fits and feels like a high waist knicker but has a front panel that sucks you in. Great for smoothing your tummy out.
WHAT ARE SOME STRUGGLES YOU FACE IN CREATING NUDEA AND HOW WERE YOU ABLE TO OVERCOME THEM?
Lingerie is one of the most complicated product categories, the design and engineering takes an incredible amount of time to get right. For a brand obsessed with comfort and the details, we needed to ensure the entire supply chain was as focused on this as we were. As a start-up brand finding manufacturing partners you can trust it’s hard but made even harder with our strict criteria.
We parted ways early on with our first partner because they couldn’t support the level of detail we wanted on the garments in the volume we needed it. At the time, it was a tough pill to swallow but it was the right thing, and we’re glad we did, our current partner has been incredible in supporting our launch and we are grateful to have a manufacturer we can grow with into the future.
A more recent struggle we experienced post launch has been difficulty of advertisement on social media. Facebook screens and prohibits ads that show excessive skin or cleavage. It seems crazy that in 2019 we are banning images of women in lingerie on Facebook. Particularly for a brand like us that is trying to break those norms of overly sexualized images of women in lingerie and portray a healthier more positive mind-set. This, of course, unfairly penalizes small start up businesses with less budget to bribe their way in. We have adapted our content to get round this as much as possible, but it has also made us think about other ways to spread our message and marketing.
WHAT’S THE MOST SURPRISING THING YOU’VE FOUND IN CREATING NUDEA WHEN IT COMES TO WOMEN AND LINGERIE?
Priya – Having come in as a complete outsider with my only experience being as a customer, I feel like I have had an 18-month eye-opening experience full of surprises! Our early research really backed up some of those known myths such as 80% of women are wearing the wrong size bra, but we also found so many unknowns such as the average woman owns 16 bras, of which only around 6 are ever actually worn, and more than 20% of Women are an F cup or above.
However, the biggest surprise for us was the social aspect of fitting and how much comfort and reassurance women get being around a trusted group; women coming together as a group in a comfortable environment to get fitted amongst friends. It reflects the issues and problems that women face in getting a fitting currently, which involve making an appointment and stripping down in front of a stranger. This is especially true of Gen Z, who find the experience of getting their first fitting humiliating and often emotionally scarring!
This presents us with a unique opportunity to embrace the social aspect of fitting; especially in the offline space.
DESCRIBE YOUR SLAY.
No one said starting a business was easy and as a brand new start up every day brings on new challenges. When we started on this journey, I assumed that the experience would be quite isolating, but in fact the opposite is true. Our supportive ecosystem has really come to life; friends, family and former colleagues. However, the most warming of all have been talented individuals and executives who are at the top of their game, who we don’t know, who want to give up their time and approach us genuinely wanting to help. To have such seasoned people give up their time to contribute to our business is truly what’s it all about. It makes me feel inspired every day to wake up and give up even 20 minutes of my day to mentor someone else on their business and start-up journey.