Recently, someone in the Lingerie Addict Facebook group asked if lingerie brands could design custom lace. I started typing out a response, but quickly realised it’s a very complex question to answer. One about which I have entirely too much to say. The fashion industry as a whole tends to be quite closed off to customer education, so there isn’t a whole lot of public information about manufacturing or fabrics. […]
Disclosure: This lingerie was purchased with my own money. All opinions are my own. It seems to be a milestone in most lingerie designer’s lives: counterfeit versions of their designs appearing on websites like AliExpress and eBay. I first noticed these at the start of my design career. My strappy harnesses and frame bras appeared on these websites with alarming frequency. Whilst one could argue these were generic designs in […]
Jeanna Kadlec is the owner of Bluestockings Boutique, the first-ever lingerie boutique geared to the LGBTQIA+ community. She lives in Brooklyn. When I first opened my store, Bluestockings, in April 2015, I wanted to exclusively stock brands that shared my commitment to ethical manufacturing. In my research, I learned the reason so many companies moved their manufacturing from the United States and Europe to Southeast Asia, China, Morocco and Latin […]
Helena Stuart, founder, owner, and designer of Only Hearts, does as much work as you’d expect from a woman who has led a company for almost 40 years. Every hour is filled with effortless flitting between fabric choices, retail delivery dates, cost and margin management, color development and more. There is no visible anxiety or stressed-out vibes here. Helena does it all, and makes it look easy.
I’ve been in the lingerie for around five years now; it’s not long in the grand scheme of things, but it means that I have seen A LOT of lingerie. As time’s gone by, I’ve found myself getting less and less excited by contemporary design. Capitalism demands that garments ultimately sell, so designers naturally face certain limitations in the materials, patterns and embellishments that they can use. It’s just the […]
