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When you think of lingerie, you think of The Lingerist. This platform provides the cutest lingerie in every style and for every size. But that’s not everything to love about them. Indeed, there’s much more. Such as their view on sustainability, their transparency and inclusivity. This blog post is based on an interview with Jules, the founder of The Lingerist.
Let me introduce you to The Lingerist!
What does The Lingerist stand for?
The Lingerist curates affordable ethical and sustainable lingerie brands that make you look and feel beautiful. For The Lingerist it’s extremely important to show full transparency on the website. They are currently working with their brands to make videos that show how their lingerie is made.
Besides that, by the end of 2020 they’ll be fully user generated. This means that all photos you will see on their website are real women!
The reason Jules started The Lingerist
Jules says: “I have been a lingerie nerd since I can remember. When I came to Amsterdam to study Fashion Management at AMFI, I started to experience working in lingerie during various side jobs and internships.” After she’d graduated, she wanted to work in a big corporation and found a job at Adidas. But soon, she knew that she wanted to return to her passion. She wanted live out the entrepreneurial side inside of her. “Facing new challenges is what gives me energy. For me having my own company was the only way I could imagine my career. And what better way is there than to make your passion your job?” With this energy and passion she was able to pursue her dream and set up The Lingerist in 2019.
Let’s talk a little bit about sustainability
As My slow world is only about sustainable and ethical fashion, sustainability is something I value highly. Therefore I asked Jules what it means to her.
“Sustainability for me means living in a way that does not hurt the environment, animals or people, but preserves, even nurtures it. I find sustainability very exciting, because it requires us to think in new ways and learn about the impact of our consumption.”
So how does this translate into choosing brands for The Lingerist?
Jules explains: “When selecting brands we look at three aspects: production, design and price.” All lingerie at The Lingerist is carefully selected by a small team. Every brand has a different story. For The Lingerist it’s important to see how they care for people and the environment, as that’s something they truly value.
Sustainability has different meanings, but for fashion it’s very important to look at the materials. However, lingerie fabrics will rarely be as sustainable as mono-material fabrics of other garments. This is due to the fact that lingerie needs to be stretchy. Sadly, as soon as there’s elastane or nylon in a fabric, it cannot be recycled (mechanically or chemically), only downcycled. That being said, it is important to to choose lingerie brands that use sustainable materials besides the elastane. These are fabrics such as recycled polyester, organic cotton or modal.
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Besides that, diversity is extremely important for The Lingerist. To start, diversity in size is critical for lingerie. Every body is different and everyone has their own needs. For a small start-up company, it’s hard to directly invest in a huge size range. However, The Lingerist is already now growing their size range to include more and more sizes. As with every starting company this is a slow process because you need to invest heavily into inventory.
Also, diversity on the website and social media is also very important. As said before, every body is different, as well as everybody’s different. So the visuals need to be inclusive too. Earlier this year The Lingerist started the “home modelling initiative”, where REAL women receive several lingerie sets and photograph themselves at home. These images are so empowering, therefore they decided to get this through site wide. The majority of images on The Lingerist are user generated. This is truly authentic and it shows the diverse beauty of women.
Lastly, when choosing brands for The Lingerist, design is obviously very important. That’s is what customers fall in love with. But also an attractive price point. Jules explains: “We want to remain affordable. This means to sell lingerie at set prices from 60€ to maximum 150€. That’s not too far from stores like Hunkemoller etc. where sets also cost between 60-70€. It is our mission to provide a stage to our sustainable brands – make them more known. This is only possible if the price points have a mass-market appeal. We also want to show that buying sustainable fashion does not have to break your bank.”
Which brands can you find on The Lingerist?
On The Lingerist you’ll find a combination of smaller brands. So everyone can find a style, fit and brand that they like.
One of the brands I really like is Else. Else Lingerie was launched in Istanbul in 2008 by Ela Onur who grew up among artisans and designers of her family’s lingerie business. Else’s team are experts in bra fitting and sizing. Their designs are known to be beautiful, comfortable and supportive for every size. The coolest thing is, that their production process is fully transparent, as they have an in-house production on top of their office. Every piece is beautifully crafted by a small team.
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Jules’ tip to consume more ethically
“Pay twice as much and buy half as many.” as David J. Schwartz said in his book The Magic of Thinking Big. By consuming products of high quality, they not only look better, but will also last you longer. Therefore you’ll have a lower impact on our environment.
Taking good care of your clothes also helps to keep them beautiful longer. Don’t wash your clothes too often, rather hang them out to get fresh. And when washing, use soft and sustainable detergent.
“I like buying from smaller brands, because you not only buy a product. You buy a story with it, which feels great,” tells Jules. “On top of that you know that the designer or entrepreneur will make a little happy dance to have a new customer. That’s always a great feeling!”
And she’s definitely right here. When you buy from a small brand/designer, you make an actual person happy. Instead of supporting a huge corporation who won’t even notice you, nor your purchase.
Lastly Jules says: “I am also a huge fan of vintage clothing. Reusing products is the best way to lower our ecological footprint. This obviously is not an option for underwear.”
However, we now know you can shop sustainable and ethical underwear over at The Lingerist.
