How A Lingerie Store Picks Bras
We’re busy preparing our orders for next winter, and it occurred to me that before working at Broad, I never would have known what went into this process. In case you’re curious too, here’s how a lingerie store picks bras.
Rules
A re-enactment of actual events. (Yes, this is Sam’s thinking face.)
Lingerie is split into two groups: basic, and fashion. “Basic” refers to core, permanent pieces of a brand’s collection. These are styles and colours — usually black and beige — that they’re making all the time. “Fashion” refers to lingerie that’s made in a limited quantity, for a limited time. (Just how limited depends on the company.) Fashion lingerie can be a completely new style, or a basic style in a fun new colour. Because basic styles are always in production, we can order them any time. But fashion orders require a lot more planning! Brands base their fashion production on retailer orders, so we’re often ordering eight months in advance.
Brands also divide their pieces by season: fall/winter and spring/summer. This impacts what we have access to at any point in the year. For example, even if we really wanted to stock it, we’re unlikely to find a pale pink floral in a brand’s fall/winter collection.
Research
We flip through catalogues, meet with brand reps, and — the best part — see samples! This gives us a feel for the fabrics and colours, and because Sam and I are close enough to the usual sample sizes, we also get to check the fit.
Remember flipping through the Sears holiday catalogue as a kid, circling everything you wanted? Yeah, that’s what we do for work.
If we’re interested in ordering a basic style we haven’t stocked before, or a repeated* fashion style that we didn’t try in earlier seasons, online reviews are a huge help. Sam also has a group of other lingerie professionals she can turn to for advice and feedback.
Another important part of our research is you, our customers! We talk a lot about what you ask for in fittings, and we keep an ongoing “customer requests” file to stay on top of what you’d like to see at Broad.
Reality check
This is where budget comes in. We keep tabs on our top selling sizes, and we order more of those and fewer of the sizes that tend to linger. We also pay attention to what winds up on the sale rack. To stay in business, we have to sell most of our stock at full price. If a certain type of bra only sells at a discount, we won’t order it again. Because retailer orders help determine brand production quantities, that can eventually lead to a brand discontinuing the style. This is one time where “voting with your dollar” is real! If you don’t buy it at full price, we won’t buy it. If we don’t buy it, they may stop making it.
We also try to pick things to suit a range of sizes and tastes, so Sam makes awesome colour-coded charts to be sure we’re not overweighting any one category. For example, ordering a billion t-shirt bras, or ordering a bunch of 30 bands and not enough 40s, or too many blue bras. There’s a lot to consider when we’re choosing bras for the store. It’s hard work and it’s exciting! But the best part? Seeing those carefully-picked pieces find their people.
*If a fashion style is very popular, a brand may repeat it in following seasons in a different colour or print. Sounds like a basic style, right? Even though it’s being repeated, it’s still a fashion piece because it’s made in limited quantities, for a limited time.
