It is a fact that like purses, women’s underwear is getting fuller whilst men’s
underwear gets briefer! Young women are finally seeing the light of day in
their lingerie collections and are now opting for comfort over trends. Thank
goodness because I have never quite understood how anyone I can’t
comprehend how thongs appealed to women as every-day panties anyhow. In my
opinion they are very uncomfortable. I think they were designed for the bedroom
and not in the board room! I find pretty full panties are far more feminine
and so much sexier.
I am intrigued how suspender belts have become a sex symbol. I
always thought of them as a
curse, an item to hold up my stockings. Now a days intimate lingerie has a really sexy, pretty suspender belt as
part of the set. A suspender belt together .with some unique jewelry makes an really sexy outfit for the bedroom.
Thongs
became the trend in the 90’s, but now less than 10% of the knickers and briefs purchased
are thongs, according to Soozie Jenkinson, head of lingerie design at Marks
& Spencer. The luxury lingerie market has also experienced a change where more
briefs are sold than thongs. Women, even young
women now prefer to wear full coverage briefs rather than thongs, demanding
comfort instead.
This demand for comfort has also crept into the bra market
where women are wanting
comfort up top as well. Non under-wired bras are now becoming the bra of
choice. According to Nancy Szachno-Dressel, the
lingerie buyer at department store John Lewis, non-wired bras now comprise 40% of
bra sales. This figure is up 32 %.
But interestingly enough, as women’s underwear gets bigger,
men’s underwear is getting briefer. Men’s briefs are having an effect on
reshaping the underwear market overall.
Boxers, a fitted short, now make up the majority share of the men’s
underwear on the market. Nearly 40% of men’s underwear sold are boxers as men become
much more focused on the style of underwear they want to wear. This has led to thriving
sales of men’s underwear.
Like women men are now driven by performance and luxury. Men now
demand their underwear to perform, first and foremost. Style comes second. Fit
and comfort is what it is all about for both lingerie for both men and women. After
comfort, style and sexiness are important.
Fit is probably a much more critical feature in underwear than with
other clothing lines.
There has been a huge growth in sales of underwear and
lingerie online. And it is continuing to grow with growth forecast to increase
by 18.2% in the 5 years from 2014 to 2019, according to market research firm
Research and Markets.
Because fit is so vital, online stores have had to offer complete
size indicators, delivery and customer care services. Buying underwear and
lingerie online is now seen by many as a great way to avoid the embarrassment
of having to go into a retail store to shop for intimates. The overall underwear and lingerie
market is worth billions of dollars each year, so I guess the online share of
this lucrative market can only increase.
