The Brief Facts of the Underwear and Lingerie Reshaping

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.