Insights into the underwear branch..

What do we see when we look at our branch.. Is there a lot of competition? Is there just one target group or is this widely segmented? How is demand created? How do brands differentiate?

Underwear seems something really basic, we all (in general) wear underwear day in day out. So there must be a big market for it. According to Reportlinker the global underwear industry is estimated to be worth over 30 billion dollars of which bra’s represent 50%. They also say that in the US Men’s underwear was the “top growing US apparel category” with 11% (in 2009) as well as that the total underwear market in Great Britain is worth 2.57 and still growing (2009). Another market research firm ‘Ystats’ concludes that from 2004 till 2010 the Women’s underwear market even grew by one third! Another interesting things is that they state that France is the country that spends the most on their hidden treasures, followed by Germany and Great Britain. Even though the market size of underwear shows to be huge, I cannot come up with that many underwear brands. Does this mean that I just stick with the brands I usually buy, instead of browsing around and see what the market has to offer? Most of my undies come from H&M and Hunkemöller.. H&M we all know, a retail chain that sells everything a body can wear. And the other is a Dutch specialty underwear retailer, the most known chain for ladies underwear in the Netherlands (I think Benelux even). Or are there just not that many shops to choose from? 

For something everyone wears every day, there is not that many specialized shops, I would say. Where do we buy our underwear? It seems like every country or region has its own chains, so far (My own findings) it seems like the côte d’Azur has Undiz and Intimissimi as the specialized shops and for the expensive brands we need to go to a department store, where we can find small collections of the more exclusive brands. Probably for those brands, it is not profitable enough to keep a whole store running. What is left is the apparel retail chains that offer underwear just as a category of their assortment, take H&M and Calvin Klein. 

Some online search brings me a top ten (mostfamous and sexiest) lingerie brands of which 7 of them I have never heard! While checking the top 10 of fashion (apparel) brands, 8 are well known for me and of at least 4 of them I own some clothing. Does this mean we don’t like to spend that much time and money on the pieces of clothes we don’t show to the world? Some Google searching brings me to two really different outcomes. First the Daily Mail tells me that woman have around €980,- average worth of underwear in their closets, spending €530,- a year on it while men have a pile of knickers worth of €320,- an average. Men having 13 boxer shorts of which 3 are of high quality (how that pile of 13 shorts could be worth €320,- is a mystery to me..) and woman around 40 of which 30 are ‘special’ and the rest daily panties. On the other hand, I bump into a forum where a lady asks others how much they spend on their underwear. Those ladies are apparently all mommies and don’t have ‘time’ or ‘reasons’ to wear any sexy underwear. They just get their 6-pack for €7,- at the local Hypermarket. Granny panties is what they call it themselves (and damn proud of it!?)

Because we all where underwear and because we all have another spending pattern, it is quite hard to give numbers that are useful. It seems an average doesn't say much.. it means that some woman spend €1000,- a year and go shopping for undies every month, and other just grab a multipack of whites in clearance while shopping for daily groceries, spending not more than €10, a year. So the Underwear industry is largely segmented. Not only do we all have our special wishes and needs there are also special occasions.. In the following post we will elaborate on competition, differentiation and associations. In the mean time we will pick up on some of the big brands in underwear land, who are they and what do they sell. Just like we already introduced La Perla. We will end this blog in December with a general overview and a small comparison of the different brands. 

Amanda van den Hoven