Initially started in 2007, Brook There is an organic lingerie brand established and helmed today by Brook DeLorme and Daniel Pepice, who share duties of design and production management, and marketing and business development respectively. The company launched as a minimal, sustainable womenswear range, yet slowly evolved to include lingerie, which has become its main focus since 2012. From design to the final product, everything is proudly made in the USA – their base fabric is an organic cotton jersey, GOTS-certified, and milled in South Carolina; then everything is cut and sewn in New England, with the bulk of production occurring in Fall River, Massachusetts. We sat down with DeLorme to discuss the lingerie industry, marketing her products and future plans.
What is your background and what were you doing before Brook There?
I started sewing clothing when I was twelve, so from a young age I knew that I was fascinated with clothing design and construction. I went to art school, and studied sculpture and photography. I used those as mediums to explore fashion and clothing. I also worked for most of my twenties in a family-owned technology business, which taught me a lot about business in a more general sense.
How did you shift from a complete womenswear brand to exclusively underwear?
When I launched Brook There, the brand was focused on organic cotton clothing made in the USA. Some years into that project, I added a small collection of underwear and wireless bras – primarily because organic cotton undies and wireless bras were the sort of thing I was always looking for, and couldn’t find to my liking.
The undies and bras were immediately popular with customers, and so in 2012 we rebranded to focus on lingerie.
Is there a void within the industry that Brook There aspires to fill?
Sizing gets more complicated the closer-fitting a garment is intended to be. Despite that fact that we make wireless bra styles, we still offer a range of band and cup sizes- between 7 and 9 sizes, depending on the style. We’ve found this to be a differentiator from many other brands working in the space, where a typical size range for wireless bras is 4 sizes (XS-L). Additionally, lingerie styles really shouldn’t change shape from season to season – or the changes should be subtle and not change the fit of the garments. Women enjoy being able to buy the exact same fit of bikini-cut underwear year over year – just add new colors. Lingerie construction is fairly complicated and specialized – it took years to really perfect the fit and construction of our core styles, and we are still making subtle tweaks. As far as the industry and market goes, we have worked to develop a sustainable model there as well. While we produce seasonal collections twice a year, we only sell in-season (i.e. retailers can’t pre-order six months ahead of time.) The world of tradeshows doesn’t vibe with the brand. Our focus is on selling well online to the end customer.
What has been the most effective channel for marketing your products? Does offline marketing work in your case?
It’s been a slow-build. The most effective channel for us is email marketing. We do very little offline marketing. Having sufficient inventory at all times is the most important business objective we have undertaken.
Could you please discuss your size range? Are you interested in targeting the plus-size market, as well?
Our size and styles are designed for the contemporary market. Our size chart and sizing directions are available here: www.brookthere.com/sizing. Because we focus on lightly structured and wireless bras, our most popular size is a 34A or 34B. We do offer C/D cup sizes, and they sell well. Generally, it’s best for small brands to carefully target markets that they understand well. I use myself as a fit model, since I usually wear a medium in brands that we want to be associated with. It would be a huge leap and very expensive for us to enter the plus-size market: entirely new pattern development (it does not work to just grade up the patterns from a standard size range), testing, additional fit models and new marketing. Thus, it is not something we are considering at this point in time.
What to you is the most important aspect of creating a garment, and why?
There are multiple reasons a designer might create a new garment. Some styles are designed to be fashion-pieces, produced in small volume and a limited size range for a limited time. In this case, the most important aspect would be the creative design and timely expression of the zeitgeist. Other styles are intended to be the base of a brand’s product pyramid – shapes that will be produced consistently, year over year for a decade or more. The focus with styles like this is fit, comfort, quality, and durability. In production, these styles should be optimized for efficiency and profit because these are styles will be produced at 50x, 100x, 1000x the fashion-top-of-pyramid items.
Offering a strong and quality product is important, but what other elements should a lingerie designer establish to be noticed?
We’ve seen a lot of brands in this space come and go over the past ten years. They might have a gorgeous product and amazing marketing – but they haven’t built the core aspects of having a successful business. Businesses are built on: 1. product; 2. production; 3. inventory; 4. sales channels; 5. marketing; 6. distribution; 7. customer service. And of course, growing at the right speed and having the capital to support that growth.
Where do you see the lingerie industry going in the next years? What would be the main trends dominating?
We definitely see the industry moving away from the bubble-breast-mall-aesthetic to a more natural shape. Women are of course becoming more aware of the ethics of clothing production and the ethics of fabric production.
What are your future plans?
Steady growth. Every year we add a whole slew of new colors and a few new special styles.
www.brookthere.com
Images © Brook There