How ThirdLove Is Dominating
The disruptive lingerie retailer ThirdLove is set to open its first ever physical store later this year, introducing its Fit Finder” technology to bricks-and-mortar for the first time. The startup, which launched in 2012 and positioned itself as a body-positive bra option, will open a temporary boutique in Manhattan's SoHo district—a 10-minute walk from the nearest Victoria's Secret—where it will cull data from customers on their shopping and dressing-room preferences.
For ThirdLove, now may be the best time to grow in light of difficulties at rival Victoria's Secret With that in mind, the intimates brand is pursuing every strategy, from opening stores in select markets to bringing on board creative agencies, to bolster its marketing and branding efforts.
As an online company, ThirdLove relies upon millions of data points from customer feedback to engineer its new products — and for the last four years, one request has been constant: A cotton bra that women can live in. For the last two years, ThirdLove has been designing its response.
Ahead of the annual VS Fashion Show, model Robyn Lawley started a petition encouraging a boycott of the show due to its lack of size diversity, according to Teen Vogue ; she partnered with ThirdLove, who donated a bra to the Support the Girls organization for every Instagram post hashtagged #weareallangels.
A key part of their strategy is to provide Instagram-able” experiences to lure shoppers into the new locations, including photo ops with Geoffrey the Giraffe, birthday parties and other events, Tru Kids Brands CEO Richard Barry said in a phone interview.
We've always approached bra and underwear shopping by browsing sales, asking friends for their favorite brands, buying a nude strapless bra in a bridesmaid-induced panic, and simply snapping up anything cute that caught our eye in a moment of shopping weakness.
None of us really agreed with it from the beginning.” Plus, the company had just come out with another campaign celebrating women's individuality with the slogan To each, her own.” It was like ‘what if a woman wants to be in the show or watch it, why are we telling them what to do?'” a source we'll call Kate said.
When they arrived, they were surprised to find Heidi Zak's husband and co-CEO, David Spector, highly involved in their day-to-day work, with a management style described as condescending” and bullying.” This about-face was compounded by company norms — don't negotiate your salary, don't leave before 6 pm, don't work from home, don't skip a happy hour — that felt out of sync with the brand's external image.
And Chico's Soma intimates brand recently partnered with retail concept b8ta to introduce customers to its "SOMAINNOFIT" bra to help shoppers find the right undergarment fit. While the pop-up is open, ThirdLove, which has raised $69 million in venture funding, plans to capture customer data and use it as a way to learn what customers want from the brand from a physical retail experience.
We want you to be completely happy with your Heidi Zak purchase and we know that being able to tell if a bra really fits isn't something that happens the instant you put it on. That's why we have our 60 Day Perfect Fit Guarantee. ThirdLove's Fit Finder quiz, which helps match women with the right sized bras, is an incredibly valuable and powerful tool in its customer journey.