Gill Fernandez

Your Lingerie Business Needs YOU

July 23, 2009 by Gill Fernandez

This could be a moment for some sombre thoughts.

In the last few weeks in the UK a number of small to medium size wholesale lingerie businesses have bit the dust and no doubt many retailers are hanging on by their finger tips if they have so far survived this recession.

This week news broke that Intimas, the company behind brands such as Charnos and Lepel among others, has gone into administration with 200 jobs threatened here in the UK.

Now for those who don’t follow this sort of stuff – administration means that the company could still survive. A specialist firm or firms will have moved in to see if or how they can save the business. But if a big company such as Intimas does follow some of the earlier victims of the recession then the longer term impact on the lingerie buying public cannot be ignored.

Some might say that the lingerie industry is over crowded with far too many designers, manufacturers and retailers, especially after the last few years when so many new brands and companies have emerged. However, as you might expect, I am not one of those people!

The volume and diversity of our lingerie businesses results in wonderful choice for those who buy lingerie. As businesses go under and products disappear choice will decrease and while in the very long term new businesses will spring up and give you choice again, it may be your favourite brand, designer or shop that has gone for ever.

So the money may be tight but this a call to all you lingerie lovers to support your favourite brand, designer or shop where ever you are and who ever they are. This is not a plea specific to our lingerie shop which is still growing nicely, and long may it continue to do so, despite the recession. But it is a plea on behalf of the lingerie industry as a whole. If you want to have choice and diversity in lingerie then spend a little money on it now – after all there are some great offers about.

More TLP reads on the lingerie business and the recession:

Gill Fernandez of Ever So Sexy Gill Fernandez – Ever So Sexy
A background in finance and sales but a deep desire to do something more feminine brought Gill into the world of lingerie when she decided to form her own company Crysalis Ltd which trades on line under the name www.ever-so-sexy.com and specialises in the glamorous, pretty and down right sexy stuff..

Read all posts by Gill Fernandez right here!

Confused with Lingerie Sizing? You may be!

May 14, 2008 by Gill Fernandez

Getting the size right when buying lingerie can be a major issue whether you are buying lingerie for yourself or as a gift for someone else.

On the high street shoppers mostly buy off the rack with a glance at the sizing label before they head to the check out. Online is really no different except that there is often more sizing information available if the customer wants to read it.

Here at www.ever-so-sexy.com we give comprehensive sizing information to avoid the need to return items. Even so we do still receive a few returns for the reason of wrong size, so we are in the process of reviewing all our sizing information to make it easier for our customers to access and understand.

It is nearly two years since we last reviewed our sizing guides and I was relieved to find that it is still all valid. But I had forgotten just how confusing the different sizing methods can be.

The US and UK use a similar system based on imperial measurements (inches) and US inch and an UK inch is exactly the same but the systems diverge when they get to the bigger cup sizes. Europe has a standard system based on the metric system, except for France who still use metric but different numbers and Italy who do their own 1,2,3 thing and in Australia they base bra sizes on dress sizes. Confused? You would be forgiven for being completely befuddled.

If you then add in the factor that certain styles and manufacturers cut on the small side then you realise just how hit or miss the whole business of lingerie sizing can be.

So what to do?

We in the industry have a responsibility to supply as much information in a clear and understandable way to our customers as is possible. But customers have a responsibility too, which goes beyond reading the information we provide.

We did a poll here at www.ever-so-sexy.com to check just how many of us really know our size. Armed with a tape measure we stalked the office and stores asking our team to tell us their size and then challenged them to a check with the tape measure. 20% of us gave the wrong size information and I wonder just how well our customers know their size.

So customers – get that tape measure out and check. Here’s how to be sure you know your real bra size:

With a tape measure take the measurement of your rib cage just below the bra band. Then add five inches to that measurement to get the band width. For instance if your rib cage measures 29 inches + 5 inches gives you a UK/USA bra size 34 (75 Europe, 90 France, 2 Italy, 12 Australia) If the calculation results in an odd number then round it up by one. Now for the cup size; take the measurement again but this time measure the fullest part of the bust. The difference between this measurement and the band width gives you the bra cup size as follows:
1 inch = cup size A
2 inch = cup size B
3 inch = cup size C
4 inch = cup size D
5 inch = cup size DD (USA E or DD. Italy DD, Australia DD. Europe E)
6 inch = cup size E (USA F or DDD. Italy E. Australia E. Europe F)
7 inch = cup size F (USA G. Australia G)

Starting off with the right size information will definitely avoid disappointment and the need to return a purchase whether it was bought on the high street or online.

Read all posts by Gill Fernandez right here!

Summer is Coming!

April 2, 2008 by Gill Fernandez

In England it is hard to believe that summer is not so far away as it is still cold and wet and only the other morning I had to scrape ice off the car windscreen before coming to work. But here at www.ever-so-sexy.com we know for sure that the warmer weather really will be here soon because our new stock of Brazilian bikinis are on the way to us now.

We stock Mar Egeu Brazilian bikinis which are both flattering and practical. They are genuinely Brazilian and I am watching them now, via FedEx tracking, making the long journey from Brazil to the UK.

Call me a sad nerd, but I get a strange kind of pleasure watching as each leg of the journey is completed. On the 28th the bikinis left Mar Egeu and travelled to Campinas in Brazil before flying up to Memphis in the US and then on to Newark, again in the States, before taking the big flight over the Atlantic to land in Stanstead in the UK today (31st March). Now I can expect a delay as the bikinis have to clear UK customs before they can be transferred to a UK courier but I know that within a matter of days we will be opening the parcel of 2008 bikinis – and then all we need is the sun.

Read all posts by Gill Fernandez right here!

In Favour of Online Lingerie Shopping

March 22, 2008 by Gill Fernandez

I hope my colleagues in the industry won’t mind me speaking out for online retailers as a group as I am going to use this contribution to TLP to argue in favour of online lingerie shopping.

I’ve been reading the forum contributions and found a number of comments that were mildly against online lingerie shopping. The arguments against were security, size/fitting, touch & feel.

At the risk of irritating some people I am going to say that I respect their right to hold those opinions, but they are still wrong and this is why:

Security – As long as you shop with a reputable online store and look for the little padlock in the URL bar when you enter the shopping cart and check out process then you are more secure than shopping off line. The majority of online fraud is actually against the retailer not the shopper and if the shopper uses a credit card they have the protection of the credit card company behind them and will get their money back if money is wrongly taken. It is a fact that you are less safe using your card on the high street and at a cash point machine than you are shopping online in the privacy of your own home.

Size and fitting. If you know your correct size 99% of on line purchases will fit. A professional store will have sizing information and some form of help facility to check with. For the 1% of items that don’t fit you can take advantage of your statutory rights to return the goods for an exchange or full refund.

Touch & feel. I’ve heard this argument against all sorts of online buying. It is an understandable but frankly irrational response. Ask yourself have you used the same argument against shopping from a paper catalogue and how often have you picked up a cellophane or even box wrapped bra, checked the size and headed for the shop check out. Reality is we mostly shop with our eyes and providing the images on a web site are good enough you have no need to either touch or feel.

There really is only one serious disadvantage with online shopping and it is this: If you shop in the high street you normally take your purchases home with you on the same day but with on line shopping you have to wait to receive your goods. This single disadvantage is happily outweighed by the many advantages, which include:

Convenience – you can shop at any time and anywhere. The world is your high street.

Choice – there is a vast array of lingerie out there with many designs and manufacturers represented in the online stores. It would be impossible for a high street store to carry all these lines and no high street could accommodate enough stores to give the shopper the choice available on the internet.

Privacy – undies are an intimate item and it is good to be able to browse and buy from the privacy and comfort of your own home.

I hope that I have convinced those TLP readers that are reluctant to buy online to give it a try.

Read all posts by Gill Fernandez right here!

Ever So Sexy’s Valentine’s Day Diary

February 26, 2008 by Gill Fernandez

Just 11 days to Valentines Day. This is one of our busiest times of the year and so I need to be disciplined to make time to write my contribution to TLP. I decided the best thing would be to write a mini diary… so here goes.

Sunday 3rd February and the building is quiet. I am the only one here at the moment, although I expect Jen will be in later to catch up on the accounts. I check the orders and find that we have some customers hoping to order Diki by Diane Rubach made-to-measure lingerie. A problem this, as the normal lead time is 14 days and they want their items for Valentines Day which is now just 10 working days away. I rattle off a quick email to Diane and, bless her! She comes back with a positive answer. Lucky customers!

I then check through the contact messages from the site and find one that is very interesting. It is an invitation from a distributor to check out a lingerie brand that I had not heard of. We get a regular flow of distributors and manufacturers contacting us to sell their product and a lot of the time the product is just not right for us but this time is different! I browse their website with increasing excitement. It’s not a big range but it is very suitable for Ever-so-Sexy. I check out their current outlets and find that they are not heavily into the UK. Now I am really excited! I am not going to tell you the name of this lingerie brand now as I think we may very well add them to our site… so watch this space! [Read more…] about Ever So Sexy’s Valentine’s Day Diary