Lingerie awards

The 2010 Undie Awards

April 17, 2010 by Mandolina

Consumers looking to weigh in on their favorite underwear, shapewear and/or lingerie need look no further than this year’s Undie Awards. Beginning today through April 30, women and men of all shapes and sizes can anonymously cast their ballot for their favorite underwear by type, brand and style by visiting TheUndies.com.

There, voters will be asked to “let (their) own body type do the voting” by entering their age range and height and then characterizing their body type, based on – (for the women) – bra and panty sizes as well as bust, tummy and bottom type OR – (for the men) – chest, waist and leg type as well as waist size.

The site features drop-down menus which enable voters to quickly select their favorite underwear brand and style. Voters also have the option of writing-in their favorite underwear, if it’s not otherwise listed as an option.

Categories folks can vote on include: Favorite Average Bra, Favorite Full-Figure Bra and Favorite Panty for the ladies and Favorite Woven Boxer, Favorite Knit Boxer and Favorite T-Shirt for the men.

Now in their fourth year, the Undies are designed to celebrate all things lingerie, while also educating voters on how to best pick out underwear that is right for them. The Undies cover (among other things): bras, panties, thongs, G-strings and shapewear as well as boxers, briefs, t-shirts and men’s underwear. Next year’s awards will include women’s swimwear and men’s swimwear as additional categories.

“Participating in the Undie Awards provides women and men with real peer-to-peer information they can use to select the right fit and style, in tops and bottoms,” said Tomima Edmark, lingerie & undergarment expert. “What’s more, the awards introduce voters to brands they might be unfamiliar with, especially via the ‘select’ winner categories, which are determined by our staff as a way of highlighting smaller brands.”

Over a one-month period, voters can cast their ballots in this year’s awards. Winners will be announced in May via the awards’ website, www.theundies.com.

No purchase is necessary to participate in the awards (though voters do get an electronic coupon worth 10% off their next order at HerRoom.com or HisRoom.com!)

Ultimo Founder Makes Queen’s New Year Honors List

January 5, 2010 by Bruna

Michelle Mone, founder of Ultimo Lingerie, is among the list of lucky people to be included in Queen Elizabeth II’s 2009 New Year Honors list. She was named as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, or OBE, which is the fourth best rank in the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, an order of chivalry.

Michelle Mone with English celeb Jordan. Photo via Daily Record.

Mone was named an OBE for her services to businesses in the lingerie industry. “I’m absolutely thrilled, honored and delighted,” she told the Daily Record. “When I left school at 15 years old, I would never have dreamed that I would be recognized this way.”

Visit the Daily Record to check out a video of Mone discussing her reaction to the news!

TLP Favorite Boudiche wins Lingerie Retailer of the Year at Drapers Awards

December 7, 2009 by Press Release

Scottish Independent retailer Boudiche were awarded ‘Lingerie Retailer of the Year’ at the prestigious Drapers Awards in London on Wednesday 18th November. It was the Boudiche Glasgow boutique that this year was awarded with the prestigious lingerie title, the Edinburgh boutique having won in 2007.

Boudiche, a Scottish independent start up launched in 2005 with help from the Princes Scottish Youth Business Trust (PSYBT), were among 8 retailers shortlisted for the title, including Harrods, Debenhams, and Figleaves.com to win the respected award. Previous title holders include Marks and Spencer and La Senza.

Designer lingerie specialists Boudiche stock over 40 local Scottish home grown and international brands including La Perla, Mimi Holliday, Freya and Elle Macpherson Intimates from both of their Scottish boutiques and online boutique www.boudiche.com which has just been shortlisted for the Drapers Etail Awards in the Best Independent Etailer category.

Founders Clare Thommen and Fiona McLean were down in London to collect the award and were ecstatic to have won.

“Being up against Harrods who have the most respected lingerie department in the UK and probably worldwide, we never thought as a young independent from Scotland we would actually win! It’s a huge credit to our team who have worked so hard to create what we have with Boudiche, and they should all be very proud. It’s a massive achievement for us all.”

Other Drapers 2009 winners include ASOS for E Tailer of the Year, H&M for Marketing Initiative of the year with their Matthew Williamson collaboration and Topshop BYC for Best New Store. Founder of New Look, Tom Singh received the Lifetime Achievement award.

Jacqueline Sava, Soak Founder, Honored

November 25, 2009 by Krista

The Organization of Women in International Trade, an international group with chapters across the US, Canada and around the world, hosted its annual awards gala for the Toronto Chapter on November 4^th. Jacqueline Sava, founder of Soak Wash Inc. was one of three women presented with awards that night. Sava was recognized with the Women Exporter of the Year Award for her work at Soak Wash Inc.

“We would like to thank all of our international retailers, vendors and friends. We would not be where we are today, distributing Soak internationally, if it weren’t for your support. We look forward to continuing our growth and expansion in the lingerie industry and beyond. Through our products and brand, we not only present Soak Wash Inc. to the international scene, but also the contributions of the many other women led organizations with whom we collaborate.” says Sava. “We are grateful that the lingerie industry has embraced our products with such passion and enthusiasm since our launch a few short years ago. “

Earlier this year Sava also received an Entrepreneur of the Year Award, from the Toronto Business Development Centre.

Consumers can purchase Soak Wash at retailers worldwide. Industry insiders, watch for new products launching early 2010 at Curve NY and LV.

If you would like to be part of the Award Winning Soak team, as a sales representative or international distributor, please contact us. Jacqueline@soakwash.com

Triumph Reveals Inspiration Award Winners

September 25, 2009 by Bruna

Swank-and-Nolan — Actress Hilary Swank with Winner James Nolan

As part of Triumph’s 2009 Inspiration Award, several international fashion design students presented their designs at a special catwalk show that kicked off this season’s Milan Fashion Week. Students from 28 countries and regions around the world participated in the contest, which required them to design pieces with creative interpretations of this year’s award motto: “Icons.”

James Nolan, a 20-year-old from Great Britain, walked away with the first place prize for his “Odette and Odile” icon piece. He won Euro 15,000 and a career-boosting limited edition of the winning piece. Nolan’s piece will be adapted and interpreted by Triumph’s design team, leading to a series production of the set, which will be sold at certain Triumph stores worldwide next year.

Coming in second place and winning the Euro 10,000 prize was Australian Katinka Poole’s “Harbour Mirage” design, which drew inspiration from the Sydney Opera House. Shani Elkin from Israel won the third place prize of Euro 5,000 with her “Jerusalem” design.

The jury—which included Academy Award winning actress Hilary Swank; editor-in-chief of Vogue Italy Franca Sozzani; Honk Kong’s international model Qi Qi; fashion photographer Giovanni Gastel; co-founder and creative director of fashion label Miss Sixty Wichy Hassan; and head of global sales and marketing at Triumph, Jan Rosenberg—judged all the entries based on the same criteria: innovation and creativity in interpreting the design motto, individuality, concept, aesthetics, quality in design and execution, and presentation.

“Success is the result of talent and hard work. I am thrilled to see how both come together in these passionate pieces by young fashion design students—they truly deserve a stage such as the Triumph Inspiration Award,” said Hilary Swank.

See the winning pieces below and what each designer had to say about their show-pieces.

Icon: Odette and Odile

1st Place Winner: James Nolan

“My main influence was the 1800’s crinoline. Body distortion fascinated me and it was my objective to make this dark subject beautiful. My icons needed to represent my ideas of manipulation, distortion and metamorphosis and the story of Swan Lake is perfect. The dance tells the tale of love and magic where a princess is turned into a swan by an evil magician.”

Icon: Sydney Opera House

2nd Place Winner: Katinka Poole

“Harbour Mirage offers a fresh interpretation of the groundbreaking design of Sydney’s iconic Opera House—an iconic architectural design that plays a key role in forming one of the most unique and dramatic city skylines in the world. It playfully strikes a balance between the bold and the sensual, iconic and glamorous and the audacious and seductive.”

Icon: Jerusalem

3rd Place Winner: Shani Elkin

“My lingerie is inspired by Jerusalem, a holy city for all religions and believers. This vision of common life is expressed by a unique calligraphy print of the letters in Hebrew and Arabic, dancing together as one.”

The Triumph Inspiration Award was founded in 2008 as a global design competition which challenges students from prestigious international design schools to create a conceptual show-piece set using an underwired bra and brief.

To see all participating designs, visit the Award website here.