Best bras? What selling a bra looks like in 2024 | Vogue Business

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Last week’s Victoria’s Secret show was a celebration of pushed-up boobs, à la the brand’s mid-2000s heyday. Is the bra with a capital B back?

Not so fast. Post-pandemic, proper bras aren’t what consumers are looking for — not exclusively. As has been well reported, women and people with breasts are keen on comfort and fit, as well as looking good. Some are off of bras completely. That’s the landscape as evidenced by a 300-consumer survey for The Cut, which found that 23.6 per cent of consumers wear wireless styes more often than before, 20.9 per cent are more likely to go braless, 25.9 per cent of respondents said they never wear a bra with an underwire, and 15.6 per cent said they relegate underwired bras to a few wears a month. Almost 80 per cent of respondents said they never wear push-up bras.

It’s not just about a pandemic-induced aversion to constrictive brassieres. Cultural attitudes have changed, too, as brands and consumers have redefined what constitutes ‘sexy’. Maybe it’s a nipple peeking through sheer fabric (luxury certainly thinks so). Maybe it’s a beautifully tailored, ergonomically fitting piece with a simple, comfortable bra underneath. “The main shift has been that women are no longer interested in hot pink, lacy sexy lingerie,” says Rose Colcord, who launched intimates brand Cou Cou with the belief that bras were done for good, before later adding three styles to its line-up. “Women are prioritising their comfort in themselves and their daily experience over being performatively sexy,” she says.

This shift to a more nuanced and varied understanding of what is sexy has impacted consumer buying habits.

“What we’re seeing is a fascinating oscillation in consumer preferences,” says Kristen Classi-Zummo, apparel industry analyst at Circana. “The pandemic accelerated an existing comfort revolution, with wireless bralettes and sports bras becoming the new norm. Post-lockdown, we witnessed a swing towards glamour, with wired and lacey styles making a comeback. Now, we’re landing at an innovative sweet spot — consumers want the comfort they grew accustomed to, but enhanced with smart features and thoughtful design. It’s no longer a choice between feeling good and looking good — modern consumers demand both.”

Cou Cou’s The Triangle bra.

In 2023, US bra sales reached $9.2 billion, per consumer behaviour market research firm Circana. Though they were down 4 per cent versus 2022, the market is still up 8 per cent compared to four years ago. Year to date (through to August 2024), sales are down 6 per cent compared to the same period last year, which can be credited to the more general impact of inflation and higher prices, says Classi-Zummo. “In 2021, consumers heavily replenished bras immediately following the pandemic, and they didn’t need to buy them the preceding few years.” Now, she says, consumers may well need to replenish their bras — but fewer are shelling out due to financial strain.

“Customers today care so much about comfort and quality that they need to have more of a product conversation than they did in [VS’s] earlier peaks, where it was all about selling hope, not help,” Chantal Fernandez, who wrote The Cut report and co-authored Selling Sexy: Victoria’s Secret and the Unravelling of an American Icon, told Vogue Business ahead of the show. “Talking about how a bra fits was unsexy. Now, I think it’s a really important part of the consumer’s mindset when they shop for bras.”

Cou Cou’s Colcord did start working on the brand’s balconette and triangle bras early on (both of which are sans underwire), after clocking consumers’ evolved preferences. But they took time to get right: the comfort, fit and look had to be perfect, striking the balance consumers now call for.

The desire for comfortable (yet chic) bras is where the wider market is falling short, says Sarah Shapiro, retail strategist (who previously worked at Bloomingdale’s) and author of Substack Sarah’s Retail Diary. Many readers in her chat have asked about bra brands, particularly around the Victoria’s Secret show. “Rarely do people love their bras — especially underwire,” she says. (Only 16.5 per cent of The Cut respondents said they love their bras.) It has to do with bra fit, Shapiro says. “Finding the right fit is difficult and can take time if you aren’t working with someone who can look at the signs (straps slipping, back strap riding up, spilling out of a cup) and recommend a better fit.”

There is still demand for underwire — when the fit is right. Colcord had no intention of introducing underwired bras, she herself prefers those without. “But our customers just kept asking for an underwired option,” she says. Some wanted it for support for bigger breasts, others for the look. “The Teacup [Cou Cou’s cotton underwired offering] has now quickly become one of our highest demand pieces — it sold out immediately in summer and the next drop, coming in November, has a crazy number of sign-ups.”

The Great Eros is closing down after 8 years.

Cou Cou is part of a new crop of direct-to-consumer-led brands that have taken market share from the likes of Victoria’s Secret with their innovative approaches that primarily focus on the consumer. Led by brands like Thirdlove, Aerie and Natori, more niche offerings are grabbing consumers fed up with traditional lingerie’s lack of newness. Skims is making a similar case, just on a much larger scale.

Consumers are endeavouring to seek out the brands that offer this sweet spot between style and comfort. Earlier this year, Magasin’s Laura Reilly published a newsletter about building a ‘no-skips underwear drawer’. “Imagine opening that drawer and having a straightforward answer to every outfit, a no-skips playlist of underpinnings that are comfortable, flattering, well-fitting and right for the job,” she wrote. Bra highlights included Cuup, Thirdlove and Ysé Paris. Notably, some brands, like Wacoal and Else, had bras on both the keep/add and skip lists, showing just how hard it can be for consumers to find a reliable bra brand.

The gap isn’t between mass and luxury anymore, Classi-Zummo says; it’s between those that innovate and those that don’t. “Today’s consumer is remarkably savvy. They’ve learnt that luxury hand feel and smart design shouldn’t be reserved for premium price points,” she says, pointing to retailers like Target that are leaning into product and fabric development. “Consumers in 2024 expect their intimate apparel to work as hard as they do, offering advanced support technology, sustainable materials and inclusive sizing, regardless of price point.”

The sweet spot can be hard to nail, says Christina Viviani, who is shuttering her eight-year-old lingerie brand The Great Eros (prior to here, she founded lingerie brand Curriculum Vitae and consulted for Solid & Striped). “The term ‘luxury’ is often misused, prioritising marketing and celebrity endorsements over product quality,” she says. “But customers are disappointed and discerning, and recognise when a brand’s essence has been compromised.” This leaves room for space for fresh, innovative brands to emerge, she says — particularly those that leverage technology in construction and new points of view.

Calvin Klein collaborated with Nensi Dojaka on more minimal versions of her signature aesthetic for Spring/Summer 2025.

There’s ample room for investment in fit tech, experts agree. “Smart brands are investing in technical fabrications that deliver invisible support without compromising on comfort,” Classi-Zummo says. “We’re seeing exciting innovations in lightweight, breathable materials that can provide the structure of traditional underwired bras without the discomfort. The future isn’t just wireless or wired — it’s about engineering new solutions that bridge this gap.” Shapiro also flags the potential of AI to both improve fit and help consumers shopping online to find the right bra.

Shapewear is another bright spot, Classi-Zummo flags, driven (once again) by Skims. She also calls out Honeylove and Shapermint. “What’s fascinating is how these brands are leveraging their expertise in body sculpting to expand into the bra category,” she says. “[They’re] building on their customers’ trust. When a consumer loves how their shapewear makes them feel, they’re naturally drawn to that same brand’s bras.”

Though this sub-sect is booming, it’s not an easy market to thrive in, The Great Eros’s Viviani cautions. “Unfortunately, if there’s not enough power behind [indie brands], they can easily become a petri dish for trends and ideas to be watered down for the mass market,” she says. “There’s also a challenge balancing a target margin needed for wholesale/DTC and hitting minimums with factories to meet dying requirements for all components. Building good intimate pieces, bras in particular, is one of the most intricate, technical constructions to master.”

Shapiro wants to see more multi-brand bra offerings to amplify those who are producing quality bras and who cater to consumers that don’t already have established trust in any one brand. “I’m a fan of speciality retailers that nail fittings exceptionally well,” she says, referencing Rigby & Peller, Bare Necessities and Town Shop. “What I’d love to see next is for one of these to grow even more to be a household name and bring in more brands. We could all really benefit from a one-stop shop for some support and discovery on the best bra fits.”

There’s also room for brands to more explicitly cater to different life stages, and dedicate marketing, content and community-building to these, she adds — first bra, body changes during puberty, pregnancy, nursing and postpartum, breast cancer and masectomies, as well as body changes during perimenopause and menopause, among them. “[There’s] so much opportunity to show up and be there for the customer.”

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