Bluebella

Bluebella is a British lingerie company founded in 2005 by Emily Bendell, with operations in the UK, US, Australia, France and Italy.

Bluebella
IndustryLingerie
Founded2005
FounderEmily Bendell
Headquarters
London
,
England
Key people
Emily Bendell
Websitehttp://www.bluebella.com

Early investors included James Averdieck, founder of Gü, the investor network Incito Ventures and the South East Seed Fund. Bluebella was the first company to get funds from the London-based female investor club Addidi Business Angels.[1]

The business experienced rapid growth – doubling turnover every 12 months from 2007 to 2010.[2]

History

Company founder Emily Bendell studied philosophy, politics and economics at Magdalen College, Oxford, and worked as a journalist on a legal journal for a few years, before founding Bluebella in 2015.[3][4]

Bendell road-tested her idea for six months, doing parties for friends and family members. She told Jazz FM's Elliot Moss: "It was just me in my bedroom initially. I'd go out and do the orders, then I’d do all the packing and, if someone called, I'd answer the phones too."[5]

In an interview with the fashion industry trade magazine Drapers, Bendell explained how she overcame sexism to secure investment from well-connected female investors. "There is an issue in this country, particularly with female-focused businesses, because the investment community is very male dominated. Before crowd-funding, we had previously been through some angel investor rounds. The business angel community is 95% male and typically invest in businesses they understand and have experience of. After one early round of funding, I was quite disillusioned and just put on an event myself, cold-calling high-net worth women asking them to come along."[6]

By 2008, Bluebella had 100 agents operating across the UK.[7]

Online retailer Lovehoney invested a six-figure sum in 2010.[8] Other online retailers, including ASOS and Figleaves, began stocking Bluebella's lingerie range.[9]

In February 2014, the department store Selfridges announced that it would be stocking Bluebella lingerie.[10] For 2014, sales tripled to £3.7 million, with a profit of £347,000 against a £430,300 loss the previous year, boosted by Tesco selling their Fifty Shades range.[4]

The company raised over £1m in a crowd-fund in December 2016 to expand into the US.[11] By summer 2018 they were stocked in Bloomingdale's[12] and Nordstrom[13] department stores and online retailers Revolve[14] and ShopBop.[15] They had media coverage, with actress Maggie Gyllenhaal and singer Nicki Minaj wearing their lingerie in photo shoots.[16]

In 2016, Bluebella worked with three GB Olympic athletes on a body confidence campaign, #BeStrongBeBeautiful, to get more schoolgirls into sport and fitness.[17] The company launched the campaign, as statistics showed that more than half of secondary school girls drop out of sport after the age of 13 because of body issues and negative experiences of PE lessons. Windsurfer Bryony Shaw, shooter Amber Hill and Paralympic long-jumper Stefanie Reid did a shoot in Bluebella lingerie and discussed their body confidence issues growing up to try to encourage girls to do more sport and fitness activities.[17]

In July 2018, the company formed a swimwear design collaboration with Amber Davies, winner of reality TV series Love Island Series 3[18]

In 2019, they formed a wholesale partnership with Victoria's Secret, with Bluebella's autumn 19 collection being stocked in selected stores and online.[19] For the month of March 2020, the company donated £1 from every purchase to social enterprise Beam.org, to crowdfund job training for homeless women.[20]

Recognition and awards

Bendell has been invited to receptions at Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street. In 2012, she became one of a dozen ambassadors for the government's newly-formed start-up loans company, which provided mentor-supported loans to young people looking to start their own businesses.[21] The scheme, which also involved Dragon's Den investor James Caan, was promoted by Bendell alongside other young entrepreneurs such as James Eder (The Beans Group) and Romy Lewis (Lola's Kitchen).[22] In 2014, Bendell was included in the Management Today "35 under 35" list of the UK's most successful young women entrepreneurs.[23]

In 2017 and 2018, Bluebella won Drapers "Lingerie Brand of the Year" award.[24][25][26] In 2018, they won Marketing Campaign of the Year at the UK Lingerie Awards 2018 for their "Dare To Bare" campaign launch for September 2017's London Fashion Week, in which 19 non-professional models did an outdoor catwalk show at Oxford Circus.[27][28]

gollark: You can have my old Kindle.
gollark: Oh no.
gollark: I even abuse `zip(*x)` as transpose.
gollark: See how "elegant" it is?
gollark: It was easier than the alternative.

References
  1. Milner, Leah (14 July 2012). "Angels Go Where Banks Fear To Tread". The Times. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  2. Colman, Elizabeth (31 October 2010). "Big Guns Give More Bang To Start-Ups". The Times. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  3. Ramsdale, Suzannah (18 February 2016). "Meet the woman who designed the Fifty Shades of Grey lingerie range…". Marie Claire. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  4. Lawson, Alex (18 August 2015). "London lingerie brand Bluebella slips into profit after sales triple on the Fifty Shades of Grey effect". The Evening Standard. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  5. "Emily Bendell On Jazz Shapers". Jazz FM. 1 November 2012. Archived from the original on 19 March 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  6. Sutherl, Emily. "Bluebella: from Fifty Shades of Grey to John Lewis and Next". Drapers.
  7. "Bluebella takes lingerie to Paris". Nottingham Post. 1 October 2008. Archived from the original on 18 March 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  8. "Bluebella attracts investment from UK market leader". Midlands Business News. 25 May 2010. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  9. "Bluebella to launch erotic garments at Selfridges". LingerieInsight. 7 February 2014. Archived from the original on 20 March 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  10. "Selfridges adds erotic brand Bluebella to its lingerie portfolio". Fashion Bust. 7 February 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  11. "Bluebella lingerie nets £1m funding for expansion in US". Evening Standard. 14 December 2016.
  12. Fraser, Kristopher (10 August 2018). "Bluebella expands in the U.S." fashionunited.uk.
  13. "Nordstrom". shop.nordstrom.com.
  14. "Bluebella - REVOLVE". www.revolve.com.
  15. "Bluebella | SHOPBOP". www.shopbop.com.
  16. Bakar, Faima (26 February 2018). "Everyone's loving the Bluebella Pandora bra on Instagram". Metro. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  17. "Team GB hopefuls tell girls to 'be proud of your athletic bodies'". Evening Standard. 28 June 2016.
  18. "Love Island's Amber Davies On How Her Life And Relationship Changed After The Show". Grazia.
  19. Whelan, Grace (7 October 2019). "Victoria's Secret teams up with Bluebella". Drapers. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  20. "Bluebella to donate £1 from every purchase to fund careers for homeless women". Underlines. 16 March 2020. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  21. "£80 million start up loans for new businesses". HM Government. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  22. Sharkey, Linda (19 July 2013). "Government's scheme reveals ambassadors to inspire young entrepreneurs". The Independent. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  23. "Emily Bendell, Founder, Bluebella". Management Today. 6 July 2014. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  24. "Winners 2017 | Drapers Awards". awards.drapersonline.com.
  25. "Bluebella named Lingerie Brand of the Year at Drapers Awards". Underlines. 4 December 2017. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  26. Geoghegan, Jill (29 November 2018). "Drapers Awards 2018 winners revealed". Drapers. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  27. "UK Lingerie Awards 2018 winners announced". DIARY directory. 21 February 2018. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  28. "Lingerie brand turns Oxford Street into a catwalk to promote body confidence". uk.style.yahoo.com.
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