Bluebella: Difference between revisions
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'''Bluebella''' is a British lingerie company founded in 2005 by Emily Bendell. The business sells in the UK, US, Australia, France and Italy. |
'''Bluebella''' is a British lingerie company founded in 2005 by Emily Bendell. The business sells in the UK, US, Australia, France and Italy. |
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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.<ref>{{cite |
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.<ref>{{cite news|url= http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/money/investment/article3475163.ece|title=Angels Go Where Banks Fear To Tread|work=The Times|date=14 July 2012|accessdate=18 March 2014|last1=Milner|first1=Leah}}</ref> |
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The business experienced rapid growth – doubling turnover every 12 months from 2007 to 2010.<ref>{{cite |
The business experienced rapid growth – doubling turnover every 12 months from 2007 to 2010.<ref>{{cite news|url= http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/business/small_business/article433864.ece|title=Big Guns Give More Bang To Start-Ups|work=The Times|date=31 October 2010|accessdate=18 March 2014|last1=Colman|first1=Elizabeth}}</ref> |
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==History== |
==History== |
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==BeStrongBeBeautiful campaign== |
==BeStrongBeBeautiful campaign== |
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In 2016, Bluebella worked with three GB Olympic athletes on a body confidence campaign #BeStrongBeBeautiful to get more schoolgirls into sport and fitness.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/health/rio-olympics-2016-team-gb-hopefuls-tell-girls-to-be-proud-of-your-athletic-bodies-a3282546.html|title=Team GB hopefuls tell girls to |
In 2016, Bluebella worked with three GB Olympic athletes on a body confidence campaign #BeStrongBeBeautiful to get more schoolgirls into sport and fitness.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/health/rio-olympics-2016-team-gb-hopefuls-tell-girls-to-be-proud-of-your-athletic-bodies-a3282546.html|title=Team GB hopefuls tell girls to 'be proud of your athletic bodies'|date=28 June 2016|website=Evening Standard}}</ref> The brand 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. |
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==Business recognition== |
==Business recognition== |
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Revision as of 10:54, 27 April 2020
 | This article contains content that is written like an advertisement. (November 2019) |
| This article contains wording that promotes the subject through exaggeration of unnoteworthy facts. (November 2019) |
 | |
| Industrie | Lingerie |
|---|---|
| Gegründet | 2005 |
| Gründer | Emily Bendell |
| Hauptsitz | London, England , Vereinigtes Königreich |
Key people | Emily Bendell |
| Website | http://www.bluebella.com |
Bluebella is a British lingerie company founded in 2005 by Emily Bendell. The business sells in the UK, US, Australia, France and Italy.
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
As a politics, philosophy and economics student at Oxford University, Bendell took a summer job at a High Street lingerie store. She has said that the idea for Bluebella began to form as a result of that experience. She also cites the huge popularity of the TV series Sex & The City as a key inspiration. After graduating, however, she started a career in journalism. In 2004, she left her job as the editor of a legal and business journal and began working on the Bluebella concept.
Bendell summed up the ethos of the Bluebella brand in an interview with the Nordstrom fashion blog:[3]
"I think we women buy shoes and bags not for anyone but ourselves. We buy them because we feel great in them. I think it’s very strange that traditionally lingerie has been in a totally different category. Lingerie is the thing you wear closest to your skin; it’s your most intimate purchase. The idea of that purchase being for someone other than yourself is really alien to me. We consider ourselves a new feminist brand. We’re very much designing product to make women feel amazing. The design and our aesthetic is always very strong. There’s no submissiveness in anything we do."
In an interview with the UK's leading 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."[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]
By 2008, Bluebella had 100 agents operating across the UK.[6]
Online retailer Lovehoney invested a six-figure sum in 2010.[7][unreliable source?] Other online retailers, including ASOS and Figleaves, began stocking Bluebella's lingerie range.[8]
In February 2014, the department store Selfridges announced that it would be stocking Bluebella lingerie.[9]
The brand raised over £1m in a crowd-fund in December 2016 to expand into the US.[10] By summer 2018 they were stocked in Bloomingdales[11] and Nordstrom[12] department stores and online retailers Revolve[13] and ShopBop.[14] They had media coverage due to actress Maggie Gyllenhaal and singer Nicki Minaj wearing their lingerie.
BeStrongBeBeautiful campaign
In 2016, Bluebella worked with three GB Olympic athletes on a body confidence campaign #BeStrongBeBeautiful to get more schoolgirls into sport and fitness.[15] The brand 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.
Business recognition
Bendell has been invited to receptions at both 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.[16] 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).[17] In 2017, Bluebella won Draper's Lingerie of The Year award[18] In 2018, they won the Lingerie Insight Marketing Campaign of the Year for their "Dare To Bare" campaign launch for September 2017's London Fashion Week in which 19 amateur models did a catwalk show across the Oxford Circus diagonal crossing.[19][20]
Collaborations
In July 2018 the brand formed a swimwear design collaboration with Amber Davies, winner of reality TV series Love Island Series 3[21]
References
- ^ Milner, Leah (14 July 2012). "Angels Go Where Banks Fear To Tread". The Times. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
- ^ Colman, Elizabeth (31 October 2010). "Big Guns Give More Bang To Start-Ups". The Times. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
- ^ https://blogs.nordstrom.com/fashion/really-sexy-feminist-lingerie-bluebella/?campaign=0205whatnowblog3&jid=J009163-3988&cid=-_-&cm_sp=merch-_-wap_3988_J009163-_-freelayout_wmn_P14_info
- ^ Sutherl, Emily. "Bluebella: from Fifty Shades of Grey to John Lewis and Next". Drapers.
- ^ "Emily Bendell On Jazz Shapers". Jazz FM. 1 November 2012. Archived from the original on 19 March 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
- ^ "Bluebella takes lingerie to Paris". Nottingham Post. 1 October 2008. Archived from the original on 18 March 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
- ^ "Bluebella attracts investment from UK market leader". Midlands Business News. 25 May 2010. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
- ^ "Bluebella to launch erotic garments at Selfridges". LingerieInsight. 7 February 2014. Archived from the original on 20 March 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
- ^ "Selfridges adds erotic brand Bluebella to its lingerie portfolio". Fashion Bust. 7 February 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
- ^ "Bluebella lingerie nets £1m funding for expansion in US". Evening Standard. 14 December 2016.
- ^ Fraser, Kristopher (10 August 2018). "Bluebella expands in the U.S." fashionunited.uk.
- ^ "Nordstrom". shop.nordstrom.com.
- ^ "Bluebella - REVOLVE". www.revolve.com.
- ^ "Bluebella | SHOPBOP". www.shopbop.com.
- ^ "Team GB hopefuls tell girls to 'be proud of your athletic bodies'". Evening Standard. 28 June 2016.
- ^ "£80 million start up loans for new businesses". HM Government. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
- ^ Sharkey, Linda (19 July 2013). "Government's scheme reveals ambassadors to inspire young entrepreneurs". The Independent. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
- ^ "Winners 2017 | Drapers Awards". awards.drapersonline.com.
- ^ http://www.lingerieinsight.com/ukla-2018-winner-marketing-campaign-year/
- ^ "Lingerie brand turns Oxford Street into a catwalk to promote body confidence". uk.style.yahoo.com.
- ^ "Love Island's Amber Davies On How Her Life And Relationship Changed After The Show". Grazia.