Ellen Shing’s store, Lula Lu in San Mateo, Calif., caters to a niche within a niche.

Shing specializes in petite lingerie for small-busted customers of all heights and frames. Shing opened her store in 2005 after she and her friends searched fruitlessly for petite-size bras. Lula Lu carries about 25 bra brands ranging from sizes 38AA and 32AA to 36C. But still there were some women who could not find the perfect bra. So last year, Shing developed her own line of bras, Lula Lu Petites, to sell in her boutique. She plans to start wholesaling the line this June. “The designs of our bras are based on the feedback we got from the customers,” Shing said.

The debut collection included two basic T-shirt bras and a lacy bra that comes in basic and fashion colors. “Some people want to look bustier,” Shing said. “Some people want to look natural. Providing variety is the main thing for me.”

Petite-size Shing was not alone in her search for lingerie in smaller sizes. Two other California-based women recently launched petite-size bra lines after similarly unsuccessful searches.

Emily Lau, a former TV producer for The History Channel and the Discovery Channel, ended her quest for the perfect petite push-up bra with the launch of her line, The Little Bra Co., last March. Jane Alden Hodgdon, a former marketer and event planner, bowed her molded-cup line, the Itty Bitty Bra, earlier this year to provide an affordable basic alternative to the only other bra she found that fit, by La Perla.

Untapped market

Shing says that the influx of entrepreneurs comes at a time when some big-name brands have scaled back their petite-size offerings. Without naming names, Shing described her experience with one prominent foundations company: “When I started a few years ago, they had quite a few styles—maybe 8 or 10 styles. Now I think they pretty much got rid of all of them except for one body style, and they just repackage it with daisies or polka dots. It’s the same bra they keep using, and it doesn’t work for everybody.”

Lingerie retailers who specialize in fitting bras for all sizes agree that there are not as many options for the petite-size customer. “I have a lot of customers who are size 28 [band] and they have a really hard time,” said Yolaida Duran, co-owner of the 10-year-old lingerie shop Alla Prima in San Francisco. “There aren’t very many manufacturers who make a size 28.” Alla Prima stocks high-end European brands such as La Perla, Andres Sarda, Eres, Aubade and Chantelle.