California Apparel News

UnSpoken Lingerie is trying to do for intimate wear what Not YourDaughter’s Jeans did for premium denim.

The new Los Angeles lingerie label is creating a line of age-appropriate sleepwear, loungewear and underwear for the over-38 woman whose body may no longer be a perfect size 4 but who wants to look good and feel desirable in something that isn’t just a tight top and a skimpy bottom.

The idea was incubated by Caron Block, a 58-year-old serial entrepreneur who believes there is a growing demand for lingerie catered to an older demographic. “I knew from experience that when I went shopping for pretty—dare I even say, sexy—intimate wear for a woman of my age, there was nothing there,” Block said.

Her idea was reinforced when she saw “It’s Confusing,” a film with Alec Baldwin and Meryl Streep about a divorced couple who get back together for a short time. After seeing the bedroom scene from that movie, Block said, she knew she had to launch her lingerie idea even though she had no fashion experience.

Recently, UnSpoken Lingerie brought on some heavy hitters in the lingerie industry to round out the executive staff. Linda LoRe, president and chief executive of Frederick’s of Hollywood for more than a decade, has been named UnSpoken’s executive chair of the board.

Yolanda Dunbar, former senior vice president, corporate brand and direct marketing at Frederick’s, is now UnSpoken’s president and chief operating officer.

With years of experience in the lingerie world, Dunbar believes there is a market for the over-38-year-old woman who may be a little curvier than her younger counterpart but has money to spend on frilly items. “We are finding there is a need for products that are designed and constructed in a way that is age-appropriate but sexy and elegant,” Dunbar said.

That means that bra straps are a little wider for support. There is power mesh in the back of chemises to add coverage and support. Garter belts are cut higher, fitting around the waist to cover more of the tummy. “Our lengths are a little longer than on the average, so we are covering our assets a little bit,” Dunbar said. “We are accentuating the positive.” UnSpoken has hired veteran lingerie designer Jacalyn Bennett—whose Bennett & Co. in Newburyport, Mass., has designed for VF Corp., Victoria’s Secret,Avon and Frederick’s of Hollywood—to create and manufacture the Spring 2013 line. Bennett & Co. has factories in China and Sri Lanka.

Bennett said she feels excited about the line because she falls into that demographic of a baby boomer who wants something a little different than what the average 25-year-old wants. “It will be very much Marilyn Monroe or Elizabeth Taylor,” she said of the 2013 look. “Sexy yet sophisticated.”

The lingerie industry is big business. For the 12 months ending in September this year, U.S. sales of lingerie totaled $10.5 billion, up slightly from 2011, according to The NPD Group Inc., a research firm in Port Washington, N.Y.

Retail guru Marshal Cohen, who avidly tracks what is hot and what is not on the shopping scene, said he puts lingerie into the “passionate” category of purchases, grouped with cosmetics and footwear. “It is a bigger business than some people think, and it is a personal purchase,” he explained. “Growth is coming in two sectors, the over-40 crowd and the young teen and young adult. It is a category that has a lot of potential.”

She immediately called her friend Sydney Holland, who has more than 20 years in the fashion industry. Holland has helped a number of brands and retailers get on their feet. A few years ago, she launched Liv Grn, an organic, eco-conscious apparel company whose organic cotton T-shirts have been sported by celebrities such as Halle Berry and Maria Menounos.

Holland thought the lingerie idea would appeal to a forgotten demographic, much like Not Your Daughter’s Jeans, founded by Lisa Rudes-Sandel, a woman in her 40s who tried on a pair of low-cut premium-denim jeans atBarneys New York and was disappointed with the look. Not Your Daughter’s Jeans launched in 2003 as a slimming jean with a tummy tuck. It now has annual sales of more than $100 million and is sold atNordstrom and Macy’s.

“UnSpoken is for a woman of a certain age who can walk out into the bedroom and be sexy,” said Holland of the lingerie line, launched on the runway in 2011 during a Fashion Business Inc. fashion show. The brand’s first season in stores was last summer, being carried at California retailers such as Luxe & Le Bra Lingerie in Beverly Hills, Lisa Norman Lingerie in Santa Monica and Jolie Femme in Del Mar. Wholesale prices range from $18 to $300 for goods made predominantly of silk.