ThirdLove, a direct-to-consumer underwear startup, raised $55m to take on Victoria and the other leading ladies of the lingerie biz.
Unlike some competitors, the 6-year-old ThirdLove caters to bodies of all shapes and sizes, and with a $750m valuation in the round, its formula seems to be working.
Battle of the bras
ThirdLove’s goal is to make “a bra for every body” by using a 60-second “Fit Finder” questionnaire to help create a perfectly fitting bra.
Unlike Victoria’s Secret, which is often criticized for offering bras that are only fit for supermodels and magazine covers, ThirdLove offers a massive variety of more than 78 bra sizes.
But it’s far from a friendly competition between the 2 brands. In an interview with Vogue last year, Victoria’s Secret CMO Ed Razek infamously said, “We’re nobody’s third love, we’re their first love.”
Is Victoria’s Secret finally out?
In response, ThirdLove published an open letter in The New York Times that positioned ThirdLove as an “antithesis” of Vicky S and insisted that “we may not have been a woman’s first love, but we will be her last.”
Women across the world expressed support for ThirdLove’s inclusivity, and Victoria’s revenues continue to decline as competitors including ThirdLove, Spanx, and True&Co move into the market.
ThirdLove, on the other hand, has all the support it needs to continue growing: The company plans to expand into retail, international markets, and new product categories such as swimwear.
