This week Underlines speaks with Joanna van Blommestein in our latest Friday interviews. And although not born to the lingerie business, Joanna fell head over heels in love with the business and through her various roles is more passionate than ever. We catch up with her since she emerged as ‘The Bra Boss of Kent’ in 2019. She runs her business from a charming converted summer house.
Life before lingerie
“I studied Criminology with Sociology at the University of Kent and had planned to work in the Police, but graduating in 2009 wasn’t the best year to join due to the recession and cuts in police jobs. I started doing some volunteering in a Drugs & Alcohol rehabilitation centre whilst working in Fenwick to get a few pennies! In 2010 I became the consultant for Fantasie & Freya in the lingerie department of Fenwick in Canterbury.” Joanna was bitten instantly.
The groundwork
Although Joanna is only in her 30’s she has gained a depth of experience at every level of lingerie fitting, sales and retail very rapidly. “I started working in Fenwick Canterbury in the lingerie department in 2010 where I was the consultant for Fantasie & Freya. I had my fit training up at their head office in Desborough and then learnt a lot from the Fenwick team and fell in love with the lingerie industry! After about a year, I was approached by Gossard to work for them directly – here I helped with visual merchandising for Debenhams, HoF and BHS and also assisted with fitting events and trade shows and was then promoted to Area Sales Manager for the South of the UK for Gossard & Berlei, where I looked after the independent boutiques and online stores. I worked with stores such as Sweatshop and assisted with Amazon, Asos, Tesco and Figleaves.
“After about 5 years I moved to work for Bestform, Lou and Vanity Fair. I was the Area Sales Manager for the South of the UK and was involved in sales and product meetings in Barcelona and Paris. I then worked for Panache as Sales Executive for the South East, where I looked after the Independents.
“I loved this role in wholesale as it was different everyday and I loved meeting and helping all of the wonderful independent boutique owners/buyers and I was able to learn so much more about the fit and construction of the garments. I enjoyed helping with any marketing events as well as the fitting events in store.
“Of course the downside was that I would usually be driving about 1,000 miles a week and there was a lot of staying away from home, so after being on the road for a good 8/9 years, I felt like I wanted to start a new chapter.
The Bra Boss of Kent
“Whilst visiting so many beautiful lingerie stores I longed to start up my own fitting service/boutique. I had all of the fitting skills from working on the shop floor as well as working for the brands, and I knew a lot of the products inside out from being in the sales team and working at the trade shows too. I decided to ‘bite the bullet’ and leave my role and took the plunge into setting up my own business. I knew that it wasn’t an easy task and that it was going to be a lot of hard work, but I was excited and very confident that I could make it work! I knew that there was a huge gap in the market in Kent for a fitting boutique that offered maternity, mastectomy and sports bra fitting, so that is was I focused on (I do fit and sell everyday bras too).
“Since opening last July I have been extremely busy and I couldn’t have wished for a better start. As well as private bra fittings, I also offer pop up bra fitting events, where I do a bra fitting talk and fittings with local gyms, local breast feeding clinics, I’ve had meetings with local hospitals regarding post-surgery underwear, and I’ve also done events as ladies clothing shops too. I have been lucky too as I have been featured on ITV Meridian News, BBC South East, and in March 2020 I was thrilled to be a Finalist and Runner Up in Kent Women in Business Awards (entrepreneur of the year and businesswoman of the year).
And then came COVID-19?
“COVID-19 has had a huge impact on my business. Like many others, I had to close overnight, cancel private fittings and postpone/cancel 14 booked fitting events which were in the diary from March – October. As I am newly self-employed, that meant that I fell between the gaps in the government support schemes. I have not received any grants or help at all, so that also had a massive impact but made me even more focused to work hard and do the best I can do despite this!
“During lockdown I really worked hard to focus on social media interaction, published blogs and kept in touch with existing customers via my mailing list, so I feel that the hard work during lockdown did pay off! Nancy Sorrell even mentioned me on her YouTube channel (as she bought a sports bra from me last summer) so that was another highlight! I focused on doing Instagram Live videos where I talked about different bra related topics and answered questions. I also linked up with other local businesswomen (lactation expert, sports bra designer, osteopath, nursing bra T-shirt designer) to have a joint live chat which was really well received.
“I have had to slightly change the way I am working due to the high number of fittings being booked mixed with slower deliveries and out of stocks from the brands (which is of course understandable as we have all been hit hard by COVID-19).
How can you future-proof your business?
“I always work really hard on social media and my website to provide value for my customers. I get many of my bookings via social media so this is really important to me. I think that if you are flexible and can adapt your business that is the best way of future proofing it. Things are changing all of the time, so it’s being proactive and trying to stay ahead of the game with how customers are engaging with you. For example – Instagram Lives, YouTube videos etc.
“When I was a rep, I would always say that things would go full circle and people would go back to more of the independent stores again. I think the lockdown has shown people how lovely it is to shop and support local and that online shopping can be quite boring (and more importantly you shouldn’t just buy your bras online without trying them on!).
“Luckily, Faversham is a thriving market town which is full of small independent businesses – mixed with the fact that there are not many lingerie fitting services in this part of Kent I have been very busy and very much a niche store in my area. I am getting a lot of ladies travelling from afar to come and see me now.
And since you re-opened?
“I re-opened on the 4th July and have been FULLY BOOKED up to now (a full 6 weeks!) which is fantastic. I already offered private fitting appointments, where ladies would book online via my website, so nothing really changed in that sense. I have had to space fittings out with an hour’s gap in-between (for cleaning) but this has actually worked out better for me.
“All in all I’m feeling positive for the future and have lots of exciting ideas in the pipeline regarding bra fitting events and social media!”
