This week Underlines catches up with Tiggy Derham, co-founder of oola Lingerie, who with Sarah Maskell, launched the brand in the midst of the pandemic. Within six months, the brand became the go-to for curvy girls and was in the portfolio of John Lewis. We find out what comes next for this young brand backed by huge experience.
Before oola?
I worked as a buyer for Arcadia for most of my career, across various brands and product areas. I was at Evans for over 10 years and within that time I managed the lingerie team. I moved across from buying to e-comm for the last few years so gained invaluable experience across the business. Working within the online team gave me an understanding of product presentation, marketing and most importantly, it meant I had connections with plus size influencers which was vital at the start of launching oola.
How did the brand start?
The brand launched online at the end of 2020. Sarah Maskell, my business partner, and I started working on it in April of that year. We both knew the customer we wanted to design for and where we believed the gap in the market to be. We have a supportive factory, so we all worked together to get the range designed and produced. We then worked hard to launch our own website while building partnerships with other retailers, enabling us to launch oola on more websites.
Rate your experience of starting a brand during the pandemic of a lifetime?!
I think without the pandemic oola might not exist! It gave me and Sarah the time needed to launch a brand from stratch. The pandemic meant online became even more important for every business, so retailers were more open to offering new brands on their website and to look at new ways of working.
Where do you look for design inspiration?
Absolutely everywhere! I’m always on Instagram and follow a wide variety of people and brands. Sarah and I are always looking for new ideas. Paris is great for lingerie inspiration. Sarah is the lingerie expert in the team having worked in the industry her whole career.
We are excited to have recently welcomed a new designer to the team. Jennifer Dervyn brings with her a wealth of lingerie design and trend forcasting experience having designed for brands like Chantelle and Etam. I am excited she has joined us. Our team is growing!
What is different about designing your products? What sizes are offered?
We are a plus size brand and offer sizes 38-46, D-G, 14-32. Designing for a curvy body involves really thinking about the fit and the comfort aspect of the product. We fit on different size models to make sure the design looks correct on different body shapes. We have always been determined to make plus size lingerie stylish and comfortable.
What are the highlights of your collection?
I would say our Lace & Logo range as it’s our signiture range and it is such a gorgeous contemporary everyday bra – and it has the oola branding on the elastic which I love!
It’s a great fit and suits everyone we see it in, it takes colour brillantly and it’s a style we have repeated!
We have new designs coming in soon and have a very exciting launch in January so I will share more with you at the beginning of 2023!
What do you read and whom do you follow in social media to keep ahead of trends?
I follow so many people on insta but it’s a real mix of fashion, interiors, press, and brands.
Why have you decided to look towards B2B distribution/wholesale when you are already selling direct B2C?
We want to offer oola lingerie to as many people as possible and the best way to do this is to have the range on different platforms. Customers want to choose where they shop. We want to be where the customer is shopping.
Sourcing and supply chain…
We have a supportive team based in China who Sarah works with on her private label lingerie business. They are experts in bra production and do an exceptional job.
Is there a typical week?
Not really. If you take this week it started about a 6am on Monday heading to a location house in North London for our AW shoot. (Can’t wait to share the images – I love them!) And I got home around 10pm!
I split my time between the London office and home which is a good balance.
Throughout the week Sarah and I have meetings with our platform patners. We are currently onboarding with Amazon and Zalando which fills a lot of my day. I look after oolalingerie.com which is our own website and I work closely with Nicole, who is responsible for our social media. Day to day we continue to brand build! We are a close team and all work towards the goal of building the brand. Kamaria has also joined the team and supports on the admin side of the business.
Your proudest moment to date?
I am not sure there has been one moment!
I am very proud of everything we have achieved to date but if I had to pick one it would be the first weekend of sales we took on Simply B! It reinforced the belief that we have a range of lingerie that people like and want to wear and put oola in front of the right audience and we have a winning combination.
Your next big challenge?
Growing the brand internationally is a focus for us right now. Oola is going global! We have had wholesale orders from some large international retailers, Namshi in Middle East, Wehkamp in the Netherlands to name a couple.
We are working on launching with more international partners, and in the next few weeks you will see oola being offered on Amazon which is very exciting for us.
We intend to grow our size offer as well so as the brand grows, we aim to be able to offer oola to more people in more countries.
Your worst move so far?
Not really a worst move – but the most challenging aspect in launching oola so far is understanding all the different integrations systems involved when being a D2C brand. I find this part of the job daunting but it’s beginning to make sense. Being fully integrated is the future.
What do you ultimately hope to achieve?
I want oola to be known for its design and style, comfort and quality. I want our customers to know that when they are purchasing oola lingerie they are confident they are buying a quality bra or knicker that really fits them and enhances their body shape.
Time out?
Time out for me is spent with family and friends! I spend the weekends watching my kids play football! Life for everyone is busy so I try and make the most it!
