99. Attollo Lingerie

Founders: Alice Holden and Fleurette Mulcahy
Founded: October 2013 (launched September 2017)
Website: www.attollolingerie.com

At bra sizes 28FF and 30GG, best friends Alice Holden and Fleurette Mulcahy bonded over the struggle to find underwear that fitted their full busts and their narrow back widths.

The pair found they were making a trade-off between well-fitting but “beige, matronly” bras, and bras that were beautiful but too small.

While carrying out market research, the duo found they weren’t the only ones having bra ‘mares.

With 81% of the women in the D+ size bracket saying they disliked the bras available in their size, Holden and Mulcahy decided it was time for a solution.

And so, Attollo Lingerie – a range of luxury, fashion-forward underwear for D+ women – was borne.

Having gained column inches in high-profile publications like Vogue, Cosmopolitan, GQ and Tatler since going live last September, Attollo aims to give “D+ women the confidence to celebrate their voluptuous figures”. It also offers a personalised fitting service and bra fitting parties.

Despite winning the hearts of women who require full busts with small bands, the start-up had initially struggled to succeed in the male-dominated investment market with “investors failing to understand the need for the product”.

Fortunately, Holden and Mulcahy weren’t to be dissuaded. Prior to their first meeting with a fund, the duo found out the investor’s shoe size (a man) and brought along a pair two sizes too small.

After getting the investor to squeeze into the shoes, they then told him he had to keep them on throughout the meeting because they were the only pair available; driving home the discomfort that many women face with ill-fitting bras. This creative approach worked and the female entrepreneurs won the investment; kicking off their first funding round.

Now, Attollo Lingerie has plans to expand its team, drive marketing and launch a new range to cater to more bust and back sizes.

The ultimate vision, however, is “global boob domination”.

Holden and Mulcahy hope to scale Attollo to become an all-encompassing brand, providing women with niche bra sizes with quality lingerie, swimwear, nightwear, sportswear, maternity and mastectomy-centred pieces.