The Opposite of Ubras – a Chinese Bra Brand Targeting Large-Chested Women
If you’ve been following 11.11 results, you may have heard of a trendy Chinese brand Ubras whose claim to fame is its one-size fits all, no underwire bra. If you haven’t yet heard about this buzzed-about brand, check out our article here.
While Ubras aims to please everyone, another new Chinese bra brand Toffee (奶糖派) focuses exclusively on making bras for large-chested Chinese women. This happens to be a niche, but fast-growing, market in China that almost no bra brands are paying attention to. (Although I have seen several reviews from women who say Ubras is very comfortable for larger bra sizes)
During this year’s Double 11, Toffee broke 20M RMB sales, which is three times the volume of last year’s sales. As of November, the brand had done 100M RMB in sales this year. In 2019, the brand’s repurchase rate was 40%, which is twice the industry average.
The Average Chest Size in China is Increasing
Toffee’s founder is a post-80s man who goes by the name Dabai (大白). He originally came up with the idea of creating large cup size bras when his wife was pregnant. As her chest got bigger during pregnancy, she was not able to find comfortable and beautifully designed bras.
It occurred to Dabai that, his wife only had this issue when she was pregnant, what about women who have big chests their entire lives?
At first, Dabai thought that maybe there are not many women in China with big breasts, which is why there wasn’t a company specializing in it. But then he did a bit of research and found a report published by Tmall in 2014 with a stat that surprised him – 23.7% of Tmall customers buy D-cup bras.
What’s more, Dabai knew that since the economy is developing and people’s quality of life is improving, just like the average height of Chinese people has increased, Chinese women’s breasts will also continue to get bigger. According to a report published by Tmall in 2019, the average bra size of post-95s consumers is larger than previous generations.
Why Buy From a Chinese Bra Brand, Not a Western Brand?
Creating bras for larger chests is not just about increasing the size, especially in Asia. What makes the market different is that, Asian girls usually have smaller frames, meaning that the bottom strap part of the bra often is too large for Chinese women.
Toffee Has a Close Relationship With the End User
To understand the needs of these women better, Dabai created a topic on Douban (豆瓣), a forum platform. He encouraged women to discuss the issues they have when finding bras. By doing this, Dabai was inviting these potential customers to design bras together with him. He actually found his business partner, employees and seed users here.
Toffee’s team spent lots of time studying big breast women in China. It took them a year after the company was founded to launch the first product. The brand has gained over 10 patents for invention so far, covering C-K cup bras. Its invention team has over 30 employees which takes up over a quarter of the total employee number. Among its employees, 70% are coming from Toffee’s customers. Dabai feels it is important that the company is filled with people who personally understand the needs of their target customers.
Toffee’s first offline store is located in Guangzhou, home of Perfect Diary. It seems that Guangzhou has become a breeding ground for Chinese brands.
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