PRINT THIS STORY:

CHANGE TEXT SIZE:

FEMALE SHOPPERS FIND PERFECT FIT AT BRA SMYTH STORES

By Molly Knight

Answering the call from women everywhere who are tired of ill-fitting undergarments, Bra Smyth is on a quest to get customers into the right bra, right now, with in-store fit experts and seamstresses working with each unit’s nearly 3,000 bras the old-fashioned way.

“Most women don’t have time to go from store to store searching for the right bra, so it’s a real problem,” said Becky Simon, CEO of the New York City-based company. “When you come to us, you know you’re gonna find the bra that fits. And if you don’t, we will alter it for you. That’s what matters.”

Simon knows a thing or two about customer support: her family has been in the bra business for the last 72 years. Her grandfather, Sol Frishman, opened Frishman’s, an old time corset-fitting shop, in the Bronx, New York City, in 1932. It’s still open today, run by Frishman’s daughter (and Becky’s mother), Sandi Simon.

On a hunch that there was a demand for an upscale approach to intimate wear, the family decided to open its new concept, Bra Smyth, in New York’s Greenwich Village in 1991, maintaining the same emphasis on fit practiced at Frishman’s. (The name is a play on “smith,” as in wordsmith or blacksmith.) In 1994, the Simons moved the store uptown to Madison Avenue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, where it continues to operate today.

Inspired by the success of her New York stores — though she won’t give numbers to indicate exactly how successful — Becky Simon moved to California in 1996 to establish Bra Smyth’s mail-order operation in San Jose, while her sister Diana Simon stayed on the East Coast to run the Madison Avenue flagship.

In May, a second Bra Smyth opened at Taubman Centers’ Mall at Short Hills (N.J.) on the lower level next to Neiman Marcus.

“Bra Smyth is another example of a high-quality store for us that’s unique to the state of New Jersey,” said Janet Cesario, the mall’s director of marketing. “They’re devoted to bringing customers personalized attention by offering sizes from 32A to 40H. They have a special section for women who’ve had mastectomies. Their customer service is so special.”

A third unit will open on Broadway in New York City next month. Simon says the company plans to expand to six U.S. locations by the end of next year, mostly in upscale malls. Currently, plans do not call for international expansion, though Simon wouldn’t rule that out in the future.

“Mall people love us because we’re coming to them with a product that half of the population buys,” said Becky Simon. “Right now, we’re absolutely looking at Westfield properties. We look at demographics and we look at co-tenancy. We like being next to Neiman’s in Short Hills, so we are looking for comparable neighbors.”

Women love the store and its approach to customization, too, Becky Simon says. “This business is part of who we are,” she said. “We still have our roots in customization. Not everyone needs alterations, but if they do, we’re here.”

While Simon declined to give sales per square foot, she said her company’s impressive performance have driven expansion plans.

Certainly there is a demand for this level of service, according to Susan Nethero, author of “Bra Talk,” who declared on the Oprah Winfrey show this year that nearly 85 percent of women wear the wrong size, and that most have never had a proper bra fitting. Even those who do know their correct sizes are often steered in the wrong direction by salespeople who affirm the fit myth that one woman can wear more than one size.

“It’s amazing how many women go walking around with the wrong size bra on,” said Becky Simon. “We train our employees at the Madison Avenue store because our people there have over 100 years experience. They would never let a woman walk out of the store with the wrong bra.”

On a hot summer afternoon in Bra Smyth’s Madison Avenue store, a middle-aged customer chats with a seamstress, while two salesgirls dig through a stack of plastic containers for her floral print push-up brassiere before settling on size 36D. In the background there’s the productive clatter of a sewing machine. The woman retreats to one of the fitting rooms and tries on the bra. She does not need any alterations, she tells the seamstress.

Some might see Bra Smyth as the antithesis of Fredericks of Hollywood, with its attention to function over frills. But Bra Smyth is not without some style of its own. The retailer says it imports the finest lingerie from France and England, swimsuits from Israel, and nightshirts from Switzerland, though the luxury products feel more practical than whimsical.

A smooth, full-cup, champagne colored bra a woman might wear with anything retails for $69. A bright colored “Mardi Gras” print bra with two bows and a hint of lace sells for $59. One of the company’s more popular lines of bathing suits is known as “Miracle Suits,” for its ability to support and slenderize a woman’s body. A red, V-neck one piece with shirring across the middle — which the catalogue says is “strategically placed to hide any tummy bulges”— goes for $128.

“They might be more expensive than what you see other places, but these products are special because they last a very long time,” said Becky Simon.

She says women like to keep the same bras well beyond their expiration dates, by which time most have stretched and grown ineffective. A stretched bra does not provide support, which can contribute to back problems, body alignment issues, and an unsightly figure, Becky Simon says.

Poorly fitting bras can also cause problems. Yet “almost no one with multiple locations does bra fittings in store, which is shocking,” said Becky Simon.

One problem might be that young women place more value on sex appeal like that offered at Victoria’s Secret than comfort and support. But function doesn’t require an unsexy bra, Becky Simon contends, explaining that Bra Smyth’s sister store Frishman’s offers plenty of risqué offerings.

“Frishman’s carries a wider selection of plus sizes, and racier lingerie,” she said. “Our customer (at Frishman’s and Bra Smyth) is between the ages of 35 and 65. She owns a home, and two luxury cars. She is really an affluent woman looking to buy a better bra. She’s not looking for the next trendy thing.”

In short, her clientele is looking for decent customer support, in both senses of the word. “Bras are all about loyalty and our customers are very loyal.”