Dive Brief:
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Bra-fitting app ThirdLove Tuesday announced an $8 million Series A round of financing led by New Enterprise Associates, and including such investors as former Spanx CEO Laurie Ann Goldman and former Victoria's Secret Stores CEO Lori Greeley. In 2013 the company raised a Seed round of $5.6 million.
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In addition to patented mobile, image-based sizing technology that allows a woman to measure herself from home, the company offers half-cup sizes, an unusual (though not unheard of) feature, and a wider range of sizes.
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The company said it grew 400% from 2014 to 2015, and that women who download its app and employ the sizing technology convert 13 times more often than those who don’t.
Dive Insight:
Simply speaking, ThirdLove puts the selfie to good use with its technology, using them to help solve one of many women’s most frustrating problems. Fitting a bra, even with the help of employees that offer such help, can be mortifying, mainly because they often do little to really help find a comfortable, supportive fit. That's because, it turns out, bra fitting is often inaccurate. The imaging technology, along with the broader range of sizes and more accurate half-cup options, appear to be a technological and clothing triumph.
ThirdLove's bras in half-cup sizes account for more than a third of the bras it sells in the A-E size range. While women buy new bras every year, the company says, its customers typically buy a second bra within just 45 days.
The problem for ThirdLove may be that it leverages a few simple concepts. Playtex has also long offered half sizes in some of its bra lines, and if that aspect of bra fitting proves to be helpful to sales, it could catch on among other makers as well. The use of imaging technology appears to be a brilliant stroke, assuming it really works, but that is also replicable.
In any case, once a woman finds a bra that fits, in the styles she likes, she’s unlikely to look much further.
The new funding will go to building the company’s team in San Francisco, introducing new products, and expansion. In September, Bloomingdale's launched an exclusive ThirdLove collection and plans to expand that.
