Bravissimo (company)

Bravissimo is a lingerie retailer that provides lingerie in D-L cup sizes and swimwear in a D-K cup range. It has 26 stores across the UK and one in the US, and also sells via mail order, online and via a US website. The company are based in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, and currently employ over 400 people.

History
Founder Sarah Tremellen MBE began as a freelance TV and radio researcher for the BBC, quitting after eight months at the age of 25 to have a baby. Whilst pregnant, Tremellen found it difficult to find a good choice of bras that would fit her when she went up to a G Cup.

In 1995 after giving birth, Tremellen and her friend Hannah Griffiths tried to do something about it. They decided to take an eight-week business course which culminated in presenting a business plan to their local bank manager. Their presentation won them a £10,000 bank loan to help them start Bravissimo.

Working in the living room of Tremellen's Twickenham flat, they produced a mail-order catalogue that included all the best bras they could find, and created a mailing list of around 75 people - mostly friends and family. Tremellen then telephoned several women's magazines and newspapers, and within a month achieved coverage in the Daily Mail, bringing in 1,000 requests for a catalogue.

In 1996 they were able to move out of Tremellen's Twickenham flat and 12 months later Tremellen and her husband Mike bought Hannah Griffiths out of the business. In November 1999, Bravissimo opened its first shop in Ealing which remains one of the 16 stores nationwide they currently operate. The next year Mike Tremellen left his job at Tetley to become the business operations director.

In 2001 Bravissimo relocated to their current headquarters in Leamington Spa.

In 2017, Bravissimo launched its US website and began looking for its first US shop site. In the same year sales grew by 2% to £50.2 million, but pre-tax profit decreased to £2.2 million from £3.3 million a year earlier, partly owing to spending on new shops.

Bravissimo sold a clothing range for a number of years, at one point employing the brand name Pepperberry, but the range was discontinued in 2021.

Management
In December 2020, Leanne Cahill, the managing director of Bravissimo, was appointed as chief executive.

Awards
Bravissimo has been in The Sunday Times "100 Best Companies to work for" list for since 2007, when they came 19th; in 2018 they were awarded 13th place. The list rates a company's performance on eight key factors which takes into account things such as pay, leadership, social impact and personal growth. They were awarded 99th, 26th, 24th and 8th place respectively between 2008 - 2011. In 2011 Bravissimo was nominated for the Multiple Retailer of the Year award at the UK Lingerie Awards.

Sarah Tremellen was awarded an MBE in 2009 in the New Year’s Honours List for services to entrepreneurship. In 2017, Bravissimo won 'best multi-product E-tailer' at the Underlines Stars Awards. At the UK Lingerie Awards in 2018, Bravissimo won "Customer Service Provider of the Year", and Sarah Tremellen was awarded the UKLA Lifetime Achievement Award.