Adore Me was created to empower women to embrace their uniqueness. They understand every woman has a unique style and body type and they celebrate this by designing lingerie styles that are a perfect fit for every woman. Here, RLI sits down with CEO Morgan Hermand-Waiche to learn about what the brand wants to achieve in the years ahead.
The Adore Me brand started life as an e-commerce brand in 2012, designing and selling online high quality lingerie in a wide range of options to suit everyone’s individual style and size. They use premium fabrics and lace with a luxurious look and feel. Their pieces are created to feel like a second skin; because they fell the thing you put on in the morning should be the last thing you have to think about.
Today the company’s major market is the US, but they are also present in Canada, Australia and the UK. Adore Me has two brick-and-mortar stores open to date. They are both situated in the US, and are located on Staten Island in New York and Bridgewater Commons in New Jersey. “Last year, I announced that we’re opening over 300 retail stores during the next five years, following the launch of our first store back in June,” explains CEO Morgan Hermand- Waiche. “The stores help in articulating a stronger brand statement. For a start-up like ourselves, it will help generate broader brand awareness and brand credibility.” In terms of the rest of the brand, it has been a busy 12 months. A major change that has been under took is the moving out of their 3PL and building their own cutting edge distribution centre, a fundamental stepping stone in them being able to deliver an omni-channel experience.
The new distribution centre is 130,000sq ft and houses a highly-automated order management process. They also made their first acquisition earlier this year, completing the purchase of maternity brand Belabumbum. The acquisition is part of Adore Me’s strategy to boost further growth by broadening the product offering to serve new phases of a woman’s life. Currently, the company is in the midst of opening three new stores, and they are located in Providence in Rhode Island, Willowbrook in New Jersey and Natick in Massachusetts. With the goal of bringing inner confidence to all women, they are thrilled to introduce the Belabumbum brand to Adore Me customers in the new stores.
“I started Adore Me with the vision that every woman, no matter her size, deserves high-quality lingerie that won’t break the bank”
“Along with these new stores, international expansion has been on our radar for a while now. We are looking at Asia, and especially looking into entering China. We have tested the appetite through some interactive shopping events with China, and seen that the brand has big potential there,” says Hermand-Waiche. Lead times can be very long for a lingerie brand, in some cases even up to a year which could hinder international expansion for some. However, Adore Me has the advantage of being fast fashion. “While other players in the market launch collections four times a year, we launch a new collection of 40-60 designs every single month,” Hermand-Waiche explains.
The brand has found that social media is a great way to connect with their customers; learning that it’s a channel where you can have an informal discussion and ask for feedback on product – what customers like and dislike. The company leverages its loyal customers to act as ambassadors on social media, however they also leverage the insights they receive from social media users to other parts of the business – product development being one of these.
“I believe that what makes us different is also what makes us successful. I started Adore Me with the vision that every woman, no matter her size, deserves high-quality lingerie.that won’t break the bank. Our fast paced growth is due to several key innovations the brand has introduced to the US lingerie market,” Hermand-Waiche comments.
The company’s main innovation is that compared to its competitors, Adore Me is inclusive, its sizing in bras range from 30A to 46I, and its nightwear, loungewear and swimwear from XS to 4x. Secondly, Adore Me offers these added values while cutting prices by more than half and offering affordable fashion. By avoiding the high costs of prime retail locations in addition to working without any middlemen – the brand can cut prices by more than half compared to its competitors.
The ethos of the company is ‘Confidence For All’, they celebrate women’s inner beauty through lingerie styles designed to fit all women, of all shapes and sizes. So what lies ahead and what does Hermand-Waiche believe to be the greatest challenge facing the company? “Adore Me is a fast-growing company, we’ve gone from making $1M revenue in 2012 to over $100M in revenue in 2018. With growth comes challenges, as the company and the team keeps transforming as a living organism,” he concludes.
