Aubade Unveils More Realistic Visual Brand

PARIS — French lingerie specialist Aubade wants consumers to “live your desire,” the slogan that accompanied the visual brand direction unveiled Tuesday.

“Sexy is the new cool,” said the company’s brand and product director Samar Vignals at a presentation. “Our mantra is about liberating the sexy in each woman and reveals itself in very different ways but with a lot of sincerity.”

Gone are the body shots that highlight the product. In their place are portraits of women wearing the lacy and occasionally racy designs, with most making bold eye contact in the debut images for spring 2023.

The moment felt ripe for a refresh as “femininity, seduction and sexy no longer have anything to do with the way they were expressed a few years ago,” said Vignals.

This comes as the brand — whose sales came to 74 million euros in 2022 with 63 percent of its business done in France where 54 of its 57 stores are located — is stepping up its global expansion. The U.S. is in its sights, with the opening of a New York-based subsidiary last year.

For Vignals, “American [consumers] are often a step ahead [in] movements of emancipation, of empowerment,” she said, adding major inroads had stemmed from the U.S., such as #MeToo.

In keeping with its “sexy confident” product core, Vignals said the brand would be expanding on its underwear-as-outerwear segment — its nightwear category grew 42 percent last year, according to company figures — and continue to develop its higher-end offering through designer collaborations as well as craftsmanship such as French Leavers lace.

A key notion in this new chapter is “empleasurement,” a portemanteau of empowerment and pleasure, that covers the idea that “seduction is no longer an outside injunction, it’s a personal decision and it’s taken by the women themselves,” driven by the compounded effects of the digital revolution, the #MeToo movement and a leaning toward comfort brought by the COVID-19 pandemic and its ensuing lockdowns.

Folded into this new term is size and shape inclusivity. Aubade will continue to extend its sizing range, going up to a G or H cup in bras and a XXL in bottoms. Vignals said this was “an investment rather than something with immediate returns” but a necessary step to move toward being as inclusive as it can.

“Few brands offer [such a range] and our challenge is to make this visible through our images,” said Vignals. In keeping with the brand’s focus on seduction and sexiness, it will be developing its male offering, adding more revealing styles that make use of its signature lace and transparencies from June.

According to Vignals, male consumers were more present for occasions such as Valentine’s Day or the holiday season, going up to 20 percent of its clientele on such periods and purchasing mostly online.

Another evolution is that retouching would now be kept to a minimum, to match a more realistic outlook on the body, and casting would reflect “more voluptuous” silhouettes.

“The brand needed to evolve from that point of view and accompany [societal] evolutions to ensure today’s women recognized themselves more in the image offered by Aubade,” she continued. “The idea for Aubade is to reconcile body and soul.”

In conjunction with the new campaign, the brand outlined how it has been stepping up its overall diversity, inclusion and sustainability efforts across its supply chain but also its organization. It revealed 93 percent of its workforce and 69 percent of its management are female.

By 2026, it aims to have 50 percent of its collections made following eco-design principles, although she pointed out that in the 20 components of a bra, elements like foam used in padding, underwires and elastics remained challenges to date.

In the meantime, it is pursuing a “zero destruction” goal by donating its offcuts, unsold merchandise and prototypes. Vignals said the brand and its Switzerland-based parent group Calida were making steps to be in line with the goals outlined in the U.N. Global Compact.

From summer 2023, all Aubade products will carry a QR code that will lead to a traceability page outlining the information on suppliers at each step, developed with French start-up Fairly Made.

Reports /TrainViral/