Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, and we’d like to tell you a quick story.
Over the past few years, there’s been a thread in the lingerie conversation that argues sexy is out and comfort is in. Bright and aggressive colors are out, nudes and subtle shades are in. The exceptional is out, the everyday is in.
The pandemic exacerbated this notion of comfort above flamboyance, but we had already seen this toned-down aesthetic reflected in so many recently launched brands.
Adore Me’s sales data has shown otherwise. Even in the midst of the pandemic holiday season, an item that has been our holiday top-seller since 2018, from Black Friday to V-day, remained at the top of the charts through the end of 2020.
Gynger is satin and lace. Gynger is designed to transform her wearer into a gift to be unwrapped. Yeah. Gynger is not subtle and Gynger is proud of this.
Gynger is not a social media sensation because most of her owners are likely not publicly posting photos of themselves gift-wrapped in a bow. Yet, she’s the #1 seller. The joy she brings is not about Likes, just the smiles and laughs created in private.
Gynger also holds a special place in the hearts of every Adore Me teammate. She finds herself prominently on-screen post-holiday company meetings, proudly on slides indicating her position as a top-seller. There is typically an office pool on how many Gynger sets will be sold because….it’s become a given that Gynger will be #1.
And you can’t help but smile when you see Gynger. Arianna Levin, a Senior Designer at Adore Me and Gynger’s creator, explains:
The set is the epitome of being proud of your body and owning your sexuality without taking yourself too seriously.
Gynger isn’t going to transform society. Gynger is not going to make her wearer a better person. But there is almost no imaginable situation where Gynger would not introduce at least a hint of a smile.
And knowing our customers are smiling makes us smile, because to us, that is what lingerie does. The term inclusivity has become a bit overused in the brand world, but Gynger exemplifies what inclusivity means to us:
- Luxurious feel at an affordable price point.
- An incredibly complex design (more on this later) in an intuitive package (we’ve never received complaints that it was hard to unwrap 😃 ).
- And most importantly, giving women of all shapes, sizes, geographies, ethnicities, and socioeconomic backgrounds the opportunity to have a little fun; be a little bit more confident; feel a little bit sexier.
Delivering this is exactly what Adore Me’s dream has always been. Seeing the sales numbers each holiday season reminds us that Gynger is out there, all over the nation, making this a reality.
#GyngerNation:
This really is a nationwide phenomenon. When controlling for population, we found the states where the highest percentage of women in the population owned a Gynger were Alaska (almost 0.2% of all women!), Utah and New Hampshire.
As our head of procurement noted, “Baby, it’s cold outside?”
The NYT had noted that ‘provocative purchases’ were ‘surprisingly thriving’ during the pandemic, but went on to profile $400 bras and $100 panties. For us, Gynger embodies the promise that women of all means have the opportunity to be a little bit provocative.
#Complexity:
Adore Me was the first lingerie brand to offer inclusive sizing across all of our products, and offer over 70 sizes. The key phrase there is “all of our products” – it’s one thing to introduce plus sizing for a t-shirt bra or other standardized item; it’s another to adapt an intricate, complex piece of lingerie – that needs to provide very specific support in different ways.
Gynger’s design complexity helps define exactly what inclusivity means to Adore Me – making all products available to everyone.
Once again, Arianna, on the considerations of creating plus sizes for the Gynger design:
It did present a design challenge to provide the fun aspect of untying the bow in a plus size, while feeling fully supported. The regular size range of Gynger is a completely open cup if the bow is untied, but in a plus size the satin bow wouldn’t give her enough support. We didn’t want her to have sad, droopy bow.
To solve this we built her a sheer cup under the bow that maintains support when untied. We adapted the bow shape to fit the undercup so that when you’re all tied up, you can’t see the mesh cup, maintaining the illusion the satin bow is doing all the work.
#RealReviews
Much like Gynger is most often enjoyed in private, it’s her reviews that tell the real story better than we ever could:
Super comfortable and very flattering. Felt very sexy in it and after 5 kids that’s saying a lot.
I loved the set, and so did hubs, I should have gotten a smaller size in the panties but I just tightened the bow! Did this girl good to feel sexy again after a preventative mastectomy and reconstruction (DIEP flap) and two additional surgeries last year…..I felt sexy again!
I typically wear a size 18 or XXL in tops. I weigh around 240lbs. My bra size is a 40c and I went with a 1x for the bra and it fits perfectly. On the bottom I got a size 2x and it fits perfect as well! I was a little nervous about the bottoms but they look and fit great.
I was honestly kind of worried if this bra would work for big boobs (36DD) but I got an XL & I literally couldn’t be happier. I’m beyond obsessed with it & my boobs look AMAZING. Highly recommend this, can’t wait to be unwrapped on Valentine’s Day.
I bought this set for my wedding night and it was worth it! The top has a mesh cup over which the bow ties and the bottoms have an open back, both made me feel super sexy for my special night! He enjoyed it a lot too!
#ImitationAndFlattery:
Sometimes hardcore #GyngerNation adherents message us with photos and screenshots of our competitors releasing their own Gynger-inspired outfits:
#EveryoneIsInvited:
Even guys are wearing it. Full disclosure – we’ve worked with Prince Vidal as a lingerie model a few times and this post was sponsored. Yes, we encourage everyone who wants to, to wear Gynger.
For all the talk of subtlety in lingerie, it’s still a satin and lace, vibrant red set that is meant to be unwrapped like a gift that brings a smile to the faces of people all over America from Adore Me every holiday season.
Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and while we know things are certainly not back to normal, we take solace in the knowledge that, most likely, Gynger will once again be making V-Day just a little bit more fun for all of #GyngerNation.
Happy Valentine’s Day ❤️ !!!
