With almost 200 years of heritage between them, you’d expect lingerie legends Gossard and Berlei to come with an interesting history. But with three buyouts over the past seven years, it hasn’t always been a smooth one. New owner Courtaulds hopes to change all that, however, following the creation of a new management team and the implementation of a long-term strategy to return sustained continuity to two of the lingerie industry’s most well known names.

The two brands – which Courtaulds sold seven year ago and have since been part of a European branded empire - are to receive the attention they were perhaps missing out on before. Heading up the new team charged with realising the fresh plan is commercial director Miranda Frost, the former Sara Lee branded apparel US research and development director, who believes Gossard and Berlei haven’t had the opportunity to develop as much as they should have as brands. “My conjecture is that Gossard and Berlei were deemed to be in direct competition with the other brands in the DBApparel portfolio, and the decision was taken to focus on its lead brands Playtex, Wonderbra and Shock Absorber,” she says. “It became the sensible strategy to put the brands up for sale, which was perfect timing for Courtaulds which was ready to make investments following its acquisition by PD Enterprise.”

Although Courtaulds has been geared up for private label over the past seven years, the company’s manufacturing expertise is expected to assist in getting Gossard and Berlei back on track. “The focus will be to put right what has gone wrong with the brands and to make the operations effective and efficient,” says Frost. “Courtaulds is a market-led business with a different approach to DBApparel’s parent company Sun Capital, the effect of which will be seen over the course of the next year.”

Key to the future of the rebuilding of Gossard and Berlei is the newly chosen team, which along with Frost is made up of sales and export director Vanessa Falshaw, who joined at the end of last month, and designer Raffi Orazi, who starts this month. Falshaw has a home furnishings background where she has worked in retail, buying and sales and marketing, while most people in the industry will be familiar with Orazi, who won Best New Design Talent in the Figleaves.com Lingerie Awards last year for breathing new life into Charnos Lingerie.

Frost says, “Vanessa has been responsible for building brands from scratch and brings a lot of sales and marketing expertise with her, while it’s an absolute coup for us to have Raffi come onboard with her recognised design expertise and the respect she has gained in the industry. I think we’ll make a fantastic team.”

It’s now down to the new team to put an effective strategy in place both to deal with what Frost refers to as “immediate” issues, as well as to plan and implement a strategic programme to maximise business opportunities. This will be done by initially capitalising on what Courtaulds can do for the brands without burying them in private label, improving operations, servicing the trade more effectively and gradually developing the brands in ways to excite the customer.

Treating the brands as two very separate businesses will be crucial to building strong individual identities, as Frost is only too aware. “Gossard and Berlei are both very different brands with very different scope and opportunities. While they may not have the visibility in the high street to underpin the high awareness of earlier years, there is a unique opportunity to capitalise on each brand’s heritage while embracing innovation, to build them up to be as big as the public assume them to be.”

Customers will start to see initial changes for a/w 07 and s/s 08 in terms of operations, with a visible revamp of the brands for a/w 08. There are also plans to participate once again at the Harrogate Lingerie & Swimwear Exhibition for the next edition in August.

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