Woman finds right fit with bra business

The company’s flagship store has been at Phipps Plaza for 18 years, but additional stores are slowly rolling out nationwide. Five more will open this year.

The basis of the business — which has to compete against Victoria’s Secret, department stores and big box discounters Target and Wal-Mart — is a literally hands-on approach that will give women a perfect bra fitting.

A fitting at the store is an education. In exchange for your modesty and nearly a three-figure sum, you will get a bra that will uplift and center your bust and slim your figure.

“Eighty-five percent of women are wearing the wrong size bra,” Nethero said. “And 67 percent of women wear fewer than four of the bras they have in their drawer.”

Her goal is to help women build a “bra wardrobe.” And though most bras in her store cost around $90 with tax, she said they will be altered for their lifetime for free and should last for years.

Part of what Nethero is selling is a unique experience and unique stock. For many women, the fitting process is eye-opening.

Intimacy sells bras mostly made in Europe that are designed to fit lower on the torso with most of the weight supported by the band, not the straps. Women usually find their band size is smaller but cup size is larger.

On a recent Tuesday at 11 a.m. at the Phipps Plaza store, Danielle McDonald was in to buy a swimsuit for a cruise. Her bra size went from a 40DD to a 34F after an Intimacy fitting.

“I tell everybody about this place,” she said.

One of the things Intimacy sells, Nethero said, is confidence in and appreciation for one’s figure. The store carries a huge range of sizes — from the smallest (30A) to the largest (46K).

But don’t worry about bra size, the staff says, worry about the fit. Nethero has, and the rest has taken care of itself.

Revenue in 2009 was $28 million compared to $18 million in 2007.

Intimacy now has nine stores nationwide and employs 180 people, with plans to more than double the size of the company in two years. New markets will include Los Angeles; Scottsdale, Ariz.; Philadelphia and Detroit.

She can expand so rapidly in part because one of the company’s major vendors — Van de Velde out of Belgium — became a partner in 2007. Van de Velde, a publicly traded company, had a profit of about $35 million in 2009.

Many Atlanta women discovered the bra store through the endorsement of longtime Atlanta radio personality Vikki Locke. She was one of the first to stumble upon the shop. It blossomed into a longtime (and lucrative) relationship that the Netheros later consummated with radio advertising runs.

After the first 12 weeks of the radio ads, Nethero said her business soared 25 percent. They kept that ad campaign up for five years.

From developing this loyal local following, one of Winfrey’s producers heard about the store through Sara Blakely. Nethero was an early purchaser of Blakely’s brainstorm Spanx, the pantyhose without the feet.

That relationship propelled Nethero into the hands of an “Oprah” producer and then onto the show. Nethero, of course, did what any savvy businesswoman would do — she came to the show stocked with 1,600 bras and ended up fitting every audience and staff member who wanted a fitting.

David Nethero said getting the onslaught of calls after an “Oprah” show is only a good thing if a company can handle it. He said the company has sold more than 1 million bras since his wife’s first appearance in 2005. He became president in 2001 after running $100 million divisions of billion-dollar companies. He put in a sophisticated inventory management system.

“I’ve done all these best practices for big companies for decades. To be able to prove to myself that Susan and I can do that for our own company is its own reward, and I feel really good about that.”