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The History of Berlei Lingerie and its Solution Led Design

The Berlei company started with a romance between Mabel Mobberley, an owner of a small corsetry company called the Gover Company, and her accountant, Fred Burley.

Their latter marriage proved a catalyst to the foundation of the company when in 1912, Fred Burley bought the company, and re-named it "The Unique Corset Company".

By 1917, the Berlei trademarks were registered and the company went public on the Sydney Stock Exchange as Berlei Ltd, an alternative spelling to the Burley family name.

So successful in the Australian market place, Berlei bought the stock and trademarks of its greatest rival in 1923, consequently expanding the business first into New Zealand and then as far as Europe, opening prestigious offices in the Liberty building in London's stylish Regent Street.

As business boomed Fred Burley remained loyal and true to the original mission of the company and in collaboration with the University of Sydney in 1926, initiated an intensive tape-led survey of womens true shapes. Twenty-three measurements were taken of some 6000 women, resulting in the identification of five key figure types, which soon became known as the "Berlei Figure Types". These types were quickly adopted across the Berlei ranges and for its time, showed Berlei as a highly innovative company.

The company continued to specialise in select, exclusive designs with Wrap-Ons, Controlettes, Step-In Belts, Maternity Belts and "Berlettes" which came in net, lace, voile and linen.

Fred Burley along with his son expanded the business in the UK under the name Berlei UK Ltd, opening a factory in Slough in 1936.

During WWII, Berlei was commissioned and made a range of functional brassieres and girdles for the armed forces. It was one of the few companies who were allowed to brand their garments, and this, perhaps together with the secret pocket Berlei inserted into the waist of its girdles – mostly used for lipstick and bus fares - established a loyal following amongst many women that lasted at least a decade.

Nevertheless, Berlei, throughout the 50s and 60s declined, coinciding with Fred Burley, retiring from active operation of the company in July, 1950. By the mid 60's Berlei UK Ltd was a wholly owned subsidiary of Berlei Ltd.

In 1969 Dunlop Australia Ltd acquired all the issued capital of Berlei. The Australian and New Zealand assets were sold to the Hestia Company Ltd (an Australian bras company) and the name changed to Berlei Hestia Ltd, of which Dunlop obtained a 75% shareholding.

In the early 1980’s Dunlop, who were now Dunlop Olympic, acquired total ownership of Berlei Hestia Limited and in 1982, sold part of/or the license to the Berlei brand to a UK Director. The exact details of the deal is currently unknown to us, however Berlei of England was born shortly afterwards, culminating into two distinct and unrelated brand developments.

In 1985, Berlei of England went into receivership, reportedly losing $1,400,000 and was purchased by the Gossard Group, part of Courtaulds Textiles PLC.

During this era, Berlei (UK) designed what was to become a very successful bra style - the Minimizer. Shaped to apportion larger busts so that they appear smaller, the Minimizer now forms a key part of many other lingerie brand ranges and is a generic stock item for many retail outlets.

Throughout the 1990's both Berlei brands continued to produce solution-led lingerie, much in keeping with Fred Burley's original aims.

The Berlei Group (Australia), soon became the largest supplier to the Australian market and was also one of the few Australian owned companies in the intimate apparel industry. The group funded specific research into the study of breast movement during exercise and its potential health effects by Australian Institute of Sport. This coincided with the development of the Ultra Sports Bra and they were official suppliers to the 2000 Australian Olympic Team.

In 2001 Pacific Dunlop (now known as Pacific Brands) acquired Sara Lee Apparel Australasia and its portfolio of market-leading brands, including the license for the internationally recognised brands of Playtex, Hanes and Wonderbra. Which assured Berlei's dominance of the Australian lingerie market.

Berlei (UK) followed in a very similar vein. Marketed as the Answers Brand in the US, Berlei (UK) focused on the diverse life styles of women, producing collections such as the Ultimate Comfort range.

In 1995, after years of research Berlei (UK) launched the Shock Absorber collection, endorsed by Sally Gunnell (Olympic Gold Medallist) who had worked with designers to create the range, the collection was a huge success winning four consecutive industry awards from 1987-2000. Indeed the collection was so successful that Sara Lee Courtalds (who acquired Courtaulds Textiles PLC in 2000) has positioned and marketed the Shock Absorber Impact System as a brand in its own right.

Following more research into women's body shapes, Berlei (UK) developed the first of many D+ ranges aimed at women with a cup size of D or over and with generally smaller backs. They continued their practice of using celebrities to model their underwear, leading to the highly successful "only the ball should bounce" billboard campaign, featuring the international tennis star Anna Kournikova.

Today (Dec 2005) Sara Lee Courtalds is up for sale and we can only wait and see what new turns the Berlei brand will take, and whether it will stick with its time honoured recognition that women come in all shapes and sizes.

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