Market Mainstreaming ~ Cake Maternity
Sometimes when I watch surfers catch an apparently insurmountable wave and ride it all the way home, I think about how anything is possible if one perseveres. Here is a sport with a mega fan base, reserved for a specific lifestyle that requires extraordinary skill and yet, is ignored by many as a niche. If you have ever lived anywhere near an ocean, as I have, you know what I mean. Still, even there, its appeal is very specific. But when you think about it with any insight, this is a sport whose extensions have expanded to the mainstream and continue to grow. Think body boarding, paddle boarding, long boarding, windsurfing, kite surfing etc, etc.
Perhaps my creative juices and my propensity towards water sports is in anticipation of my return, shortly, to Cabo; but mainstreaming a niche is exactly what the Cake Lingerie brand brings to mind. Although they are not alone in their lifestyle approach, Cake has used their contemporary marketing message to bring their products into the fashion limelight and expand their retail reach. Major multi-faceted lingerie stores are now carrying the brand. Their destination products are engineered not only to insure necessary support, but also to exist through the changes a woman’s body experiences from pregnancy and beyond. They actually sent me the recently launched Rock Candy seamless maternity bra to prove the garment’s viability as a potential sleep or home wear style fitting 32-42, B-G cup. The bra, of course, has all the necessary features of a nursing bra but it is the premium and innovative luxury European fabric in which this style is designed that moves it to a whole other level. The silky soft anti-pilling meryl fiber™ insures excellent stretch memory expanding the bra’s viability in a woman’s wardrobe. Acutely focused on a powerful merchandising opportunity, it’s no wonder Cake is riding the wave in this emerging market.
“Performance Has To Be Mainstream Art . . .” ~Marina Abramovic
Great article, Ellen! Glad you liked the support of the Rock Candy. It is one of Cake’s best selling bras and many of the lingerie stores I work with to sell it to women who are not pregnant or nursing because it is a non-wire, super comfy bra that provides amazing support for larger busted women. The side sling, which is part of the nursing bra feature offers extra support, which fuller busted women also love. If you are a retailer and interested in learning more about Cake or wish to place an order, please contact me at 301-509-9099 or sarah@sfshowroom.com.
Thanks!