Kota Kinabalu: Sabah's first exclusive lingerie boutique was officially opened at City Mall here, Sunday.Lilli Lingerie is a cut above the rest as it caters to a lot of sizes, and secondly, customers are given a bra fitting. These varied sizes are a result of years of research conducted by bra manufacturers in Europe and the United Kingdom. Band sizes include 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42 and 44 while cup sizes start with A, B, C, D, DD, E, F, FF, G, GG, H and HH.
Proprietress of Lilli Lingerie, Lily Yong from Negara Brunei Darussalam is a bra fit specialist who completed a bra-fitting course at a bra fitting school in London.
The boutique offers a wide range of European branded bras catering to those who require the 'A' (smallest size) and 'HH' cup size (largest size) and other undergarments. Bra bands as small as 30 are also available.
Designer bras such as chantelle, Aubade, Simone Perele and Passionata are from France while Freya, Fantasie and Fauve are from the United Kingdom. These are standard and internationally across the board, priced between RM200 and RM400 or more.
Yong said after a market study, she realised there is a demand for such items in Sabah because bras are a necessity.
"Talking about costs, people buy a lot of branded items such as clothes, handbags, shoes and sunglasses. In fact, bras are the only cheapest branded item."
Her clientele is made up of Datins, wives of VIPs, executives and other working ladies who can afford.
"Generally, everywhere, you have small as well as big-busted girls and women. The problem with big-busted women in KK is that unless they buy from abroad, they have been wearing wrong-sized bras because bras with 'HH' cup size are not readily available in the Sabah market," she said.
According to Yong, 80 per cent of bra support comes from the band and the cup.
"The breast tends to sag if there is not enough support as a result of wearing a bra with too big a band."
