Maidenform Women's Fashion Brand

Maidenform is a manufacturer of women's underwear, founded in 1922 by three people: seamstress Ida Rosenthal; Enid Bissett, who owned the shop that employed her; and Ida's husband, William Rosenthal. This page treats the brand strictly as a product story - the construction, fabrics, sizing and care of its bras and underwear - which is also how the founders themselves approached it: as a garment-engineering problem. They rebelled against the flat-chested designs of the time and instead produced both dresses and support undergarments, particularly bras that accentuated the natural shape of a woman's figure - hence the name Maidenform.

The company was founded in Bayonne, New Jersey. In October 2007, the company's headquarters moved to a new location in Iselin, New Jersey, and Maidenform was sold to Hanesbrands in 2013. That is the corporate frame a shopper needs: a 1922 New Jersey founding by a working seamstress and her employers-turned-partners, a headquarters that stayed in New Jersey for the brand's first eighty-five years and beyond, and ownership since 2013 inside Hanesbrands - the parent this page's links also reach through the Hanesbrands profile.

The Product Range

Maidenform bras have modern, sensual styling, luscious fabrics and superior fit, so you look and feel amazing - read here as product claims to verify in the fitting room: styling, fabric hand and fit. Choose gorgeous Maidenform bras in underwire, wireless, racerback and strapless styles; you can find popular push-up and t-shirt bras as well, and Maidenform lace bralettes complete the list it gives. Those seven product families - underwire, wireless, racerback, strapless, push-up, t-shirt bras and lace bralettes - are the whole shopping map, and each solves a different wardrobe job.

Buy by job, not by habit. A t-shirt bra is bought for a smooth cup under knit tops; a strapless is bought for necklines and must be fitted on its tightest comfortable hook so it can be let out as the band relaxes; a racerback suits sleeveless cuts and can ease shoulder-strap slip; wireless and bralette styles trade structure for comfort on lighter days. A Bra Glossary link is in this page's links: use it to decode cup, band and strap terminology before ordering, because in this category the vocabulary is the sizing system.

Fit and Care for Support Garments

Superior fit, the central claim, is checkable in three places: the band, which should sit level and firm on the loosest hook when new; the cup, which should contain without spilling or gaping; and the straps, which should assist rather than carry the load. Rotate bras rather than wearing one daily - elastic recovers between wearings - and wash in a lingerie bag on gentle, reshaping the cups and air-drying away from heat, which is elastic's enemy. Lace bralettes and delicate fabrics repay the same gentle handling.

The brand's retail page for Maidenform bras at One Hanes Place is linked in the references, alongside Apparel Search's own About Maidenform company profile and the Hanesbrands profile in this page's links. A 1922 rebellion against the flat-chested silhouette, three founders in Bayonne, a 2013 sale to Hanesbrands and seven bra families from strapless to lace bralette: Maidenform is the M letter's foundation-garment specialist, bought on construction and fit above all.

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