Athletic Support Garments for Women : Irvine Firm Hopes for Boom in the Bra Market

Vanessa George Goulden doesn’t expect Wall Street to hold a spot for her on the New York Stock Exchange. And the 29-year-old entrepreneur, who runs her business from the dining room table of her cramped Irvine apartment, doesn’t even much care that venture capitalists aren’t swarming to back her new company.

For the time being, all that matters to Goulden is selling enough of her unique athletic support tops--by mail and in small shops--to cover the $30,000 she’s bet on her firm, Creative Support Systems of California.

After that, the energetic former physical education teacher is aiming to get her tops into department stores’ lingerie departments, right there next to the other sports bras for today’s working-out women.

Achieving that goal could prove lucrative for the tiny company, which has made a big impression on apparel reviewers for several major women’s sports magazines.

Industry watchers say support bras and tops, designed to provide extra support for the bust and generally made with soft, absorbent fabrics, are one of the newest and fastest-growing segments of the $1-billion-a-year women’s athletic apparel market.

Although the sports bra market is still too small to be separated from the rest of the brassiere business, experts believe sales are being pushed by three separate factors.

First, more women are discovering the benefits of physical fitness, participating in regular workouts in growing numbers, according to the National Sporting Goods Assn. in Mt. Prospect, Ill. Last year, the number of women participating in aerobics, jogging and other sports totaled nearly 50 million, according to Thomas Doyle, a statistician for the trade group.

Hefty Outlay

The benefits of such numbers at the cash register are considerable. Doyle says that women joggers spend an average of $250 each year on athletic gear and that aerobic dancers spend nearly $300 annually for fashionable workout wear.

Second, a sports bra, which can range in price from $15 to $30, increasingly is viewed as an essential part of any athletic ensemble, much as tennis dresses and leotards are de rigeur on the tennis court and in aerobics class.

“Our pitch is that the proper equipment enhances performance,” said Lisa Lindahl, owner of Jog Bra Inc., the Burlington, Vt., company that created the entire market eight years ago and still is considered the industry leader.

Finally, lingerie buyers report that as many as half the sports bra sales are not for athletic use. According to the buyers, women claim that sports bras, because of their high cotton content and firm construction, are more comfortable for everyday wear than the standard products.

But while the market seems to be growing, breaking into it is no cinch, as Goulden has discovered.

It was 1982 when Goulden, a trim but busty jogger and aerobics dancer, first decided to make a sports bra because of the discomfort she experienced while working out. Although there were other products already on the market, she said they did not offer a full-figured athlete the necessary support.

With the help of a professional apparel designer and a patent attorney, Goulden came up with a shoulder-to-waist support top that can easily be worn in place of both a bra and a shirt. The heavy Lycra fabric she selected for the garment, similar in weight to that used in girdles, was once the favorite of men’s disco pants manufacturers.

In 1984, Goulden began selling the $30 tops, which offer a tighter fit and more extensive coverage than anything else on the market, at women’s athletic events and by mail order. Within months, the top was awarded high honors from Self Magazine, a women’s fitness and care publication.

However, by the time the orders generated by the Self article began pouring in, the last of the disco pants fabric had been exhausted, and Goulden couldn’t afford to pay the fabric mill to restart the special machines used to knit the heavy-duty Lycra she needed.

So, at the end of the year, after selling about 1,500 tops, she shut down production, returned orders for 600 tops and started thinking about a new career.

But 18 months later, buoyed by a high rating for the top in a Utah State University research project, Goulden decided to resume operations.

Promised Minimum Order

To get the Lycra material from the mill, she promised a minimum order of $30,000 and put up a bank letter of credit as evidence of her seriousness. The letter of credit, she said, is secured by cash raised from friends and family members. The first tops rolled off the assembly line five months ago, and sales since then have topped 1,300.

Still, the $30,000 worth of fabric Goulden is committed to taking is enough for 12,000 tops. So the sales push is on.

So far, Goulden has persuaded 31 Southern California sporting goods specialty stores to carry the tops, which come in six sizes and six colors.

Mail-order sales, generated by flyers that Goulden distributes at athletic events, account for the rest of the company’s still meager revenue.

Goulden considers advertising beyond her pocketbook for the moment. “I’m doing this on a shoestring, I know,” she said with a laugh.

Funds are also insufficient to allow any paid employees. “We’re a 1-employee business,” she said, referring to herself and her husband, a petroleum engineer in Huntington Beach.

Goulden runs the business from the spare bedroom in her apartment; the living room and dining area serve as storage, sometimes for as many as 1,000 tops.

The effort, though, is beginning to pay off, and Goulden is beginning to attract some attention. Adele Doran, the women’s apparel buyer for the Ski & Sport chain in Southern California, said the support top “eventually will be something pretty strong.”

Doran foresees popularity among aerobic dancers whose workouts require upwards of 30 minutes of constant bouncing. However, to capture this market, Doran said, Goulden would be advised to offer more fashion-conscious colors and patterns for the otherwise utilitarian top.

“It doesn’t have universal appeal yet,” Doran said, “but it could with stripes, prints” or bright blocks of color. Goulden agrees that to reach her goal of department store distribution, she will have to develop more mass appeal and a broader product line.

“It’s going to take time and money. I know that,” she said. “But others have done it, so why can’t I?”