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Meet the Woman Who Sells 61m Pairs of Knickers Every Year

Source:MailOnline Author:Tiffany

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Posted: June 24,2010 12:06

Soozie Jenkinson is not a household name, but she certainly should be. She is single-handedly responsible for not only dressing more women in the world than any other designer, but she shapes us, moulds us, holds us in and pushes us up.

Soozie is head of lingerie design at Marks & Spencer, where one in three British women buy their undies; the store sells 61 million pairs of knickers a year. Independent figures reveal it provides more than a quarter of all pants and bras sold in Britain and sells three times as much underwear as its nearest competitor, Primark.

All of which means Soozie is closer to British women than any other designer: she is responsible for restraining our wobbly bits. "it's a huge responsibility," she says, laughing. Does she ever look at another woman without wondering about their cup size or checking for a panty line? "I try not to, but it's hard."

Soozie, 42, studied fashion at Kingston University before joining M&S 16 years ago. She sees herself not so much as a fashion designer, but an architect: she marries style with technology.

"I get quite agitated at all the designer and celebrity brands out there," she says. "Most people could sketch a dress, but not everyone can design a bra: it takes years of experience. It is like being an engineer, and British women are so clear about what they want." Women from Liverpool have the largest breasts in Britain. The average bra size in the city is 34E.

"If a bra doesn't fit, rubs or digs in, they won't come back to us." Foundation garments are the most important sartorial purchase you can make.

Women forgot this for a while. We thought we had to exercise and hold our stomachs in, when our grandmothers and mothers cheated using girdles and cantilevered bras. The natural, soft look was all very well, but it was hard work.

Thankfully, fabric technology has caught up with fashion and feminism and body fascism, meaning we can look as if we have a flat stomach, thinner thighs or pert breasts while our underwear is secretly doing most of the hard work. This is an important breakthrough, far more liberating than all that bra burning.

"Women have got bigger - the average size is a 36C, up a cup size in 20 years - but our technology has got so much better that we have control pants that are gossamer thin," says Soozie.

Only 20 years ago, the range of underwear available to British women was extremely limited. M&S saw bras as functional rather than fashionable, and sold them only in black, white, cream, navy and red. Silk underwear was expensive, and had to be hand-washed.