MAIDENFORM, INC.

The Maidenform story began with Ida Rosenthal and Enid Bissett, partners in Enid Frocks, a custom dress business on New York's West 57th Street. Although the flat-chested look was the rage, Bissett believed that a dress fit better over a natural bust line rather than a flat one. She restructured the boyish form bandeau to have two cups separated by a center piece of elastic. Rosenthal's husband William transformed Bissett's creation into a garment shape to support the natural contours of the bust and named it the Maidenform® Brassiere, which was then built into each dress. Clients started requesting separate brassieres, prompting Enid Frocks to offer a bonus undergarment with every dress sold To meet the increasing demands, the Rosenthals and Enid Bissett formed the Enid Manufacturing Company, which produced the Maidenform® Brassiere exclusively. Due to further increasing demands, the Enid Manufacturing Company moved its manufacturing operation to New Jersey. William Rosenthal then filed a patent for a brassiere designed to support the bust in a natural position, the prototype for the modern-seamed uplift brassiere we have today.The success of the Maidenform® label prompted Enid Manufacturing Company to change its name to the Maidenform Brassiere Company. A national sales team of over 30 men sold Maidenform® styles for the small, average and full figure. The Variation® bra, designed for the average figure, became the first Maidenform style to reach $1 million in sales with a retail price of $1 each. To create a demand for their products, the Rosenthals advertised in newspapers and national magazines. Maidenform was the first intimate apparel company to advertise, with ads appearing on buses, billboards, local window and store-counter card displays and over the radio. Beatrice Rosenthal, Ida and William's daughter, joined Maidenform on the production line following her graduation from Barnard College. She then married Dr. Joseph Coleman, who later lead successful Maidenform advertising campaigns.Maidenform introduced the Allo-Ette® nylon marquisette just as the United States entered World War II and nylon was requisitioned for the war. Maidenform was forced to produce this style in substitute fabrics. The Allo-Ette® was featured in the first "I Dreamed" ad in 1949. Despite its limited wartime brassiere production, Maidenform advertised to "safeguard the value and goodwill of Maidenform's name." Manufacturing focused on products for the Armed Forces such as parachutes and vests. Ida Rosenthal patented a strap fastener that, once adjusted, will remain in that fixed position. Maidenform® introduced the Chansonette®, the most popular bra ever produced by Maidenform®. The cotton broadcloth basic sold 90 million units in more than 100 countries from 1949 through 1978. The introduction of Chansonette® coincided with the beginning of the Dream campaign and became the first American brassiere advertised in a Russian trade journal. The Dream campaign ran from 1949 through 1969 and revolutionized intimate apparel advertising by featuring women in their bras acting out fantasies of independence in public places. In 1959 Dr. Joseph Coleman succeeded Ida Rosenthal as president of the Maidenform Brassiere Company. One year later the company was renamed Maidenform, Inc. Happy Birthday! Maidenform® celebrates the 80th anniversary of the bra invented by Ida Rosenthal and Enid Bissett in 1922. Happy Birthday! Maidenform® re-invents the bra with the launch of One Fabulous Fit, featuring 21st century innovations in comfort and support, and technologically advanced materials. Enthusiastic consumer response to the way One Fabulous Fit feels on the body and looks under clothes makes it the #1 selling bra in department stores nationwide