It’s a scenario that is only too familiar to many mums — your 12-year-old daughter needs a bra, but the racks are packed with lacy, push-up, padded contraptions that leave them looking like a Victoria’s Secret model.
With two tween daughters, Melbourne mum Jo Konstandinou was looking forward to taking her girls shopping for their first bra but was horrified with what she found on shelves.
“It’s incredibly hard to find bras made for girls,” she tells The Weekly. “Everything is padded, push-up and lacy with moulded cups that give the girls an inappropriate shape.
“Even A-cup bras aren’t made for teens; they’re made for adult women with smaller breasts, to make them look sexy for adult men. It’s very hard to find something to buy your 12-year-old daughter that doesn’t sexualise them.”
Fed up with what was on offer, Jo was contemplating what to do about it when her friend Josie Chapman rang with a wonderful idea she had been working on for a few months — if no one would make age appropriate bras for their daughters, they would make them themselves.
In January 2013, BlossyBloom was born, with the help of a third friend Rebekah Hancock.
BlossyBloom founders Josie Chapman, Jo Konstandinou and Rebekah Hancock.
The brand sells a range of bras, and matching undies, without padding or underwire in a range of fun colours and patterns that young girls love.
“They are beautiful and comfortable and girls just love them” Jo says. “They’re fun and a bit grown-up, but they don’t sexualise them at all. It’s something mums and daughters can be happy with.
“We know these girls are growing up and becoming women, but it’s just way too early to turn them into sex objects. This way they can start feeling like grown-ups without looking like them too.”
BlossyBloom underwear is available online at blossybloom.com.au.
