Empreinte
The word 'imprint' is first recorded in the English language in 1374, and was borrowed directly
from Old French. The word is still in use today in France, and it's one of the few words which
have never really changed their meaning since their development in Latin. The word in French is
'empreinte', and one particular French lingerie company took the word as their name way back in
1946. In French, the term 'l'empreinte' has a deeper, emotional connotation than the simple
one-dimensional 'imprint' in English; its meaning can be more closely transliterated to something
like 'profound influence'… it's a powerfully evocative term for which we don't really have a
definitive synonym.
As a company, Empreinte makes its home in the very aptly named French city of Brest, where it's
been since the company started in 1946. It was an idealistic male designer, Jean Le Her, working
with just four seamstresses, who began Empreinte in post-War France, but within a year they'd
become successful enough to acquire a larger property and expand to 15 employees another year
later. By 1961, Empreinte had exceeded 100 employees.
Highly Specialised Lingerie
They achieved this success by being a highly specialised brand - dedicating themselves to women
with larger busts only. In 1956, various American lingerie trends had ousted the previous
attitude which prescribed the concealment of large breasts, and replaced it with an attitude of
emphasis and indulgence. Now it was a much safer, less proscriptive atmosphere in which Empreinte
could design and manufacture comfortable, beautiful underwear for full-busted women; and the women
who benefited from an Empreinte lingerie set were overwhelmingly grateful for the revolution in
underwear design.
In the company's own words, 'Brands are not born powerful. They grow over time'. Empreinte
have proved this maxim true by starting out as team just five strong in a tiny boutique in an
ironically named French town and growing, blossoming into a design powerhouse whose trends
transcend glamour and beauty and whose position in the lingerie market is the result of assiduous
research and development over the course of sixty long years.
Empreinte Today
Today, Empreinte manufactures bras from 32C to 46G, with prominence applied to functionality
and comfort. The fact that each and every product in Empreinte's repertoire looks as sensational
and elegant as it feels is a very welcome by-product of the supportive designs. Empreinte take
great pride in the fact that they understand the morphology of female body-geometry, and in
particular the geometry of fuller figured women, and the reviews given to the bras by
larger-busted wearers are unanimously positive. 'Laura', a young Dutch woman with a natural E-Cup
who recently reviewed Empreinte's bras, said that she felt constant disappointment with the
underwear industry that she couldn't find a gorgeous bra to fit her comfortably. It's a
frustration which is common for large-busted women. But when she tried Empreinte, she said now 'I
feel so at home in these bras', and expressed sincere gratitude that there was a specialist in
larger, sexier underwear.
All Empreinte products are manufactured in France from only the finest European fabrics and
embroideries. Empreinte are always developing new techniques and shapes and have recently
introduced into their collections the 'Very very plunge' bra, a moulded cup for larger sizes and a
seamfree, invisible lace.
Rigby & Peller are proud stockists of Empreinte's gorgeous underwear. The lines we stock are
generally in a range of colours; around five different colours per style, and two styles per
line. The colours range from youthful, summery pinks, greens and blues to profound blacks and
vibrant purples. Empreinte also produce excellent basic ranges in ivory, black and skin colours.
They avoid mixing colours, so most of their underwear sets consist of a single shade for a strong,
bold look which is highly appealing, romantic and sexy. Tonal embroideries and complementary
subtle shading add depth and detail. The bras range in price between £65 and £75 on average.
Most of Empreinte's lingerie sets are available with a choice of G-string bottoms or bikini
briefs, and there are some hipster shorts in some of the ranges too.