FullBeauty Brands, whose brands include Catherines, OneStopPlus, SwimsuitsForAll, Eloquii and Jessica London, has added another size-inclusive brand to the mix: It has acquired Cuup, a U.S.-based digitally native intimates brand.
FullBeauty declined to disclose the acquisition price.
Cuup, which was founded in 2017, manufactures intimates that accentuate consumers’ natural form and has a special focus on the underserved large bra-cup market.
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Kearnon O’Molony, cofounder and chief executive officer of Cuup, will be leaving the company, but the rest of the leadership team is staying on. Before starting Cuup, O’Molony was managing director in Blackstone’s private equity group. He is also the founder and partner of Protea, which invests in a focused portfolio of small- to midsize disruptive consumer brands. O’Molony declined to comment.
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After building up its direct-to-consumer business, Cuup revealed in March that it opened its first wholesale account, Bloomingdale’s, launching products nationwide online and in-store at the 59th Street flagship. Cuup also provides a virtual fitting service.
As part of the partnership, Bloomingdales.com carries 17 styles from Cuup’s collection of signature unlined bras, underwear range and Cuup Swim, available in 53 sizes. Bloomingdale’s 59th Street is carrying a similar selection of 15 styles available in 53 sizes.
The Cuup acquisition comes on the heels of FullBeauty’s acquisition of Eloquii Inc., the digitally native plus-size fashion brand, from Walmart last April.
With the growing intimates market — $13 billion and growing in the U.S. and $45 billion globally — the deal is the latest as part of FullBeauty’s plan to expand its customer base, reach new demographics and add recognized size-inclusive apparel brands to its digital mall, which is its own multibrand e-commerce website, and will feature products from Eloquii, June+Vie and SwimsuitsForAll as of this fall.
“We are thrilled to welcome Cuup and the Cuup team to the Full Beauty Brands family, as we continue to grow the leading destination for great-fitting, quality, on-trend, size-inclusive apparel,” said Jim Fogarty, FullBeauty Brands chief executive officer. “As an innovative, high-growth brand seeing to disrupt the intimates category, Cuup is an exciting addition to the FullBeauty Brands portfolio. Cuup enables us to further tap into the growing intimates addressable market, extends our reach among a new demographic of customers, and expands our offerings to our existing customers. As we look to scale and grow, Cuup will bring excitement to our new digital mall. We look forward to leveraging our platform to elevate the brand to the next level.”
While Cuup is committed to providing high-quality, stylish and functional intimates apparel across 53 sizes, its competitive advantage is in supporting large cup sizes. The company has a strong digital following with more than 235,000 followers on Instagram and a growing TikTok community.
“We see such tremendous potential for both brands with this partnership,” said Julie Carnevale, brand leader at Eloquii and head of Full Beauty’s new digital mall. “Cuup sits at the intersection of style and function, and the level of connect that the brand has with its customers will allow us to uncover meaningful data and insight that will inform how we continue designing our new digital mall. The Eloquii team is also pleased to welcome the Cuup team to the family.”
FullBeauty Brands’ roster offers a breadth of sizing with apparel from 12W to 44W, bras, in bands from 30 to 58 and cups from A to O, and footwear in medium, wide and wide-wide, and more. The latest acquisition will allow FullBeauty Brand to further expand its presence in the $81 billion women’s plus-size sector in the U.S., which is growing three times faster than the broader women’s apparel market, according to the company.