Hunkemöller Lingerie Knocks Out the Competition!

As of 2022, Hunkemöller now ships to the US! Visit Hunkemöller.com to shop!

Bras in mainstream department stores in our country need makeovers. I’ve previously written posts (find them here and here) about my frustration with bras and not being able to find ones that are supportive, comfortable, unpadded, and sexy.  I’m a natural 36DD with an average sized body and I struggle to find bras that I need.

I traveled to Mons, Belgium a year ago and discovered Hunkemöller, the number one lingerie retail brand in Northern Europe.  I bought a few items from the store and eventually fell in love with them.  They are sexy, supportive, beautifully made, and unpadded. Marvelous!

My previous posts got the attention of Hunkemöller’s CEO, Philip Mountford, who kindly sent me a few items to try out. From him, I received a luxurious, unpadded, and underwire Maya bra and the matching Brazilian Maya panty. In addition, I was lucky enough to receive my favorite nightgown, a black Modal lace slipdress.  My review follows.

Maya Bra – To start, Hunkemöller’s Maya bra features a beautiful lace pattern and unlined, unpadded, and underwire cups. The bra has full cup coverage so nothing pops out of the top or sides.  The adjustable straps aren’t too thin nor are too thick.  They are sturdy enough to support, but these straps are also pretty with bows and decorative stitching.  So even if I am wearing a tank top, I feel comfortable showing my straps because they’re decorative, pretty, and aren’t ridiculously wide. (I’ve had some of those before – not pretty!)

Unlike other bras for large breasted women, Hunkemöller’s Maya bra has only 2 hook closures, along with 3 adjustments. Most bras I wear, especially minimizers, have three hooks, basically requiring a woman to have to put it on backwards with the hooks in the front, in order to fasten it, then spin it around and put it on.  With the 2 hooks on this bra, it’s easy to put on the “usual” way.  Despite only being 2 hooks, it’s incredibly supportive.

Overall, the bra exceeds my expectations.  With high quality stitching, beautifully smooth fabrics, soft lace, decorative accents, and excellent support, the bra is a clear winner. Hunkemöller definitely pays attention to detail.
Maya Panty – The Brazilian Maya panty features the same satin and lace combination as the matching Maya bra.  The panty is also decorated with the same feminine detail.  Unlike other brands, this Hunkemöller panty has generous sizing to sit on the hips and to help eliminate the dreaded bulge above the panty waistline.  The delicate lace gives a nice shape to my booty and accentuates my curves. Once again, Hunkemöller delivers on a quality product that is sexy and well constructed.

 Slipdress – The modal slipdress, made of rayon/viscose and elastane (spandex), feels incredibly smooth and soft and the fabric does not cling. The bodice of the slipdress is made of elegant, soft lace that is lined in the chest area.  The lace section in the back and around the waist is unlined.  The lining and spandex integrated into the bodice area provides a decent amount of support, much more than in other nightgowns I’ve tried, that offer NO support.  Also, the straps are adjustable, for comfort and support.  By falling just above my knees, I can comfortably wear this nightgown around my teen/pre-teen daughters and not feel like I’m running around the house in something that’s only reserved for the bedroom.  This pretty slipdress provides enough support in bed so my breasts stay in place with the right amount of cradling.

I absolutely love this nightie – it’s comfortable, soft, smooth, provides slight support for sleeping, it’s sexy, and most importantly, it makes me feel good about myself.  It’s not clingy, not skimpy, and not expensive ($32-$34 USD). It’s very well constructed also – my first slipdress is over a year old and hardly shows any wear, despite wearing it almost every night. This is the perfect sexy nightgown for modest, average sized women and mothers like me that are large breasted.  My husband is super glad I’ve ditched my oversized t-shirt and pajama pants for the slipdress – and I am to, as I no longer feel plain and frumpy, but pretty and sexy.

Just looking at their website, one can tell Hunkemöller has a lot of fun with their business and their products.  All of the models are smiling, laughing, are healthy, and actually modeling the products. Over at Victoria’s Secret, their website looks like a gentleman’s website with very beautiful photos of very beautiful women (like Hunkemöller), but it doesn’t cater to their client base of women.  The models are sultry, serious, and provocative. They appear to be mostly selling to men and making what men want their women to be wearing, not what women actually want to wear. I usually just get frustrated with Victoria’s Secret’s nightgowns because I always have to wear a bra with them.  Kinda defeats the point, right?

Most importantly, Hunkemöller doesn’t just provide lingerie.  It puts a bigger message out there to women of all shapes and sizes that you can be “sexy at any size.” They offer bras up to cup size H (48 total sizes!) and other products are offered at XL or XXL.  America’s 1 lingerie retailer, Victoria’s Secret, limits its bra sizes to DDD, and after searching, they only offer 2 unlined bras for DDD cups.  Two.  They offer more bras in that size with a lining they describe as “lightly lined for subtle lift” or with various levels of padding.  Not that women with DDD cups want padding. Let’s not forget to mention that Victoria’s Secret charges, on average, $40-$55 per bra. Hunkemöller charges $25-$37 USD for their bras.  As someone who has worn bras from both companies, I can tell you, that from my experience Victoria’s Secret’s bras do not hold up well after a year of use.  My Hunkemöller bra (which I wash the exact same way as the Victoria’s Secret bra) still looks almost brand new after that same year of time.

Hunkemöller isn’t an intimidating store either.  It doesn’t solely cater to small and medium breasted 18-26 year olds under 130 pounds.  Beauty positivity and confidence at any age and size is the message Hunkemöller is trying to get across to women. Realistic sizing, practical products, and female friendly designs trump other brands. This company excels at being a high-street brand with great products and great service.  All employees from Hunkemöller I’ve interacted with have been extremely helpful and friendly, and service was always top-notch.

Fortunately, I no longer have to wear bras that look like the one above to support me properly.

Now I can wear a Hunkemöller bra like this, that makes me feel sexy, confident, and supported:

Unfortunately, for now, Hunkemöller is only available in Europe.  They cannot ship to the states even with online orders.  So if you are ever over the pond, click here for a list of their store locations.  I guess here is where I make the disclaimer that I do not work for the company, nor know anyone that does.  I’m simply a 38-year-old mom in the suburbs of Chicago providing my independent review on a pretty awesome company that makes lingerie “sexy for any size.”

My husband is pretty pleased with my discovery of Hunkemöller, too.  That makes everyone happy, including me.  Thank you, Hunkemöller!

Happy Travels!

Julie