Finding support for my E cup boobs was a nightmare but it started side hustle which is now a multi-million pound empire
Finding support for my E cup boobs was a nightmare but it started my side hustle which is now a multi-million pound empire
NEED a lift? You could do worse than trying a bit of strategically placed tape on your boobs.
No matter your cup size, it’s the best option for those outfits where you need an extra bit of support without wearing a bra.
And while stars like Kim Kardashian have been using tape to keep their chest in place for some time, the trend has become more mainstream over the past five years.
Launched in March 2017, Perky Pear is one of the UK market leaders, with a seven-figure turnover. It is stocked by the likes of Pretty Little Thing, where it’s the top-selling accessory, Boohoo and MissPap.
Celebrity ambassadors have been key in helping the brand get the word out, with reality TV’s Vicky Pattison, 35, and Olivia Bowen, 28, being advocates for the tape.
Founder Samantha Ryder, from Cheadle Hulme, Manchester, came up with the idea in 2016 when struggling to find strong enough support for her size E-cup boobs.
Samantha, 31, says: “I was newly single and was going out wearing slinky, plunge bodysuits, which I absolutely loved.
“But there was nothing on the market for larger cup ladies like myself to wear these types of clothes and give support.
‘People thought I was crazy’
“I thought, ‘if nothing was working for me, then what about other people?’
“Every tape and stick-on bra I tried fell off within the hour. I’d take duct tape out with me, which was just not comfortable.”
Samantha came across a creative solution at her gran’s house. She says: “My grandma used to be a physiotherapist and when my brother got a sports injury on his knee she brought out cotton-blend physiotherapy tape and said, ‘Why don’t you try this?’
“It was really stretchy, but only two and a half centimetres wide. I was thinking, all I need is a bigger version of this.
“People thought I was crazy, trying to source this material to make a prototype. I never wanted strip tape — I always wanted it to be an all-in-one solution, but also shaped, to give more of a cleavage.”
Keen to create a product that would suit all cup sizes, Samantha made a prototype.
She says: “I was working full-time as a graphic designer while trying to find a manufacturer so I could get hold of the material in the UK. I would do my nine to five, then come home and work until 2am on Perky Pear. I started to fall asleep at my day job, with my manager telling me I needed to go to bed earlier.”
Samantha decided to quit her job ahead of her new business launch — and her firm is now a full-blown family operation after she brought twin sister Charlotte on board.
She says: “We started in my mum’s living room, with her helping me pack everything. I soon realised that I needed more help so my sister came on board within the first eight weeks of launching.
“She’s very good on social media so she was helping me with that from the get-go while still working in property. We both have the same passion for the brand, and since then she has even helped design some of the pieces in our range.”
Seven months after launch, Samantha and Charlotte moved to an office, with mum Jane, 63, joining the packaging team.
‘Organic to our brand’
Samantha says: “We started with £10,000 and in our first financial year we only had seven months’ trading and we were already in six figures.” With tape from £12.99, the brand has gone from strength to strength, and is now a multi-million-pound company.
Samantha says: “Eighteen months in we received a £1million investment which was huge for us and in 2019 we had a US director come on board to help expand the business further.”
It is the only breast tape firm with production based in the UK, with its head office and warehouse located in Stockport.
Samantha says: “One of the things that has really worked for us is celebrities who are organic to our brand.
“You want to make sure you’re sharing the tape to as many people as possible.”
It’s not only the brand that has grown since its launch five years ago — the twins’ families have as well. Last September Charlotte became a mum, giving birth to daughter Molly, with fiance Matthew Allen, 31, while Samantha welcomed baby Arthur with fiance Jonathan Holt, 31, in July.
Samantha says: “Both of our fiances work for the brand, so we’ve just been tag teaming and doing shifts with the baby.”
And with a top-secret new celebrity ambassador in the pipeline and a move to a bigger office, it seems Perky Pear is taking on the breast tape world — one boob at a time.