Founder Sarah Tremellen
MBE In 1995 after giving birth, Tremellen and her friend Hannah Griffiths tried to do something about it. They decided to take an eight-week business course which culminated in presenting a business plan to their local bank manager. Their presentation won them a £10,000 bank loan to help them start Bravissimo. Working in the living room of Tremellen's
Twickenham flat, they produced a mail-order catalogue that included all the best bras they could find, and created a mailing list of around 75 people - mostly friends and family. Tremellen then telephoned several women's magazines and newspapers, and within a month achieved coverage in the
Daily Mail, bringing in 1,000 requests for a catalogue. In 1996 they were able to move out of Tremellen's Twickenham flat and 12 months later Tremellen and her husband Mike bought Hannah Griffiths out of the business. In November 1999, Bravissimo opened its first shop in
Ealing which remains one of the 16 stores nationwide they currently operate. Bravissimo sold a clothing range for a number of years, at one point employing the brand name Pepperberry, but the range was discontinued in 2021. Also in 2021 Bravissimo launched a range of accessories including jewellery mugs and water bottles. The products failed to meet sales expectations and were soon discontinued with much of the remaining stock given away or put in staff kitchens. The way that Bravissimo collects reviews means that customers who bought the accessories were invited to rate them for comfort and true to size in the same way they are asked to rate lingerie and swimwear. In 2022 Bravissimo relocated their headquarters to the current location at Athena Drive, which has a Warwick address. In September 2024 Sarah and Mike Tremellen sold Bravissimo to Wacoal Europe, stepping away from the company entirely. The New York store, Bravissimo's only physical presence in the United States, closed at the end of October 2024 after failing to break even. In June 2025 there was a fire in Bravissimo's warehouse. The company paused online and telephone orders and was only able to sell stock which was already in, or en route to shops. Online and telephone orders resumed at the start of the following September. ==Awards==