Lingerie Firm Change Makes Staff Wear Bra Sizes On Tags
”WE have dirty old men coming into the shop looking at my cup size. Why should everyone get to know that? Guys selling underwear don’t have to show their size,” says one employee of Change, the Scandinavian lingerie chain.
Staff are encouraged to wear tags displaying their bust circumference and cup size.
Says Susann Haglund, CEO of Change:
”I don’t get why this would be seen as demeaning in any way. I am sure there are those that feel that way, but it is completely voluntary to wear a name tag with your cup size.”
However, one former employee tells The Local:
”When you start you get receive a document which states that ‘name tag with size is always worn’, so to me that doesn’t reflect that it was voluntary. It isn’t great when you’re out on town and people greet you with your name and cup size. It feels sort of private.”
She quit and complained to the Commercial Employees’ Union (Handelsanställdas förbund – Handels). They are fighting to have the tags banned.
”It is completely demeaning,” says the union’s Jaana Pålsson, which now planning to sue the company after negotiations failed.
But how bad is it? Are the tags used tos ell bras or something more?
The Change website trills:
At Change, we respect your natural beauty. That’s why our lingerie doesn’t dictate how your body should look or promise a whole new you. What it will do is give you a variety of styles in a fit that feels just right. It’s all about feeling beautiful. So feel free to express yourself. To explore the different facets of your femininity. And the woman within.
This is the philosophy behind Change and the key to our success.
When we design our lingerie in Denmark and manufacture at our own factories in China, our way of thinking is that every part of the bra should support the best of every woman. And she should experience the best quality for the best price.
At stores around the world, we train our staff to provide superb service – to measure a woman and guide her to find the perfect bra that accentuates her in the best possible way. YOU. ONLY BETTER.
All noble stuff, which is only slighly sullied by news of the firm’s “Paris Collection”, which invites women to “celebrate your inner belle du jour”.
Is that Belle Du Jour, the famous British prostitute and sometime blogger? Female empowerment is the stated driving force behind the bras, but sex seems to be the selling point.
Posted: 4th, November 2011 | In: The Consumer Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
