“Individuality fuels our purpose but in a world fearing differences, it can be more intuitive to try to fit in rather than stand for our uniqueness and argue against the norm.


The underargument exists to remind ourselves to always embrace authenticity so we can find our vision, fulfill our purpose, and simply live our best lives.”

-Maïna Cissé

We are so happy to welcome this beautiful brand into the shop! 

Read on for more information about the brand, its founder, and the way its designs are made, and click here to shop our selection.

Words & images from The Underargument

Statement from the designer:

Playing on words with undergarment and argument, the underargument advocates the power of individuality and arguing against the norm.

As I often say, the world did not need a new lingerie brand. But using a product that's so close to our skin as a medium reminding us daily to embrace everything that is us made a lot of sense to me.

This is how in 2015, I set to start a platform that would be both a content site sharing authentic inclusive stories and an empowering lingerie brand.

Each collection (the first one came out in 2018) is an argument against the norm. Each lingerie piece is named and labelled after an empowering quote to remind the wearer to embrace their individuality.

These underarguments come to life through the collections but also through the stories of the women who vulnerably volunteer to share their life experience and shoot with us.

All the women shown on the site have been selected for the story they chose to share with us, we select these before we know what the women look like (we only meet them on shoot day) and without asking for their size.

Lingerie used to and still has an empowering and therapeutic effect on me. I'm hoping that the underargument, both through the lingerie and the content shared, will take you on a journey that will have the same beneficial effects on you. I hope that through embracing your individuality, you find and fulfill your purpose because the world needs your unique gifts to become a better place.

-Maïna

About the brand's production standards:

What is sustainability?
Sustainability is on everybody's radar and everyone's lips nowadays. And that's a great thing. But it also tends to refer to different things from one person to another. To us, it means:

• The preservation of the environment
• The conservation of the craft
• The protection of our people and the communities we work with
• We're not perfect, but we aim to find innovative ways to tick all these boxes as we go. Find out more about our focuses and how we do what we do below.

Craftsmanship & Quality
We're obsessed with finding ways to make our ranges more sustainable, but we do use human-made materials. So, our approach to counteract our impact in the short term is to provide a quality product that will last.

We spend a lot of time improving our styles, so they fit amazingly and meet your expectations - everyday luxury, durability and comfort.

We use premium grade fabrics and trims sourced from Europe's finest craftsmen (mainly in France, Italy and Switzerland) as well as organic cotton only. We also only use Oeko-Tex certified materials to guarantee our garments are not harmful to your skin.

Our manufacturer (based in Madagascar) is trained to the highest European standards and have been working exclusively with luxury brands from France and the UK for decades. Scroll down for more information on the factory and how it supports the local community.

Slow Fashion Mindset
We have a "slow fashion" approach to production. Sometimes it means that your favorite styles are only available on pre-order so we can better control production waste.

As annoying as having to wait for an order is in the era of Amazon Prime, it also means that we do not follow the fast fashion standards of seasonality. Just like our message, our collections are here to stay.

As long as you love them, all underarguments created will remain available for you to order season after season.

Packaging
Pretty packaging is the sh*t.

Honestly, there's very little that excites us more after arguing against the norm and making lingerie. But let's be real, after the oooh moment when you receive your parcel, you're not going to do much with yet another pretty box. Nor will you with a funky bubble wrap pouch or a million labels and cute swing tags.

So, our commitment is to use the bare minimum when it comes to packaging. We make it reusable (our labels turn into colorful bookmarks), recyclable (and recycled in the first place) or better yet, fully compostable if we can. And we'll still try to make you say oooh when you see it.

Looking To The Future
As we grow, we aim to continue looking for innovative ways and materials to make our brand more sustainable ecologically. We will also continue focusing on craftsmanship.

All this, so the intricate skills required for the beautiful art of lace and lingerie making continue to be passed on for generations to come and support the communities we are involved with.

Supporting Communities
We are proud to support the foundation Sekool founded by our manufacturer in Madagascar. Sekool creates educational programs to re-integrate children from disadvantaged communities into the public school system. The success of their program has seen them giving the very first school they built to the government to run as a public school.

They also make the best use of the factory grounds and grow a fantastic veggie garden at the back of the premises. They use all these homegrown vegetables to prepare fresh meals for the kids daily. The factory is extremely observant of their staffs' wellbeing. They follow stringent codes to guarantee that the workers are always safe (they are in the process of finalising their international certification). In Africa, labour communities are often subject to malnutrition, so they provide food to ensure all the workers have a nutritious meal daily.