Ultimo (brand)
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Ultimo was a Scottish designer
lingerie Lingerie (, , ) is a category of primarily women's clothing including undergarments (mainly brassieres), sleepwear, and lightweight robes. The choice of the word is often motivated by an intention to imply that the garments are alluring, fashio ...
brand, majority owned by
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...
–based lingerie group MAS Holdings. It was founded in 1996 by Michelle Mone, via her company MJM International Ltd., with her then-husband Michael. In 2013, after their marriage collapsed, Ultimo was transferred to
joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...
company Ultimo Brands International Ltd, an equal partnership between Michelle Mone and MAS Holdings. In November 2014, Mone sold the majority of her stake to MAS Holdings. In August 2015, Mone resigned from the boards of MJM International Ltd and Ultimo Brands International Ltd.


History

Michelle Mone was born and grew up in the East End of
Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
, Scotland. After an early career as a model, she ran
Labatt Labatt Brewing Company Limited () is a Anheuser-Busch InBev-owned brewery headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1847, Labatt is the largest brewer in Canada. In 1995, it was purchased by Belgian brewer Interbrew. In 2004, Interb ...
's Scottish sales and marketing team. After being made redundant and having her second child, in October 1996 she decided, while wearing a very uncomfortable cleavage enhancing bra at a dinner dance, that she could create a better design. Her stated aims were to create a bra that was both more comfortable, and better looking, creating more cleavage. With her then-husband Michael, Mone founded MJM International Ltd in November 1996. After three years of research, design and development, the company patented the Ultimo bra. In August 1999, Mone launched Ultimo at Selfridges department store in London. In May 2000, Ultimo was launched in the United States at the
Saks Fifth Avenue Saks Fifth Avenue (Colloquialism, colloquially Saks) is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain founded in 1867 by Andrew Saks. The first store opened in the F Street and 7th Street shopping districts, F Street shopping distric ...
store in New York. In September 2003, MJM launched their third design, The Ultimo Miracle Body, a backless and front-less bra. In April 2004, the company launched a new lingerie brand with
Asda Asda Stores Limited (), trading as Asda and often styled as ASDA, is a British supermarket and petrol station chain. Its headquarters is in Leeds, England. The company was incorporated as Associated Dairies and Farm Stores in 1949. It expanded ...
, branded "Michelle for George", and in September 2006, launched "Adore Moi" for
Debenhams Debenhams plc was a British department store chain that operated in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark, as well as franchised locations across Europe and the Asia Pacific. The company was founded in 1778 as a single store in London and gr ...
. In May 2007, MJM moved beyond lingerie, with the launch of the "Trim Secrets" diet pill. MJM International signed a deal with Debenhams CEO Rob Templeman to open stand alone Ultimo stores within Debenhams. The first Ultimo shop opened in Glasgow's Debenhams Silverburn in October 2007. As of June 2008, there were twelve Ultimo stores across the UK and Ireland. In addition, MJM International supplied Debenhams, Selfridges,
House of Fraser House of Fraser (rebranding to Frasers) is a British department store chain with 23 locations across the United Kingdom and 2 in Ireland, part of Frasers Group. It was established in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1849 as Arthur and Fraser. By 1891, it ...
,
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, Grattan,
Littlewoods Littlewoods was a retail and football betting company founded in Liverpool, England, by John Moores in 1923. By the 1980s, it had grown to become the largest private company in Europe but subsequently declined in the face of increased compe ...
, Figleaves, and ASOS.com, along with a number of independent lingerie stores. In April 2018, Ultimo announced that it would cease trading within the UK.


Marketing

Ultimo has named numerous celebrities as the face and body of the brand, as well as other underwear ranges that fall under its banner. Among them are models Kelly Brook and Helena Christensen, actresses Gemma Atkinson (''Ultimo D-G cup'') and Kara Tointon (''Michelle for George''), singers
Mel B Melanie Janine Brown, Order of the British Empire, MBE (born 29 May 1975), commonly known as Mel B or Melanie B, is an English singer, songwriter, television personality, and actress. She rose to fame in the mid 1990s as a member of the Pop mus ...
,
Sarah Harding Sarah Harding (born Sarah Nicole Hardman; 17 November 1981 – 5 September 2021) was an English singer, model and actress. Her professional career began in 2002 when she successfully auditioned for the ITV (TV channel), ITV reality series ''Po ...
, and Samantha Mumba (''Per Amore)'', television presenters Jenni Falconer, Peaches Geldof,
Melinda Messenger Melinda Jane Messenger (born 23 February 1971) is an English television presenter and former glamour photography, glamour model and Page Three girl. She presented the magazine programme ''Live from Studio Five'' and was formerly the co-Televisio ...
, and Melanie Sykes. The last high-profile Ultimo model was Petra Nemcova. The first Ultimo girl was Scottish model Mary Kennedy, but the brand went global after Mone claimed Julia Roberts had worn an Ultimo prototype in ''Erin Brockovich'', although the film's costume designer, Jeffrey Kurland, has since refuted this.
Penny Lancaster Penelope Claire Lancaster, Lady Stewart (born 15 March 1971) is an English model and television personality. She is married to rock singer Rod Stewart. In 2014, she joined the ITV lunchtime show '' Loose Women''. She appeared as a panellist fr ...
, the future wife of singer
Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British singer and songwriter. Known for his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists of all time, having sold ...
, became the first high-profile Ultimo girl. However, she was replaced a year later by Stewart's ex-wife Rachel Hunter. The decision, dubbed "Bra Wars" by the British press, was seen as a publicity stunt which infuriated Stewart who described Mone as a "manipulative cow", yet two of his daughters – Kimberly and
Ruby Ruby is a pinkish-red-to-blood-red-colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum ( aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapph ...
– would later model for Ultimo. In 2010, Mone promoted her brand by posing in specially designed underwear after losing six stone. Following the success of her Ultimo debut, in 2011 and 2014 she recruited non-models to front a new 'real woman' campaign. In 2014, Mone's daughter Rebecca became the face of Ultimo, modelling the ''DD-G'' range.


See also

* Michelle, Baroness Mone


References

{{lingerie Brassieres Lingerie brands Scottish brands Clothing companies of Scotland Clothing retailers of Scotland