Booms and Busts

Standing underneath the so-called Eye Candy Wall in her Manhattan boutique, Susan Nethero—bra mogul, self-esteem guru—is in the middle of yet another exhausting day. Despite flying in from Atlanta to tape a segment for the show, her boundless enthusiasm for bosoms remains evident. In five-inch heels and still caked in TV make-up, Nethero surveys an array of undergarments—with brand names such as Panache, PrimaDonna, and Fantasie—before she stops at a purple number with a Barbie-pink trim. "This one goes up to F cup," she says with delight. "Last year we sold 70,000 bras that were G cup and up!" Nethero then moves on to the satin cup of a sky-blue bra, another favorite. "We convinced this manufacturer to put in removable cookies," she says, referring to the bra's oval demipads. "If someone is a different size from one side to the other—which one in four women tell us is the case—we can have them fit perfectly."

This profound concern for servicing women of all shapes and sizes has helped Nethero, 58, amass a veritable undergarment empire. Unlike most bosom emporiums, Nethero's lingerie chain, Intimacy, requires that all its customers be fitted for their bra. This extra layer of service has helped the company expand to 15 stores and a staff of nearly 220. Included among its ranks are nearly 100 professional bra fitters—all of whom must first survive a week-long "bra boot camp," which Nethero describes as "an MBA for bra fitting." Last year, Intimacy fitted almost 200,000 women, says Nethero, and sold more than 290,000 bras. According to Belgian bra manufacturer Van de Velde, which bought a majority stake in the company last year, Intimacy generated $35.5 million in sales for 2010, a 27.5 percent jump from the previous year. Later this month, Nethero will open her 16th boutique, in McLean, Va.