A Macclesfield lingerie brand has seen sales surge by 200% during the pandemic.

Pour Moi, which has a registered address on Park Street, along with a warehouse on Queen's Avenue, followed a national trend with increasing lingerie sales as people spent more time at home and hoping to spice up their lockdown lives.

The Macclesfield company saw total sales rising 46% to £31 million in the year to last September, an increase that followed impressive leaps in previous years.

It webstore sales rose 154% last year on a two-year basis and the first quarter of the current financial year (October to December 2021) saw 297% two-year growth.

The company's primary focus is on its webstore, although it also has a physical store in Chester and plans to open more in the UK.

Additionally, it sells through Next, Very, ASOS and Zalando, although its own DTC sales account for almost 60% of the business.

As well as the Macclesfield business making the most of the unprecedented opportunity lockdowns presented, it has managed to retain large numbers of the new customers it attracted during the pandemic period.

Founder Michael Thompson reported profits jumped 75% in the latest year to £2.7 million, easing his initial fears that the pandemic would be devastating for the business.

He said that "like a lot of people, for the first couple of months of the pandemic we were terrified," repeating what many in the fashion sector have told us in the past year.

Their biggest problem was that 80% of its business when the pandemic started was swimwear. And with holidays cancelled, sales in that segment at all price levels dropped off a cliff.

The firm was clearly able to pivot to more lockdown-relevant categories with Thompson saying that "if you're stuck at home, your entertainment has limited resources, it was either streaming something, playing Scrabble or buying lingerie."

He said online sales of "sexy lingerie" spiked early in the lockdown and that "every customer need changed overnight".

Importantly though, the need to be agile remains paramount as he also said that purchasing behaviour quickly moved towards more everyday lingerie.

That's also been clear since Covid restrictions were eased last summer with Thompson claiming shapewear sales online increased 420% and strapless bra sales rose 140% as more people were able to socialise, attend events and go on holiday.

Pour Moi started in a tiny office above a shop in Macclesfield in October 2005.

They have grown from two staff members to becoming one of the UK's most recognised lingerie brands.

According to their website, the business was founded on principles "that people shouldn't have to overpay for good-fitting lingerie, no matter what their size".

The company has made significant donations to Macclesfield's East Cheshire Hospice in the past, who offer support to those with life-limiting illnesses from their centre on Millbank Drive.

They made a whopping 26,750 donation in July 2020, not long after the companies sales started to pick up, with those looking to spice up their lockdown life.

Macclesfield: They currently have a 20% off sale on their website for this weekend.

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