Our Interview with Parfait Lingerie! (PART ONE)

Parfait is a brand our store loves to carry and customers love to wear! Their blog is full of fun stories and interviews like the one below; and inspired us to start a blog of our own! Last summer we were lucky enough to be featured, and we're so excited to share that interview with you in 4 parts.

Parfait Team: What inspired you to start a business?

Christine Longette: It’s kind of a funny story.  A few years back I had been frustrated at my job where my boss haphazardly decided to close the office over the holidays and leave all the staff without pay for 2 weeks.  During that 2 weeks, my one and only bra that really fit somehow disappeared.  In looking around for a store near my home that sold my size (34G) I found that there weren’t any unless I drove over 30 minutes away.  So… I guess I was inspired by my own need, and knew that couldn’t be the only woman in my area who wears a hard to find size.

Parfait: What about the lingerie industry interested you?  

Christine: My first experience with anything business related in the lingerie industry was when I attended my first CurvExpo Show in NY.  Once there, I was hungry to learn all I could about what was available and what might work in getting my business off the ground.  I sat in countless booths during the 2 days I attended and learned from so many different sources.  The most interesting aspect of the whole thing was how helpful and community-like it felt.  I even spoke with other boutique owners and they were so helpful.  The feeling I got, and still have, is that we’re not competitors – we’re all in this together.


Image via Brazen Bras

Parfait: What do you enjoy most about working with your daughter, Angela Longette?

Christine: We have so much fun at work.  We seem to complete each other’s thoughts most of the time, and other times we balance each other out.  We get a lot of mother/daughter shoppers and it’s always fun to work with them.  Funny thing is many times she ends up working with the mom as I work with the daughter.

Parfait: Your store is located in Freehold, NJ. How did you decide on the location?

Christine: I’ve lived in Freehold for the past 28 years.  When I realized there were no specialty lingerie boutiques in the area, I knew it was time to open one.

Parfait: Tell us about your store name. What inspired the name Brazen Bras? 

Christine: I had been throwing ideas around but nothing seemed to stick and then, believe it or not, I just woke up with the name in my head one morning, along with the logo idea.  I wanted my shop to empower women.  Essentially what we sell is confidence.  The bras are just a means to an end.


Image via Brazen Bras

Parfait: What do you enjoy most about your local community?

Christine: My local community is wonderfully diverse.  We have a wonderful mixture of ages, ethnicities, and orientations in ours and the surrounding towns which gives us the opportunity to reach out to an incredibly large pool of women/people who can benefit from what we offer.  It also makes shopping and buying the lingerie we sell much more fun.  We carry a large variety of different types of lingerie beyond the bra and panty.  We strive to be a “safe place” where anyone can feel comfortable shopping and our local community seems to be very supportive of that.  Our participation in the Susan G. Komen fund raiser is an example of the community supporting us as we help to empower our community.

Parfait: Congratulations on your four-year anniversary! Do you have any big plans you can share with us?

Christine: We haven’t planned anything yet but we’re hoping to put some kind of celebration together in the late spring or summer.

Parfait: You were a part of the 2^nd Annual Pink Power Party fundraiser on February 9 at iPlay America! What can you share with us about the event?

Christine: The Pink Power Party was a huge success!  We raised over $12,000 for Susan G. Komen.  The original date of the event was snowed out and on the “snow date” some of our models were not available so all of our staff modeled lingerie in the show.  It was an unexpected but fun turn of events and I think did a lot to empower the community women when they saw the women that work at the store up on the runway being “Brazen”.  We’re all different shapes and sizes here so it was a great example of the range of sizes we carry and how ANY woman can feel bold, beautiful, and brazen.

Parfait: Brazen Bras has 45 5-star reviews on Facebook! What’s the secret to creating a memorable experience for customers?

Christine: We try to make a visit to our boutique relaxed and fun.  Many women are stressed out by trying on bras so we try to take that stress out of the equation.

Christine Longette is the owner of Brazen Bras, a lingerie store in Freehold, New Jersey dedicated to helping women feel women feel beautiful and confident in lingerie.