Hunkemöller is a Dutch

fast fashion Fast fashion is the business model of replicating recent catwalk trends and High fashion, high-fashion designs, mass production, mass-producing them at a low cost, and bringing them to retail quickly while demand is at its highest. The term ''fast ...

retailer selling affordable

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 ...

and related products.

Corporate information

Hunkemöller identifies itself as a

company. It was founded in 1886 in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

as a speciality shop for

corsets A corset /ˈkɔːrsɪt/ is a support garment worn to constrict the torso into the desired shape and posture. They are traditionally constructed out of fabric with boning made of whalebone or steel, a stiff panel in the front called a busk which ...

Private equity ownership

The company was acquired by

The Carlyle Group The Carlyle Group Inc. is an American multinational company with operations in private equity, alternative asset management and financial services. As of 2023, the company had $426 billion of assets under management. Carlyle specializes in ...

in early 2016. Since the end of 2010 the company belonged to

PAI Partners PAI Partners is a French private equity firm based in Paris. It is one of the oldest firms in the sector, with its origins dating back to Paribas Affaires Industrielles, historically the principal investment arm of Paribas, which started opera ...

. It previously was part of

Maxeda Maxeda is a Dutch retail company owned by American investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) which is currently a market leader in the DIY retailing in The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. When Maxeda acquired Vendex KBB (KBB = ...

. In October 2021, The Carlyle Group shared its intention for the sale of the business. In October 2021, its CEO estimated the company's value at €1bn (£855.45m). In 2022, Carlyle sold the company but remained a minority shareholder.

Greenwashing

In 2022, the German consumer advocate filed a lawsuit against Hunkemöller for misleading advertising after Hunkemöller claimed products were sustainable when they were not produced with sustainable materials.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunkemoller Lingerie retailers Clothing companies established in 1886 Clothing companies of the Netherlands Companies based in North Holland Organisations based in Hilversum Companies formerly owned by Maxeda Retail companies of the Netherlands The Carlyle Group companies