Sofia Panwar (27) is a British entrepreneur who left her graduate job as a paralegal to launch Unndr, the UK’s first monthly lingerie subscription business. She grew it to a seven-figure empire in just two years from her bedroom at her parent’s house.
Founded two years ago, the lingerie subscription club now has 4,000+ monthly subscribers, has accumulated over 300k social media followers in the last six months alone, and made £1.2million revenue last year.
Unndr offers women the opportunity to either subscribe to a monthly or quarterly box, which contains a lingerie set that has been curated and designed by their in-house team. Delivering confidence to every customer each box is £37, shipping to the UK and internationally including US, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and India.
The almost accidental entrepreneur, Sofia says her ‘naivety was my superpower when I started out.’ Not overthinking anything, Sofia launched Instagram for the business the same day she had the idea, as a way to gauge interest in the concept.
Sofia explains: “I came up with the idea of a lingerie subscription service and made the Instagram page there and then. We started to get followers quite quickly and I was receiving DMs daily from women who wanted to know more about the service. I was essentially collating a waiting list for when we launched. In the meantime, I invested hours and hours into researching styles, colours and manufacturers to bring my vision to life.”
Although Sofia was quick to act when she had landed on the idea of Unndr, it was her own personal experience with wearing lingerie that planted the seed for the business. Sofia shares: “When the pandemic and lockdown hit, I really focused on my wellbeing, from exercising regularly to eating healthy. I also bought new lingerie and the impact on how I felt was huge. When we were allowed to socialise again, and I wore my lingerie under my clothes, it gave me a hidden sense of confidence. It was like my own personal hack to feeling great.
“I then went back to university and, after getting my Masters in law, I worked as paralegal for a property management company in London. I found the corporate world quite disheartening and cut-throat. A year later, I’d had enough of my job; the workload was intense, I was under a lot of pressure, and I didn’t feel like my efforts were valued. I had always wanted to make a change in people’s lives, hence why I went into law in the first place, but I felt so drained. I cast my mind back to how good I had felt when I was prioritising my wellness and the confidence surge the lingerie gave me and I had a lightbulb moment; I could make a difference in women’s lives and give them a boost of confidence through a lingerie subscription service.
“In today’s world, lingerie is so often associated with hyper-sexualised connotations. I wanted to break the mould and create a brand for women to embrace their confidence and individuality for themselves; not for anyone else. I wanted Unndr to be a part of a woman’s self-care journey. A monthly feel-good package, direct to your door!”
After leaving her job in law, just four months after starting Unndr, Sofia focused solely on the business day in, day out, investing £5k from savings she and her boyfriend had in stock and branding. Revenue reached £45k in the first year, but rocketed to over £1million in the second year, with no outside investment.
Sofia credits the rapid growth to the brand’s social media success, with multiple videos going viral and the brand becoming known for its creative social media marketing. Sofia, who is self-taught on social media, explains: “We had around 10k followers last August, to now over 300k. I haven’t had any social media training, but I have a natural eye when shooting. Even if I was just packing boxes on my living room table I would wear clothes that matched the latest lingerie set, and place decoration pieces to also match, and carefully pick out the audio, to create a sensory experience for the consumer.”
In April 2024, Sofia moved the business out of her bedroom at her parent’s house and moved into a spacious office in London. Sofia laughs: “I was hosting calls with manufacturers and suppliers sat on my bed and I realised I needed a proper working space.”
Sofia has ambitious plans for Unndr’s continued growth including collection expansions, customer experiences and pop-up shops in some of the UK’s best known retail districts.
