Bestform

Bestform is an American budget bra brand that dates its start to 1924 and now belongs to Vanity Fair Brands, the intimates division of Fruit of the Loom, with a company called BL Intimates handling its marketing and distribution in North America. It makes plain everyday bras, wireless and underwire, many of them in cotton blends, sold at mass-market prices. Its old motto, still quoted on its own site, was "No finer Fit at Any Price."

The 1924 date and the gaps around it

Bestform's site states the founding year in a homepage tagline that ends "since 1924" and repeats it on its about page. That puts the brand in the first generation of American bra makers, the decade when the bandeau and the early bust confiner were replacing the corset in department stores. Maidenform, the best-documented company from that period, was founded by Ida Rosenthal and partners in New York only two years earlier.

Past the year, the record goes quiet. The brand names no founder and no founding city, there is no Wikipedia article about it, and we could not locate company histories or trade-press coverage that would fill in its first decades. Rather than borrow a story from a better-known competitor, this entry records what can be checked and leaves the rest open.

Under the Vanity Fair umbrella

The ownership chain is easier to follow at the top than at the bottom. Bestform's about page says the brand is part of Vanity Fair Brands, owned by Fruit of the Loom. Vanity Fair is one of the oldest names in American underwear. VF Corporation, which began in 1899 in Reading, Pennsylvania, as the Reading Glove and Mitten Manufacturing Company, moved into silk lingerie by 1913 and sold it under the Vanity Fair name. The company later called itself Vanity Fair Mills, went public in 1951 and became VF Corporation in 1969.

On January 23, 2007, VF sold its intimates business, Vanity Fair Intimates, to Fruit of the Loom for $350 million in cash. Fruit of the Loom renamed it Vanity Fair Brands and runs it as a wholly owned subsidiary. Wikipedia's summary of the division lists only Exquisite Form and Vassarette as its brands, so it does not confirm when Bestform joined the group or whether it came over in the 2007 sale. Bestform's own statement is the source for its place under the Vanity Fair roof.

BL Intimates, named on the site as the North American marketer and distributor, is the operating face of the brand today. We could not find public detail on that company's ownership or its terms with Fruit of the Loom.

What Bestform makes

The brand describes itself as "a collection of affordable intimates for the uncomplicated woman." The current range follows that line closely:

• Wireless bras and underwire bras, unlined, lightly lined and lightly padded.
• Front-closure and back-close styles.
• Cotton and cotton-blend bodies, with some jacquard patterning.
• Sizes for what the brand calls average and full-figured customers.

None of this is aimed at fashion. These are workday bras, built to be bought again in the same size when the old one wears out. A front-close wireless cotton bra is a specific kind of customer's favorite: someone who wants easy fastening, no wire and a fabric that breathes, and who has little interest in lace.

A heritage name in the value aisle

Bestform's position is a familiar one in American intimates. It is an old name now worked as a value label inside a large apparel group, sold on price and repeat purchase rather than on design. Its site leans on reassurance: free shipping on orders over $25 and a free bra wash bag with purchase were the offers running when we checked.

What the brand has kept from 1924, at least in words, is the claim about fit. "No finer Fit at Any Price" was a bold slogan for a cheap bra a century ago and it still is. The motto has outlived every detail of who first wrote it.

Last updated October 7, 2026