Love, Bonito Intimates

Love, Bonito Intimates is the underwear and innerwear range of Love, Bonito, the Singapore womenswear label founded by Rachel Lim, Viola Tan and Velda Tan, which took its current name in 2010. The intimates are a small category inside a much larger fashion business, sold on the brand's website and in its stores across Southeast Asia and Hong Kong.

A LiveJournal blogshop called BonitoChico

The company began in the mid-2000s, in 2005 by Singapore's National Library account and 2006 by others, as BonitoChico, a blogshop hosted on LiveJournal. Three childhood friends sold second-hand clothes, posting photographs and taking orders through comments and email, a common way for young Singaporeans to run a business at the time. In 2009 BonitoChico won Best Blogshop at the Nuffnang Asia-Pacific Awards.

The founders' main complaint about the clothes they were reselling was fit. International labels were cut for taller Western bodies and for colder weather. In 2010 the trio rebranded as Love, Bonito and moved to designing their own clothes, sized for petite Asian women and made for the heat and humidity of the equator. That idea, fit and climate first, is the reason the company later bothered with underwear at all.

The intimates range: what is actually sold

Love, Bonito does not publish a launch date or a design story for its intimates, and it should be described for what it is: a practical range built to sit under the brand's own dresses and tops. On its websites the products sit under an "Intimates & Accessories" heading, with an innerwear and shapewear section that includes slips, and a separate set of sports bras linked to its activewear line.

The backless stick-on bra

The clearest example is the Defined Backless Stick-On Bra, labeled "A Love, Bonito Intimates exclusive". It is an adhesive bra for backless and open-back clothes, made of 83 percent polyamide and 17 percent elastane, with an underwire inside the cups for more lift than a plain silicone cup gives. It sold for 25 US dollars on the international site. Products like this follow the clothes: a label that sells halter dresses and open-back tops for weddings and dinners in Singapore needs something to wear under them.

From blogshop to 27 stores

The parent business is what gives the intimates their reach. Love, Bonito opened its first physical store in Singapore in November 2017 and a second at Jem in December 2018. In 2018 it raised a 13 million dollar Series B round led by the Japanese internet company Kakaku.com, with NSI Ventures. In 2019 it tested the American market with a pop-up shop in SoHo, New York.

The larger round came in 2021: 50 million dollars led by Primavera Capital Group, with Japanese apparel retailer Adastria and Ondine Capital. In 2022 Love, Bonito bought the activewear label Butter and relaunched it as Cheak, and by then ran stores in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia and Hong Kong. Revenue in 2023 was reported at 88 million dollars, up 37 percent. A store in Makati, its first in the Philippines, opened in August 2024, taking the count to 27 stores in six Asian markets.

The founders now

Velda Tan, the original creative director, left in 2013. Rachel Lim led the company as chief executive for years and was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list in 2016; Viola Tan ran investor relations. The chief executive is now Dione Song. In 2024 the company rebranded around a heart-shaped LB monogram and a new campaign slogan about clothes made for living in.

Why a fashion label's bras are worth noting

Asian lingerie has long been dominated by specialist manufacturers, from Japanese groups like Wacoal to newer Chinese comfort brands such as Ubras. Love, Bonito comes at it from the other side, as a clothing company whose underwear exists to make its own outfits wearable. Its intimates are a narrow range, not a full fitting service, and the brand makes no claim to cup-size depth. Their interest for a lingerie archive lies in the business model: a Singapore blogshop that grew into a regional chain and now sells the stick-on bra along with the backless dress.

Last updated October 7, 2026