PrimaDonna

PrimaDonna is a lingerie brand for women with larger cup sizes, owned by the Belgian group Van de Velde and designed at its headquarters in Schellebelle, near Ghent. Its history begins in 1865, when the corset maker Salomon Lindauer founded S. Lindauer and Co. in Cannstatt, now part of Stuttgart, Germany. The firm used the name Prima Donna from about 1890, and Van de Velde bought the brand in 1990.

A corset works in Cannstatt

Salomon Lindauer lived from 1835 to 1919. S. Lindauer and Co. was registered in 1865 with premises on Hallstrasse in Cannstatt, a spa town on the Neckar that was then separate from Stuttgart. Germany had a large corset industry in the second half of the nineteenth century, and Lindauer's company became one of its better-known names.

The Prima Donna name appears on the market from around 1890. It was a corset label for a long time before it was a bra label.

Sigmund Lindauer and the early brassiere

The family story then moves to Salomon's son Sigmund. Local historians in Stuttgart credit the firm with one of the first industrially produced brassieres, and around 1912 Sigmund Lindauer patented a bust support that could be worn against the skin without stiffening. His brothers spread the business abroad: Julius founded a corset factory in Paris, and Max went to Australia.

That patent places the Prima Donna name close to the start of the modern bra, two years before Mary Phelps Jacob received her better-known American patent in 1914.

From private label to Van de Velde brand

The second half of the story is Belgian. Achiel and Margaretha Van de Velde founded their company in Schellebelle in 1919, and the first generation made corsets until 1945. The second generation moved into bras and tights, and in 1981 the company launched its first own brand, Marie Jo.

By then Van de Velde was already making large-size lingerie for the German PrimaDonna business under a private label. In 1990 it bought the brand outright. The group says it moved PrimaDonna from purely functional garments toward fashion while keeping fit at the center, which in practice meant lace, color and seasonal collections on bras that still had to carry real weight.

Engineering for weight

A bra for a larger cup is a different object from a small one scaled up. Wires are longer and firmer, cups are cut from more pieces, bands are wider, and the straps sit closer to the neck so they do not slide. PrimaDonna's specialty is the full-cup bra in that size range, plus balconette and plunge shapes adapted to the same demands. The group says its bras use a patented fit system and are designed to translate fashion trends into garments for women with larger cup sizes.

The family of lines

Van de Velde built sub-brands around the core label:

• PrimaDonna Twist, launched in 2010, a younger line with bolder prints, T-shirt bras and bralettes
• PrimaDonna Swim, launched in 2013
• PrimaDonna Sport, launched in 2017, a sports bra range that runs up to an H cup

In 2015 the group marked PrimaDonna's 150th anniversary, counting from Lindauer's 1865 firm.

The owner today

Van de Velde has been listed on the Brussels stock exchange since 1997. It also owns Marie Jo and Sarda, the Spanish label it bought with Eurocorset in 2008 and renamed from Andres Sarda in 2024. Most production is in Tunisia, with some in China. The group reported revenue of about 195 million euros in 2021 and employs more than 1,500 people under chief executive Karel Verlinde.

Within that portfolio PrimaDonna is the fit specialist. Marie Jo is the fashion line and Sarda is the Spanish couture name. PrimaDonna is the one a fitter reaches for when the cup letter climbs, and its German corset ancestry is easy to forget behind the Belgian ownership.

Last updated October 28, 2026