Tezenis is the low-price underwear and loungewear chain of the Italian group Oniverse, the company known until December 2023 as the Calzedonia Group. It was created in 2003, seventeen years after Sandro Veronesi started the group in the province of Verona, and it sells bras, briefs, nightwear and basics for women, men and children through single-brand stores and its own website. Of the group's three underwear-and-legwear chains, it is the one aimed at the youngest and most price-conscious shopper.
Third Brand in the Veronesi System
To understand Tezenis, start with the group that built it. Veronesi founded Calzedonia in 1986 in Vallese di Oppeano, south-east of Verona, and opened its first stores the following year. The idea was a narrow one: hosiery, socks and later swimwear, sold through small mono-brand shops rather than through department stores. In 1996 the group added Intimissimi, a lingerie chain built on the same store format but pitched higher, with silk, lace and a softer, more romantic look.
Tezenis followed in 2003. By then the group had two clear lanes, legwear under Calzedonia and mid-priced lingerie under Intimissimi, and a gap below them both. Tezenis filled it with cheaper basics, brighter colors, printed cotton and a wider age range, including a children's line that neither sister brand carried.
The structure matters because it explains the product. Tezenis was never a standalone label that had to find its own factories and landlords. It arrived inside a company that already knew how to run thousands of small shops on fast replenishment, and it could open in the same malls and high streets as its siblings without competing for the same customer.
The Group Around It
Oniverse has grown far past its hosiery origins. Its other brands now include Intimissimi Uomo, the knitwear label Falconeri (acquired 2009), the wine bar chain Signorvino (2012), the bridal house Atelier Emé (2015), a majority stake in the Sardinian designer Antonio Marras (2022) and the yacht builder Cantiere del Pardo. The renaming to Oniverse in 2023 used an anagram of the founder's surname, which is the sort of detail that says who still runs the place. Veronesi remains chairman and majority owner, and his three sons work in the business.
The numbers are large. The group reported revenue of about 3.5 billion euros for 2024 and operates well over 5,000 stores in about 55 countries. It does not publish a separate store count for Tezenis in the sources this entry could check, so none is given here.
What Tezenis Sells
The current range covers far more than underwear. For women there are bras, briefs, sleepwear, swimwear, sportswear and hosiery; for men, boxers, underwear, nightwear and swim shorts; for children, underwear, clothing, sleepwear and costumes. Coordinated "family" sets, matching pajamas for parents and children, are a regular feature.
The lingerie itself is simple. Soft cups, molded T-shirt bras, cotton and microfiber briefs and printed bralettes make up most of the bra wall, with lace used as trim rather than as the main fabric. Pricing is set for multi-buy offers, and seasonal prints do the work of keeping the basics looking new.
Two customer services round it out: a loyalty scheme, Tezenis Club, with birthday discounts, points and cheaper shipping, and a personalization service for printing names or initials on selected pieces.
Advertising and Faces
The Calzedonia group has a long habit of hiring famous faces. Across its brands it has worked with Julia Roberts, Gisele Bundchen, Adriana Lima, Sara Sampaio and Rita Ora, among others. Older summaries attach Rita Ora specifically to Tezenis; the sources checked for this entry credit her to the group without naming the brand, so the link is left open here.
The group's advertising has not always landed. In 2009 a Calzedonia commercial drew public criticism in Italy for using a rearranged version of the national anthem, an early lesson for a company that would go on to spend heavily on celebrity campaigns.
Positioning in the Italian Trade
Tezenis competes most directly with Yamamay, another Italian chain of franchised lingerie shops, and abroad with the underwear floors of the big fast-fashion retailers. Its advantage over those rivals is the group behind it. The disadvantage is the same one: inside a company that also runs Intimissimi, Tezenis is held to the cheaper end on purpose, and it rarely gets the fabric budget or the design attention that goes upstairs. It remains, more than twenty years in, the group's entry ticket, the shop where a teenager buys a first bra and a parent buys matching Christmas pajamas in the same visit.