Rigby & Peller is an English lingerie retailer which holds a Royal Warrant of Appointment. The company was founded in 1939 by Gita Peller, a Hungarian immigrant who settled in London, and Bertha Rigby, an English corsetière, with a shop in South Molton Street in London’s West End.
As of 2011, they had seven stores as well as a website.
In 1960 the company began providing bespoke undergarments to the Queen of the United Kingdom; they subsequently provided their products to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, and other members of the royal family. In addition to the royal family, the company has also sold products to Hollywood actresses, such as Gwyneth Paltrow and Scarlett Johansson, and musicians, such as Lady Gaga. Another notable supporter of Rigby & Peller was magazine editor Isabella Blow, who would sometimes wear the company’s brassieres as outerwear in public.
In 1982 Rigby & Peller was purchased for £20,000 by June and Harold Kenton. They were assisted in the management of the company by their children, Jill Kenton and Harold Kenton. In 2011 Van de Velde, a Belgian brassiere manufacturer, purchased a majority stake in Rigby & Peller. Van de Velde, which paid £8 million for an 87 percent stake in the company, had previously supplied Rigby & Peller with some of their products. The cost of Rigby & Peller’s brassieres ranges between £50 and £200 and they offer sizes up to a J cup. In the 21st century, the company has experienced some difficulty in competing with larger, better-known rivals and discount retailers.
June Kenton has placed an emphasis on providing women with correctly fitting brassieres, and the company was once known for its unique bra-fitting. (Other lingerie retailers have adopted similar techniques). Although Kenton personally measures the royal family, she refuses to discuss the particular undergarments they wear.
