Nubian Skin Brings Gamechanger to Lingerie for Women of Color

Let’s talk nudes. Before the vision in your head turns to Botticelli, or worse, a mens’ magazine, the nudes we’re envisioning here are the nude lingerie that professional women around the globe reached for this morning when dressing for the office. Theoretically, a foundation of every woman’s wardrobe, nude has long been a unicorn to women of color.

Picture her. She’s standing in her closet, admiring the perfect blouse with fabric just sheer enough to require “nude” lingerie, so she rifles through her lingerie drawer for the perfect buff-colored bra and panties. But wait! On a woman of color, buff is about as nude as a red stripe on a white wall, that is, until the recent launch of Nubian Skin.

Already receiving Twitter accolades from the likes of Kerry Washington from Scandal, Nubian Skin, a “nude” lingerie line specifically designed for the rich shades of women of color, is a gamechanger. Nubian Skin Founder, Ade Hassan said Nubian Skin was, “born out of frustration” during her experiences dressing for the corporate world. She resented having to wear a black camisole under a sheer blouse because traditional nude lingerie was several shades off her skin tone, or having to wear black tights because nude pantyhose didn’t match. Recognizing that black, Latina and Asian women all faced similar crises when dressing in the morning; she called a friend and said, “I think I’ve found what I want to do with the rest of my life.”

Hassan said, “The idea popped into my head in Spring of 2011” but it wasn’t until May 2013 when she received a birthday card from friend in whom she had confided a desire to launch Nubian Skin, that read, “It’s time to start living the life you always imagined.” The next day, Hassan registered the company name and the trademark. Despite her initial thought that starting the company would be quick because she said, “Because I knew exactly what I wanted,” it took a full year to build Nubian Skin and launch her product line.

Initially, Hassan began knocking on doors that refuse to open for a start-up with little to no fashion experience. Hassan decided she needed expert advice, so she found an expert consultant to help her navigate the industry. Her consultant quickly recommended that Hassan attend trade shows to meet people, get inspiration and see fabrics. She attended a trade show in Paris that helped her visualize her next steps.

While Hassan was new to the fashion world—her previous career included forays in finance and consulting—she had long embraced fashion design as a hobby and had even taken time off from her career to attend sewing classes in London and pattern-cutting classes in Paris. “Once I started to go ahead with it, I started sleeping with a little notebook on my bedside table so I could write ideas down,” Hassan said. The darkest shade in the line, Berry, came from the song lyric, “The darker the berry, the sweeter the juice” that Hassan jotted in her notebook.

Even before their launch, Hassan created a campaign called “More Sizes” which was a survey that allowed them, Hassan said, “to see from a mathmatical perspective what were the sizes that potential customers needed the most.” Social media has been Nubian Skin’s best friend, providing them feedback directly from their target audience.

Nubian Skin currently offers three bras and four bottoms in four rich shades and in a variety of sizes. The shades complement a variety of “nude” flesh tones for women of color: Café Au Lait, Caramel, Cinnamon and Berry. They correlate to make up shades in the cosmetic industry to assist women in finding just the right shade when purchasing from Nubian Skin’s online store. Make up is, in fact, where Hassan began when researching to find the right nude shades.

While social media has been friendly, other aspects of launching Nubian Skin have been a bit more challenging. Her first hurdle was finding a manufacturer willing to do a small lot, leading Hassan at one point to wonder, “Why isn’t anybody wanting my dream?” The second hurdle was selecting the ideal colors. Because there was no reference point in the lingerie world, Hassan investigated make up shades at cosmetic counters to determine which were most popular, then matched those to pantones and then matched those pantone shades to fabric pantones. The color process, filled with trial and error, took nearly a year to complete.

Hassan’s advice to would-be entrepreneurs? “Surround yourself with people who are experts in the areas that you need and work with them.” Know your own strengths, and find people to supplement what you do not know.

The most exciting moments for Hassan thus far have included receiving her product for the first time, assembling professional models for the the photo shoot and watching her dream take flight, and the rush from social media when she awoke one morning to find that Kerry Washington had retweeted an article about Nubian Skin.

Even Nubian Skin’s models, some of whom were former dancers, have shared their stories of having to over-dye their tights with tea bags to attain the ideal nude shade for their skintones. “It’s so basic, and it’s been so ignored. So, I am just  happy to be a part of revolutionalizing that because there is no reason that women of color should be limited in their wardrobe, or their underwear, because of their skin,” Hassan said.

Headquartered in London, Nubian Skin is currently available online and ships worldwide.