Thunderpants and charity team up to Love Your Body

Media Release

Thunderpants and charity team up to Love Your Body

Made in NZ the way to go for Love Your Body

September 10 2009

We’re not just green by reputation, so why not reduce your carbon footprint by buying locally-made Thunderpants – green in both colour and production - while supporting EDEN’s Love Your Body Campaign? From September 21 to December, New Zealand-made Thunderpants (“undies that don’t go up your bum”) will be on sale for $25 in a funky pear-tree Love Your Body design in hipster and original styles – you can also get a matching camisole - via the Thunderpants website www.thunderpants.co.nz and for two weeks (October 19-November 2) in The Body Shop.

You can bet good money on the fact that Martinborough sisters Sophie and Josie Bidwill will be wearing the new Thundies as soon as they hit the shelves. Josie Bidwill started up the business after realising she wanted more from her undies. Soon Josie roped in sister Sophie.

“In 1995 there were a couple of chicks frustrated by an undie market which either had them squirming all day in wee lace numbers or flopping about in sexless granny bloomers,” says Sophie Bidwill. “Thunderpants was a reaction to conventional undies that tried to fit women of all shapes and sizes into one generic amount of fabric. Through thoughtful consideration of the natural curves of the body, Thunderpants created an under¬pant that allowed women of all walks of life to essentially better enjoy their life and body.”

“In this way Thunderpants and EDEN’s Love Your Body Campaign share a similar philosophy: work with what you’ve got, embrace it, love it, appreciate it, and make choices that ultimately feed one’s mind and body rather than trying to fit it into one generic ideal.”

As women who design mainly for women, the sisters are sensitive to the negative impacts associated with dissatisfaction or frustration with one’s body, says Sophie. “Thunderpants stands in support of EDEN’s Love Your Body Campaign as it brings awareness and empowerment to women - as does Thunderpants, one thundie at a time!”

EDEN’s Love Your Body Campaign 2009

www.eden.org.nz

Through this campaign, Josie and Sophie’s aim is to support the EDEN love-your-body cause and to show consumers and women alike that comfort, enjoyment of life, and self expression are alternatives to fast-paced fashion and the mainstream mould. Think a mix of 92 per cent cotton and eight per cent lycra, cut for comfort and style (without a shred of elastic). Handprinted in sassy original wood-cut designs, Thundies look good too!

On its third birthday, EDEN’s Love Your Body Campaign is rapidly growing in support and recognition nation¬wide. “New Zealanders agree that it’s unacceptable that 80 per cent of New Zealand women are dissatisfied with their bodies, and that up to one in five struggle with disordered eating,” says EDEN Agency Manager, Dr Maree Burns.

“In a society which idealises thinness, EDEN’s Love Your Body Campaign is a rare opportunity to celebrate and appreciate our bodies as they are, and to acknowledge the beauty of all body shapes and sizes. Body satisfaction and appreciation are key ingredients for building positive body image and self esteem, which in turn help guard against the development of eating difficulties.”

Every dollar raised from EDEN’s Love Your Body Campaign, through the sale of underwear and donations, will go towards the charity’s early-intervention and prevention services for disordered eating. EDEN (the Eating Difficulties Education Network) is the only specialist NGO provider offering these services in the North Island and (as the government allocates no funding to early intervention or prevention) it receives no public funding for this work. As well as providing information, services and resources to individuals and organisations, EDEN works at a wider social level to promote body trust and satisfaction and size diversity. The agency has been in operation since 1990.

For more information about EDEN’s Love Your Body Campaign go to www.eden.org.nz.

*Please refer to this campaign always as “EDEN’s Love Your Body Campaign”.

EDEN’s Love Your Body Campaign 2009

www.eden.org.nz

ENDS

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