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The Italian brand is known for its lingerie and buzzy products like cashmere scoopneck tops, but how ethical are its practices, really?
This article is based on the Intimissimi rating published in July 2025 and may not reflect claims the brand has made since then.
Cute lingerie, poor values
Founded in Italy in 1996, Intimissimi is known for its lingerie and buzzy products like cashmere scoopneck tops. Today, it’s part of the Oniverse holding company that also includes Calzedonia and Tezenis.
Intimissimi has capitalised on celebrity and influencer marketing in the past, with the likes of Jennifer Lopez and Chiara Ferragni designing guest collections. Its recent cameo in season five of Emily In Paris put the brand’s underwear front and centre, so as its profile grows, we’re digging into its ethics. Unfortunately, in reviewing how the brand works, Good On You’s team of analysts had a lot of questions, because most of its commitments are either vague, not backed up with results and progress, or they don’t seem to exist. That’s why we rate Intimissimi “Not Good Enough”. So is shopping there a good idea? Not really. Scroll on to learn about its rating and to discover some alternative brands making more sustainable lingerie and basics.
Environmental impact
Intimissimi uses some lower-impact materials but doesn’t publish a breakdown of the materials used, so it’s hard to say how meaningful this usage really is. There’s no evidence it’s set a target to manage water use in its supply chain nor is there evidence it’s protecting biodiversity. The brand does have a recycling scheme, it doesn’t report on its results. For the planet, we rate Intimissimi “Not Good Enough”.
Labour rights
For people, we rate Intimissimi “Not Good Enough”. Some of its final production stage is located in low risk countries or certified facilities and it audits all of its final production stage. These are positives, but there’s scope to go much further and trace its supply chain, for instance. There’s also no evidence it provides financial security to its suppliers, which can have a big impact on the wellbeing, wages, and lives of garment workers—the more stable and lengthy the contract with suppliers, the more likely it is for workers to have job security.
The brand does not appear to offer living wages in its supply chain, which is disappointing.
Animal welfare
Intimissimi has published a general statement about minimising animal suffering but not a formal animal welfare policy. And while it doesn’t appear to use leather, shearling, alpaca, mohair, or down, the brand is big on wool, cashmere, and silk, which make up many bestselling items like its sheer “Ultralight” cashmere tops. We’d expect to at least see some certifications or alternatives to conventional materials here, like recycled wool and cashmere. For animals, we rate Intimissimi “Not Good Enough”.
Overall rating: ‘Not Good Enough’
Intimissimi is making very minimal efforts to work more sustainably, and is doing just enough to appear as if it’s making real changes. The idea for making change is there but no actual effort appears to be put into making it happen. From living wages to animal policies, the sentiment is there but the follow-through is not.
On top of that, some shoppers have reported a drop in the quality of Intimissimi’s garments in recent years, and while these anecdotes aren’t something our analysts take into consideration when rating a brand, there is no doubt that declining quality is a sustainability issue. Fashion should be designed for longevity so users can wear and repair items for years to come, instead of growing ever more disposable.
See the rating. Also note that Good On You ratings consider hundreds of issues and it is not possible to list every relevant issue in a summary of the brand’s performance. For more information see our How We Rate page and our FAQs.
For more sustainable intimates, we recommend these “Good” and “Great” brands.
More sustainable alternatives to Intimissimi
Meet the underwear and essentials brands rated highly by our experts for their commitments to people, the planet, and animals.
