k to our brand and sometimes have a message as well,” De Winter elaborated. The team at Nala has consistently generated brand hype by simply photographing real bodies in its products – a surprisingly controversial marketing strategy. Nothing to apologise for  To hype the release of its recently launched – and highly requested – maternity bras, Nala launched the “Sorry to offend you” campaign which featured model Simone Holtznagel breastfeeding her daughter. “The ‘Sorry to offend you’ campaign personally meant a lot to me because I am currently breastfeeding my baby. And so I was really passionate about this one,” shared De Winter. “The campaign that we built to challenge the stigma associated with public breastfeeding was based on my personal experience and experiences of so many women in my life, and we knew that our customers would connect with that cause,” she added. Despite the intention of the campaign to normalise breastfeeding, Instagram was quick to remove the photo from its platform with a report from Meta stating, “It looks like you shared or sent something that shows nudity or sexual activity”. After an outpouring of support from Nala’s community, Instagram reinstated the photo, which Nala captioned, “No edits, no apologies”. “Overall, we get positive feedback – it’s 95 per cent positive and 5 per cent negative,” De Winter stated. “I’ve got to acknowledge that there is some progress, and overall, people are supportive of change and celebrating what real bodies look like – but there’s always going to be a loud minority who make themselves heard,” she added. For De Winer, the visceral responses to Nala’s campaigns showcase that society as a whole can be quite conservative and takes a while to adopt change and progress. When to make noise  Nala’s viral imagery, including the breastfeeding model as well as campaign photos that show pubic hair or nipples, is not meant to be subversive – it’s simply the brand making good on its promise to champion diversity and inspire others in the industry to do the same. When asked if she felt pressure to keep producing campaigns that take a firm stance, De Winter responded that Nala wants to keep upping the ante for its customers. “There is pressure because our customers are now used to us making these big statements through our campaigns, ” De Winter confessed. The vast majority of Nala’s product releases, whether it be a maternity bra or a bodysuit, are requested by its customers. And not every launch requires a statement. “I think as a business we have to be careful that we’re not too shouty, and not every campaign can have a strong message,” explained De Winter. “I think the skill is finding a balance, where you yell when there’s something to really yell about and a time when your customers can really join in the chorus with you and make some sort of positive change,” she added. Nala’s newest launch is an iteration of its bodysuit where the team worked to develop a full-brief version after receiving feedback from customers who didn’t want the original G-string version. “Many of our customers were vocally very disappointed and so straight away we put a brief version into development so that our customers could have both options for G-string and a brief version – that’s why we did it, we got so many requests for it,” said De Winter. The campaign for the new line of bodysuits didn’t need a message since the product itself was put into production with the Nala community in mind. “Still, we go into every campaign to try and be open and inclusive to body size and gender,” concluded De Winter. “The model who headlines this campaign is actually a trans model. It’s not something that we’re standing here and yelling about – she’s a beautiful model, and we’re proud to use her.”