Regarding corporate ownership, public records indicate a discrepancy. Recruitment materials from 2026 for Hangzhou Longli E-commerce Co., Ltd. explicitly identify Secret World as a subsidiary brand. However, some third-party brand rankings associate the label with “Hangzhou Zhuolun E-commerce Co., Ltd.”. For formal commercial purposes, verification via business registration and trademark filings is recommended rather than relying solely on third-party aggregators.1

Secret World is representative of the new wave of direct-to-consumer intimate apparel brands in China’s online market.

Unlike traditional lingerie companies that prioritise brick-and-mortar boutiques, specialised fitting expertise, and premium branding, Secret World operates as a digital-native e-commerce brand. It offers accessible pricing, a wide SKU count, and leverages e-commerce platforms, livestreaming, content marketing, and celebrity partnerships to acquire customers rapidly.

Since its inception in 2019, the brand has expanded from basic underwear and bras into socks, sun protection, thermal wear, and loungewear. Its product architecture is segmented into three tiers:

• Basic Series: Focuses on daily essentials, comfort, and value.
• Design Series: Emphasises aesthetic appeal and fashion elements.
• Airtist Series: Targets niche preferences with artistic or premium design cues.

This structure allows the brand to address consumption needs ranging from functional basics to design-led products.

2019: Establishment

Secret World was founded in 2019. Corporate disclosures state that the brand was established with a core focus on high-quality, high-value intimate apparel. Recruitment data indicates that gross merchandise value (GMV) exceeded RMB 10 million in its founding year.1

The early growth model bypassed traditional offline expansion in favour of a digital-first cycle: product development, e-commerce sales, user acquisition, SKU expansion, and content/livestream marketing.

2020: Continued Growth

Public corporate data shows Secret World achieved approximately RMB 30 million in GMV during 2020, with online channels remaining the primary growth engine.1

2021: Rapid Expansion

2021 marked a significant acceleration in growth. Reports indicate GMV surpassed RMB 140 million, followers exceeded one million, and the team grew to approximately 150 employees.1 This transition from single-digit millions to over RMB 100 million signalled a shift from a small e-commerce venture to scaled operations.

2022: Scaling Operations

Corporate records show GMV approached RMB 250 million in 2022.1 During this period, the brand broadened its product lines and online distribution, evolving from a specialist lingerie label into a comprehensive intimate apparel brand.

2023: Ecosystem Expansion

Development targets disclosed for 2023 included:

• GMV target of approximately RMB 500 million;
• Follower base exceeding two million;
• Multi-platform channel expansion;
• Team size surpassing 400 employees.

It should be noted that the RMB 500 million figure was a disclosed target at the time and should not be interpreted as confirmed actual GMV.

2024–2025: Rising Prominence

Secret World’s entry into the mainstream consumer consciousness is largely attributed to e-commerce rankings, short-video/livestream engagement, and celebrity marketing.

Corporate materials claim Secret World ranked TOP1 in the lingerie category during the 2024 Taobao Double 11 shopping festival. This assertion appears in 2026 brand collateral and university recruitment information. However, as public sources do not specify the statistical methodology (e.g., sales revenue vs. volume, sub-category scope, or time window), it is accurate to state that the brand claims this ranking based on internal data, rather than verifying it as an industry-wide annual sales record.

A pivotal moment in Secret World’s communications strategy was the appointment of actress Zhao Jinmai in 2025.

In April 2025, Secret World announced Zhao Jinmai as its first official brand ambassador. Campaigns centred on concepts such as “0-dye cotton”, “lightness”, and “growth”, aligning her image with young female consumers.2 This partnership signalled a strategic pivot towards youth-oriented branding.

Zhao Jinmai’s public persona is characterised by youthfulness, freshness, natural aesthetics, and strong resonance with Gen Z culture. Consequently, Secret World’s messaging shifted away from traditional “sexy lingerie” tropes to emphasise comfort, naturalness, daily life, and bodily autonomy for young women.

In April 2026, Zhao Jinmai’s studio confirmed the continuation of the partnership, indicating a sustained endorsement relationship beyond a single campaign.2

Secret World has evolved from a bra-centric label into a multi-category intimate apparel brand.

Underwear

Underwear remains a core category. Listings on the JD.com official flagship store include women’s pure cotton briefs, seamless styles, antibacterial series, extended-gusset designs, bikinis, boyshorts, and seasonal lightweight options.3 Recent product development has emphasised pure cotton, comfort, seamless construction, and extended gussets.

Bras

Bra offerings focus on daily comfort and visual enhancement. Available products include wire-free, seamless, strapless, push-up for smaller busts, racerback, summer-weight, and “foundation liquid” series styles.3 Third-party analyses characterise the brand’s direction as seamless, smooth-finish, wire-free, and accommodating for smaller bust sizes.

Nipple Covers

Nipple covers are a distinctive category for Secret World, catering to bridal wear, evening gowns, backless outfits, strapless clothing, summer styling, and modesty needs. Product pages on JD.com display substantial review volumes, with select items accumulating tens or hundreds of thousands of reviews, indicating this is a significant revenue driver within the online sales mix.3

Socks

The sock assortment includes pure cotton, crew, postpartum, antibacterial, odour-resistant, and summer-weight varieties.3

Camisoles, Vests, and Loungewear

The range extends to padded camisoles, racerback tops, base-layer vests, men’s and women’s pyjamas, loungewear, thermal underwear, and shapewear.3 Strategically, this reflects a transition from an “underwear brand” to an “intimate lifestyle brand”.

“0-dye cotton” is a central product communication concept for Secret World. The 2025 ambassador campaign heavily featured this term in association with pure cotton products. In 2026, official content continued to promote the “0-dye cotton” series; for example, marketing for “Bingbing Cotton” underwear highlighted pure cotton, cooling technology, and “0-dye cotton gussets”.2

From a branding perspective, “0-dye cotton” serves multiple functions:

1. Creating product differentiation;
2. Reinforcing health and comfort attributes;
3. Elevating “pure cotton” from a generic material claim to a branded memory point;
4. Aligning with young consumers’ preference for natural, comfortable, and low-irritation products.

Consumers should refer to specific product tags, testing reports, and national standards when evaluating technical claims, rather than deriving medical or absolute safety conclusions from advertising slogans alone.

Secret World is positioned as a high-value intimate apparel brand targeting young consumers. It differs markedly from traditional premium lingerie labels.

Core Value Proposition

Accessible pricing + E-commerce channels + Extensive SKUs + Comfort functionality + Youth-oriented marketing

This contrasts with the traditional premium model of luxury fabrics + prestige branding + dense offline retail footprint.

Public sources classify the brand as “budget-friendly”, with many bras priced in the tens of RMB range, placing it firmly in the mass-market value segment.2

The core demographic comprises young women, specifically:

• Generation Z;
• Students and young professionals;
• Consumers prioritising daily comfort;
• Shoppers preferring seamless and wire-free products;
• Value-seekers desiring design elements.

Official social media accounts describe the brand as accompanying “Gen Z girls” through their growth journey.

Secret World’s visual and product identity encompasses three distinct directions:

Minimalist / Basic

Emphasises comfort, seamless construction, daily wear, pure cotton, neutral tones, and value. This defines the Basic series.

Urban / Fashion

Focuses on racerback silhouettes, shaping, strapless functionality, camisoles, outerwear-compatible styling, and body contouring.

Individualistic / Premium-Lite

The Design and Airtist series occupy more design-forward and personalised positioning. The brand describes the progression across these lines as moving from “basic to individualistic” and “minimalist to premium-lite”.

Secret World is fundamentally an e-commerce-driven brand. Its development pathway can be summarised as:

Online product → E-commerce volume → User/follower base → Multi-platform operations → Livestreaming → Celebrity marketing → Brand elevation

This diverges from the traditional retail trajectory of department store counters → standalone shops → regional expansion → national footprint.

The JD.com official channel currently offers a comprehensive product matrix, while the brand maintains active presence in content and livestream ecosystems on Weibo and Douyin.3

Zhao Jinmai is Secret World’s most significant celebrity partner. Following the 2025 collaboration, the brand executed extensive content campaigns under themes such as “Zhao Jinmai’s Secret World”. Official accounts released performance metrics for a June 2025 event, claiming over 50 million livestream impressions, peak concurrent viewership exceeding 250,000, and hourly sales surpassing RMB 3 million.

These figures represent self-reported promotional data rather than independently audited financials; they illustrate marketing scale but should not be treated as verified revenue.

The renewal of the partnership in April 2026 further reinforced the brand’s young female identity.2

Secret World’s distribution is predominantly online, comprising:

• JD.com
• Taobao / Tmall
• Douyin E-commerce
• Other online content and commerce platforms

JD.com hosts the “Secret World JD Self-operated Flagship Store”, covering men’s and women’s underwear, bras, nipple covers, camisoles, socks, pyjamas, shapewear, and thermal wear.3 The inclusion of men’s products confirms the brand has moved beyond a strictly female-focused lingerie positioning.

Secret World operates in China’s highly competitive intimate apparel market. Competitors fall into several categories:

Mass-Market Basics

Uniqlo, Miiow, Hodohome, Cosmo Lady.

New Consumer / Women’s Intimates

NEIWAI, Ubras, Youkeshu.

International Brands

Victoria’s Secret, Calvin Klein Underwear, Triumph.

Secret World differentiates itself through deep integration with China’s e-commerce ecosystem, low-to-mid pricing, extensive SKU depth, livestream marketing, and function-led product development.

From a commercial perspective, Secret World’s competitiveness derives from five factors:

High Value Proposition

This is the brand’s definitive strategic tag. Corporate materials define the mission as maximising value in every intimate apparel product.1

E-commerce Operational Capability

Rapid growth since 2019 demonstrates dependence on scalable online channel performance.

Broad SKU Assortment

Coverage spanning underwear, nipple covers, bras, socks, pyjamas, camisoles, and thermal wear addresses diverse intimate apparel needs.

Hero Product Strategy

Categories such as nipple covers, pure cotton underwear, and seamless bras are conducive to high-volume e-commerce sales.

Youth-Oriented Marketing

The Zhao Jinmai partnership has solidified recognition among young female consumers.2

According to 2026 corporate disclosures, Secret World’s stated principles include:

Mission:

To maximise value in every intimate apparel product.

Vision:

To become the most satisfying intimate apparel brand by 2030.

Values:

• Long-termism
• Resilience
• Ultimate Accountability
• Unity
• Freedom and Equality
• Innovation

These statements originate from official recruitment materials and represent the brand/corporate philosophy as communicated in hiring contexts.1

Secret World’s evolution can be categorised into four phases:

This trajectory indicates a strategic shift from an e-commerce lingerie seller to an intimate apparel company building long-term brand equity.

As of August 2026, Secret World maintains a comprehensive online product system centred on young consumers and intimate apparel. Public information confirms:

• Approximately seven years of operation;
• Product coverage spanning underwear, bras, nipple covers, socks, camisoles, pyjamas, and thermal wear;
• Basic, Design, and Airtist lines remain core to brand architecture;
• Significant product listings and review volumes on JD.com;
• Zhao Jinmai appointed as ambassador in 2025;
• Continued partnership with Zhao Jinmai in 2026;
• Ongoing promotion of pure cotton and “0-dye cotton” concepts.32

The English name “Secret World” is inherently ambiguous. Unrelated entities sharing similar names include:

• The Secret World – An MMO game developed by Funcom;
• Secret World – Titles of musical works or concerts;
• Victoria’s Secret World Tour – A Victoria’s Secret-related project.

None of these refer to the intimate apparel brand discussed here. For reference, Funcom’s The Secret World is a modern urban-themed MMO launched in 2012.4

In Chinese e-commerce contexts, the brand is commonly rendered as Secret World / 秘密世界 / 秘密的世界. JD.com currently displays merchandise under “秘密世界（SecretWorld）”.3

Secret World exemplifies China’s new-generation e-commerce intimate apparel brand: leveraging high value as a foundation, e-commerce scale as a growth engine, hero products for user acquisition, functional selling points (pure cotton, comfort, seamless) for product recognition, and young celebrities like Zhao Jinmai for brand elevation.

Its primary strengths lie not in traditional luxury brand equity but in pricing, supply chain agility, e-commerce operations, hero product execution, and youth consumer reach. Compared to globally established brands such as Victoria’s Secret, Calvin Klein, or Triumph with decades of heritage, Secret World has a shorter operational history. Its competitive advantage is rooted in China’s online consumption market and rapid product iteration cycles.

1. SecretWorld招聘 – 谈职
2. 欢迎@赵今麦angel 成为SecretWorld秘密的世界首位品牌代言人！年轻的身体自会找到舒展的角度以归零的姿态重新定义成长与赵今麦一起，柔软蓄力“麦”向0感共赴秘密世界的轻盈之约#赵今麦的秘密世界# #一起麦向0染棉# #SecretWorld秘密的世界# #纯棉内裤就选秘密的世界# ​_新浪新闻
3. 秘密世界（SecretWorld）京东自营旗舰店 – 京东
4. Electronic Arts Inc. – The Secret World Now Taking Pre-Orders, Includes Guaranteed Public Beta Access Starting May 11