Houston Lingerie Shop Named the Best in America — The Unlikely Rise of Top Drawer Lingerie

Anyone who has visited the posh Top Drawer Lingerie boutique in Houston’s Uptown Park has surely been taken with the lavish displays of bras, panties and loungewear. Likewise, any woman who has purchased a bra there is familiar with the expertise of the sales associates whose mantra is “It’s all about the fit.”

That dedication to personalized fittings in bra sales is merely one of the reasons that this family-owned shop has been named The Best of Intima “Store of the Year” in 2022, 2021 and 2020. Considered the Oscars of the lingerie industry, the 2022 awards were announced in ceremonies in New York last month. Intima is North America’s premier business magazine fully dedicated to the best in lingerie and swimwear. This is indeed a prestigious honor for the Houston boutique.

“In a world driven by the internet, Top Drawer Lingerie offers its customers something they simply cannot buy online – a bra that is properly fit by an expert and personal service,” owner Dow Hickam tells PaperCity. “When studies reveal that nearly 80 percent of women wear the wrong size bra, it goes to show that only an expert can help fit a particular bra specifically for you.”

Hickam credits the success to his six expert “fitters” with more than a decade in the business and two sales associates.

Since 1996, this unique Houston lingerie business has been in the hands of Hickam, and now also his son Dow Hickam III. It is one of the few lingerie shops in the country with male owners. It was a circuitous route that brought businessman Hickam, who was initially just an investor, into full ownership of Top Drawer Lingerie.

Decades later, the business is prospering. Store inventory includes 8,700 bras alone and represents 86 brands of bras and panties. Products range from g-strings and garter belts to more practical lingerie. There are beautiful embroidered bras for $250 or $300 and everyday bras priced from $59.

“The thing about Top Drawer is that we sell nothing that you can’t buy somewhere else, but what you can’t get is the service,” Hickam says. “The most important thing is the fit and that requires service and women who know what they are doing.”

Bras are not the only inventory at Top Drawer Lingerie. The scope of offerings includes caftans, bathing suits, pajamas, nighties — beautiful products from Cassiopée, Elomi,  Empreinte — and more.