Thongs
-- once the badge of exotic dancers -- have become so mainstream
that 19 million North American women are wearing them and department
store bins are overflowing with the skimpy undies.
Now
lingerie marketers are trying to bolster the trend by pushing women
to show off the underwear as outerwear.
In a
gender twist on the "grunge'' look of the 1990s that gave license to
young men exposing their boxer shorts above oversize trousers,
women's thong underwear has started to peek above pant lines on
fashion runways and in urban nightclubs.
"Anything that draws attention to the bare midriff is hot right
now,'' said Tom Julian, a New York-based trend analyst.
Although
the jury is still out on the widespread appeal of putting one's
undies on display, there is no question that thongs have joined the
ranks of bikinis and briefs as undergarment essentials for millions
of women.
Thong
sales have unseated traditional women's underwear as the
fastest-growing lingerie niche in the US.
Most
department stores, discount retailers and specialty chains sell
thong underwear.
And Lane
Bryant, a retail chain that targets plus-size women, carries thongs
up to size 15.
Lanise
Ingram, 26, of Los Angeles says that she is more fashion-conscious
these days, explaining why she has been buying thongs instead of
conventional underwear.
"It's
not about seduction and feeling sexy,'' she said while recently
sifting through a table of thongs at a Victoria's Secret store in
Beverly Hills and holding three pairs. "It's about comfort and
looking good.''
Since
1998, thong underwear has beaten the traditional brief as the
fastest-selling panty.
Sales
increased 156 per cent between 1995 and 1999, jumping 25 per cent
from 1998 to 1999 alone, according to NPD Group Inc, a New York
purchasing-research firm.
According to industry reports, 19 million North Americans -- some of
them men -- own at least one thong, with 70 per cent of buyers aged
34 or younger.
Victoria's Secret, the mid-price women's lingerie chain operated by
Intimate Brands Inc, has seen thong sales rise 30 per cent since
1995 while all other panty types have increased just 5 per cent.
In 1999
alone, Victoria's Secret sold more than 20 million thongs.
Frederick's of Hollywood Inc, the original purveyor of sexy
lingerie, introduced the thong in 1981 and now claims to sell more
than 40,000 a week.
In the
same way push-up bras lifted the sagging lingerie business 10 years
ago by attracting customers seeking sexier silhouettes, undergarment
makers today have overloaded store shelves with thongs, hoping for
similar results.
Sara Lee
Corp of Chicago, which sells the Wonderbra and Lovable lines, has
also seen thong sales soar and plans to add two thong designs by
next spring.
"The
Wonderbra rejuvenated bra sales,'' said Marcia Clark, director of
merchandising with Sara Lee's intimate line. "The thong is similar
in that we're seeing more customers and more money.''
The
outer-underwear trend was rejuvenated recently when teenage girls
began exposing bra straps under dainty tank tops.
Since
then, slips, corsets and bandeau-style lingerie have also gone
mainstream.
Thongs
paired with frilly bras under see-through outfits are popular in
nightclubs and red-carpet runways.
Undergarments are being accessorized to form outlandish fashion
statements, Mr. Julian said. The latest twist encourages women to
adorn an exposed thong with bejeweled clips.
Marketing professor Dominique Hanssens of the University of
California, Los Angeles, said that fashion trends, including
lingerie, usually work in cycles.
Retailers create trends on a small scale and later sell their
popularity to a larger audience.
Because
of the difficulty pushing widespread appeal, some trends fizzle
before they have a chance to take off, he said. "Given today's short
cycles, retailers have to act fast.''
He added
that this might explain the sudden boom in thongs and thong-related
trends, including the outer-underwear trend expected to surge this
summer. -- AP
April
2001
