California Apparel News

Los Angeles company targets the junior-lingerie market

Secret Fashion Inc.’s cute, trendy lingerie collections are no longer on the hush. The company’s moderately priced junior-lingerie labels—Biata, Peeping Tom and Miss Fifi—sell in department stores and specialty boutiques throughout the United States, including Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s West, Wet Seal, Rampage, Hot Topic, Gadzooks and Windsor.

Owner Mark Pensian started the intimates company eight years ago in Los Angeles.

Secret Fashion has targeted the junior market, which has been underserved, according to Sandy Skinner, senior vice president of sales and merchandising. The company is projecting sales will reach somewhere north of $24 million by the end of the year.

“We really believe we are a complete intimate- apparel company, and there isn’t any retailer that we cannot satisfy,” said Skinner, who worked as a lingerie buyer for Burdines for several years before accepting a position as vice president and divisional merchandise manager of non-apparel at junior retailer Rampage.

Under Skinner’s direction, the company is focusing on building a junior-lingerie market with its Peeping Tom and Miss Fifi lines. Peeping Tom uses brightly colored microfibers and stripes with charm details and other embellishments. Miss Fifi is made with cotton, Lycra and terrycloth and features sassy screen prints. Biata uses microfibers, yarn dyes and laces for its collection, which comes with metal details and rhinestone trims. Wholesale price points for panties, bras and daywear range from $2 to $5.50.

“Every month, we bring in new fashion groups that all merchandise together to make a print-and-color story,” Skinner said. “For our intimates collections, we look to ready-to-wear for trends, and that translates all the way down to hardware and embellishments. Our customers look to us to find out what is new and what is going to be trending next season.”

Wet Seal buyer Nicole Morgan said both lines have just the amount of style and attitude that customers are looking for at her stores.

“Customers really like the way the lines use bright colors, specialty treatments and hardware,” she said. “Our customers like the collections because they are different than other intimates collections for juniors.”

Biata, an intimates collection with a more contemporary feel and a slightly higher price point than Peeping Tom and Miss Fifi, gives the 8-year-old company some cachet with retailers who cater to older customers.

“The target customer for this line is a contemporary, fashion-conscious customer who follows the ready-towear trends in both color and print and looks to fashion magazines for her direction,” Skinner said.

Secret Fashion makes sure each collection can be merchandised with styles and fabrications that are trending in the marketplace. For example, the company created peasant-print and bohemian-print bras and panties two years ago, when such prints dominated the market, and sales increased three-fold.

Regardless of the different fabrications used for each collection, the fit is always the same, Skinner pointed out.

Buyers are drawn to Secret Fashion’s lines because the prints and styles are fashion-forward, said Macy’s West buyer Alison Cheldelin, adding that the Biata and Miss Fifi lines have done well at her stores.

“The lines are easy-to-merchandise because they’re influenced by the latest fabric trends, and we can sell them at a very reasonable price,” Cheldelin said.

What makes Biata stand out from other underwear lines is the fit, she explained.

“Biata is ahead of a lot of designer collections because they offer affordable styles, such as low-rise underwear that can be worn under low-rise, contemporary denim, and the quality is exceptional,” she said.

Skinner said striking a balance between trendy styles and novelty lingerie is key to business.

“Lingerie is for young women who are looking for fun fashion stuff,” she said. “Now specialty stores are selling more lingerie lines because the profitability of lingerie is appealing to junior retailers and specialty retailers alike.”