California Apparel News

At the Purrmission Lingerie boutique in Santa Barbara, Calif., a specialized bra-fitting service is only half of the offerings provided.

Proprietress Melanie Doctors, who is known to her customers as “Miss Kitty,” has made a name for herself as a go-to for relationship advice.

“I don’t think what we do is sales at all,” Doctors said. “I think the expertise of knowing how to fit [bras] is 50 percent and the other 50 percent is part-time therapist. I mean, you hear everything. It’s like women chat with their hairdressers.”

The Santa Barbara native was inspired to quit her job in real estate sales and open Purrmission in 2005 after she felt neglected and poorly served at the local department store’s lingerie section. “I was so frustrated,” Doctors said. “There were racks of bras that didn’t fit. I couldn’t find anyone who could help. I was a 36E. I didn’t even know Es existed. I was told I was a 38DD.”

To accommodate the full spectrum of customers, from teens shopping for their first bras all the way up to elderly women, Purrmission stocks a formidable size run of 32 to 44 band sizes and A to H cup sizes. Brands such as Elle Macpherson Intimates, Eberjey, Fayreform, Liz, Carol Malony, Chantelle and Marie Jo cover both the everyday bras and saucy lingerie needs of Doctors’ core 40- to 60-year-old demographic customer.

Doctors in session

Doctors’ civic role as a nurturing counselor has become a distinguishing feature drawing customers to her lingerie shop, which is located off the beaten path at 18 W. Calle Laureles. In 2006, she started answering relationship questions in a weekly column called “Kitty in the City” in the Santa Barbara Daily Sound, a local newspaper.

“I thought it would be good crossover marketing for the store,” Doctors said. “Since people were constantly coming in here and telling me all about their boyfriend troubles and husband troubles, it was just a natural progression to do it in print.”

Given Doctors’ effervescent personality and her method of running Purrmission like an all-girls slumber party, it is no surprise that women feel comfortable opening up to her.

The store deacute;cor includes boudoir lounging sofas where customers can watch “Sex and the City” episodes on a flat-screen TV.

Doctors gives her customers a chipper greeting: “Hello, there! Come in and play. If you need a bra fitting, let me know. I’m Miss Kitty. That’s what we do.” Most customers take her up on the offer, and she listens to their bra preferences: padded, unpadded, full coverage, demi cup, lacy, smooth, racerback or extra-long straps.

During the times that Doctors is fitting multiple customers in adjacent dressing rooms, she said, it’s not uncommon for strangers to bond over the intimate experience. On a recent visit, a petite mom praised the fit of an embroidered underwire bra and then opened the door of the dressing room to show Doctors while a customer in the other dressing room also came out to show off her loungewear.

“That always happens in here,” Doctors said. “It’s the vibe in here—whatever is in here that does that.”

Sparking female-bonding moments such as these is what Doctors envisioned in the planning stages of the store. She also hosts private parties for bachelorettes, recent divorceacute;es and “girls’ nights out.” Included in the event package are tutorials led by Doctors inside the “Naughty Department” cabana of bedroom accessories and “how-to” relationship books that she describes as “housewife sex 101.”

Doctors modeled the boutique’s personal charm and customer service after the mom-and-pop specialty stores she frequented when she was a child. Her goal is to provide product expertise along with a memorable shopping experience.

The retailer recalled a recent shopper whose visit underscored Purrmission’s ethos.

“She needed two outfits,” Doctors said. “She was going away with her guy. It was a really big deal. Being with her in the dressing room with her girlfriend, she was thinking about what this was going to be, what kind of image she wanted to portray, and this was the guy she wanted to marry. It was a whole story. She wasn’t just buying a couple bras.” —Rhea Cortado