California Apparel News

Trashy Lingerie is one of Hollywood’s iconic retail destinations—and this year the specialty lingerie store is celebrating its 40th anniversary. The company has dressed everyone from Hollywood’s leading ladies to playmates at the Playboy mansion and provided countless costumes for Halloween soirees.

Known for its “members-only” policy, kitschy valet- parking sign, themed window displays and pink storefront on La Cienega Boulevard, Trashy Lingerie has made its mark in more than 500 movies and in the closets of women around the world. “We’ve been here so long, and we’re famous for what we do,” said co-founder Mitch Shrier. “If you know our stuff, it really shows up. You can tell,” he said. What started out as a shoe store has transformed into a lingerie boutique offering custom-made designs, a mega-website, and a costume wholesaler selling to companies in England and Brazil.

Founders Mitch and Tracy Shrier launched the business on April 1, 1973, and haven’t looked back since. “It was a shoe store, and I designed a shoe, which was like a ‘come f*ck me shoe’—very sexy—and [then] everybody wanted stockings,” Mitch said. The stockings were hand-dyed in more than 150 colors to match the shoes. That soon led to garter belts, and lingerie was a natural progression.

“It was much easier to make the lingerie and clothing than it was to make the shoes,” Shrier said.

Today the store still carries a small quantity of shoes and hand dyes stockings in 30 different colors. Lingerie lines the walls of the store’s Victorian interior and is displayed on mannequins and rounders throughout the store. A separate room is filled with a multitude of costumes from sexy cowgirls bedecked in fringe to elaborate corseted Marie Antoinette brocade dresses.

The business is family–owned and operated by Mitch and his wife, Tracy, along with their son Randy. The lingerie is designed and still manufactured, in part, on-site. To accommodate the business’s growth, the company opened a downtown LA location, which employs 35 sewers. The website, which launched in 1998, offers more than 100,000 items.

The costume portion of the business began in the late ’70s and is an entity all its own. “[We make] everything from shoes to hats—and everything in between,” Shrier said. Trashy’s costumes carry the same high level of craftsmanship and, of course, the sexy aesthetic. Last year, the best-selling costume, a version of the Marie Antoinette, sold for $900, Shrier said. The company also wholesales its costumes to rental businesses, such asBreshow Fantasias in São Paulo, which carries approximately $1 million in Trashy merchandise.

Custom-made customer service

The store is open to members only and requires a $2 admission. “It’s just a way to screen people,” explained Mitch. “I always explain it to women that ‘remember when you were at a party and a guy across the room stared at you and made you nervous?’ They never get in my store. There is always a woman at the front door. So, if she gets that vibe, they don’t get in.”

The Shriers rely on word of mouth to build the business. Twenty-five percent of the store’s revenue comes from custom-made items. Recently, Internet sales have surpassed in-store sales—although there are days when a customer will drop by the store and spend $5,000 for lingerie and costumes for parties and events, Mitch Shrier said.

Trashy built its reputation by producing high-quality products and original designs and by offering a high level of customer service, Shrier said.

“I can make anything,” he said. “That’s what my cachet is. People come here, they want to be different. They want to wear something that everybody else doesn’t have.”

The company’s client list reads like the who’s who of entertainment: Rihanna, Kate Hudson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Dakota Fanning, Nicki Minaj and Kate Beckinsale, to name a few. Customers are measured and fit in the store, and detailed records are kept for future reference. Many costume designers count on Trashy to create costumes for the big screen—think Kim Basinger in “9½ Weeks,” Pamela Anderson in “Barb Wire” and Emma Stone in “Easy A.” The bunny outfits for Reese Witherspoon in “Legally Blonde” and Renee Zellweger in “Bridget Jones’s Diary” were both by Trashy, which has also created stage looks for Madonna, Dolly Parton, Britney Spears, Cher, Fergie and Dita Von Teese.

A quick two- to three-day turnaround time is the norm for movies and TV productions, and it’s seven to 10 days for regular customers. “We do a lot of wedding corsets to go under wedding dresses and a lot of stuff for theAcademy Awards,” Shrier said. “It’s the only place you can get them [custom fit],” he said.

Competitive edge

Like many other businesses, Trashy has experienced challenges during the economic slowdown. Business from the entertainment industry slowed down somewhat, and some customers opted to buy cheaper items—although Shrier points out that the Trashy customer typically isn’t concerned with price. Prices start at $15 for thongs, $50 for garter belts, $70 for bras and $200 for corsets and go up from there. Brands such as Agent Provocateur and Victoria’s Secret have also created competition, but the quality of the product keeps Trashy’s clients loyal, Shrier said.

“If you buy one here and count how long you’re going to wear mine, mine is cheaper by a whole bunch—but the down payment is more,” he said. “It doesn’t fall apart—and if it did, we would fix it. If somebody hand-washes it and hangs dry, we guarantee it forever. And we don’t get much stuff back.”

Trashy’s young, fashionable clients look to the store for fashion-forward pieces such as high-waisted panties, retro ’40s looks, studded vinyl fabrics and ’60s-inspired babydoll nighties to update their lingerie closet. Although, Shrier said he doesn’t look to fashion trends to create Trashy’s designs. “We start trends,” he said.

Trashy’s direct contact with customers is one secret of its success. “We deal directly with the customer where other stores deal with the wholesaler,” he explained. Lingerie can be created on the spot when inspiration strikes and new materials are found.

Because they sell direct to the consumer, they have the luxury of trial and error to create new products. It’s a built-in test market. At least four or five new designs are created every month by Trashy designers Dot Ferrone and Jessica Owens.

The biggest challenge is finding fabric and findings, Shrier said. “You’ve got to be creative to make something different,” he said. Many times trims such as embroideries, rosettes, sutache lace and studs add Trashy’s signature touch. It’s that originality that has created loyalty with its customers. “We have customers that have been coming here for 25 years,” Shrier said. “We do something that nobody else can do.”