Jenny Buettner of Huntington Beach came up with the idea four years ago when she was a bridesmaid in her sister’s wedding.

Her dress was form-fitting and made of silk. She didn’t want panty lines, she said, but “didn’t want to go commando” either.

Buettner, pictured right, wasn’t happy with the products on the market.

After cutting, taping and sewing, she came up with a strapless G-string panty, pictured below. They’re washable and reusuable because they come with double-sided strips of tape that are disposable.

Buettner, who gives step-by-step instructions on how to wear them on her Web site, says it doesn’t hurt when they’re pulled off. Her first bit of advice on removing them? “Take your time.”

She showcased them at the Magic trade show in Las Vegas this past February. That same month, the underwear was written up in Daily Candy and Reuters. She shipped her first pair in April.

Buettner, who runs her business solo out of her home, has raked in a revenue of about $90,000 from selling more than 10,000 pieces. The company, called Shibue Couture, sells in roughly 80 stores in about 20 states in the U.S. and Netherlands, Mexico and Canada and on her Web site, she said. The underwear retails from $24 to $32.

Among the buyers that picked up Shibue’s panties is Gina Halamandaris, owner of women’s clothing boutique Ladonna that opened two and a half years ago at Huntington Beach shopping center Bella Terra.

“They’re so unique and convenient for formal dresses and other fitted clothing,” Halamandaris said.

For the past few months, she has been selling eight different patterns of the panties for $28 each.

Sales for the Shibue panties are “doing great,” she said. “People are curious when they see them. After they try them on, they think they’re fabulous.”

(Photos from Shibue Web site. For more stories on Shibue, CLICK HERE.)

More O.C. retail:

• Jewelry chain may file for bankruptcy
• Mervyns to close stores
• Target to relocate two O.C. stores to bigger buildings
• First outlet mall in O.C. hoping to get stores like Carlsbad
• New mall near O.C. gets Trader Joe’s, Pinkberry, H&M & more
• Jo-Ann to close stores
• $1.35 million Tiffany ring bought by O.C. resident
• Linens ‘n Things O.C. stores start bankruptcy liquidation sales
• Angelina Jolie replaced by 4 new faces at St. John 
• Clothing chain to close 100 stores
• Popular surf retailer to open 2 more O.C. shops 
• Kohl’s to bring back iconic surf brand with O.C. ties
• New Asian shopping center to soon open in Irvine
• UPDATE: 38 retailers to soon open at new O.C. mall 
• Home Depot to open 23rd O.C. store but close others
• Electronics chain staved off bankruptcy, reopened O.C. stores
• $3.3 million Laguna Beach home for sale on … Walmart.com
• Ann Taylor shop in O.C. has closed  
• O.C. toy shop closing soon, can’t compete with Costco, Wal-Mart   
• Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic owner to close more stores
• Nordstrom Rack announces opening date for third O.C. store
• O.C. clothing store has closed
• Bakers to close stores
• Irvine Spectrum is latest O.C. mall to expand
• Rags to riches: tale of O.C. entrepreneur
• First Playboy surfboards will come from O.C. 
• Fashion Island’s women’s clothing store has closed 
• Victoria’s Secret banned from using phrase “So Sexy”?
• Free O.C. concerts by pop-rock stars featured on TV
• Two furniture stores closed at O.C. home furnishings center 
• “The Hills” stars attend O.C. bowling center opening  
• New shopping center near O.C. to open in October
• South Coast Plaza lands another diamond giant

For more O.C. retail, see list of links on right-hand side of this blog.

Posted in: Bella Terra • O.C. Company News |

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