Victoria’s Secret lingerie: Hot in more ways than one

Victoria’ Secret lingerie is hot. Everybody wants to get their hands on it — especially thieves.

When a woman stole 785 panties from the Lenox Mall store last weekend she was just following a trend of stealing fancy unmentionables from the iconic retailer.

Police in Connecticut say there’s a huge black market for the chain’s wares, ctpost.com reported, and Victoria’s Secret shopliftings are becoming a frequent occurrence everywhere.

Just last month, a couple of men — men — took $20,000 worth of bras and panties from a Florida Victoria’s Secret, Consumerist.com reported. Like the Atlanta shoplifter, they stuffed the goods into another store’s bag and were caught on surveillance video. It did take them three trips to get it all, though.

Last October, also in Florida, a woman stole enough underwear to turn it into a $53,000 profit, the Sun Sentinel reported. The woman allegedly ran a complex scam in which she exchanged the items, got credit, then sought a refund.

Retail security expert Chris McGoey, of McGoey Security Consulting, said the latest shoplifting isn’t a real surprise.

Victoria’ Secret panties, he points out, are “very compact — you can scrunch them up and they don’t take a lot of space. And they are very valuable and expensive items. The Victoria’s Secret tags add value, too.”

The thieves probably aren’t planning to wear them.

They can be sold online directly by the shoplifter who can keep his or her anonymity while making a tidy profit. Or, they can sell what they’ve stolen to fences — rogue retailers — who will resell them out of small, independent shops or online. Sometimes, the shoplifters work for the fence who asks them to steal a specific product or brand.

The Lenox Mall thief “clearly came in with a plan,” McGoey said. She had shopping bags from other stores, not unusual in a mall, and certainly not suspicious-looking. And they make for a great hiding place.

Many retail stores are susceptible to shoplifting, too, he points out, because they have only one or two employees on the floor at a time and can be easily distracted. They’re typically not equipped to deal with shoplifters, either. High-end retailers don’t like to show too much security as it can tarnish their brand image.

Atlanta police haven’t found the woman who made off with her pre-Valentine’s day gifts yet, but McGoey is sure they will.

“She’ll be caught,” he said. “There’s clear video. Or somebody will rat her out.”

Share and Enjoy

Oui, oui! Why two dudes started an upscale lingerie site

Two years ago, Alex Dulac went lingerie shopping for his girlfriend, and struck out at six downtown shops.

“I couldn’t tell the difference between any of the pieces,” says Dulac, 36, who worked at a fashion startup. “And I was also looking to find a more niche designer.”

At a department store, he finally unearthed a bra, panties and robe from the NY-based label Araks.

“I knew it would deliver,” he says, and yes, his beloved loved her unmentionables. Dulac had an “aha” moment.

In November, he and pal Marc Balet, former creative director for Interview magazine, formed OuiHours, an online magazine and shopping guide featuring titillating photos and more than 60 brands of lingerie, including Cosabella and Kiki de Montparnasse.

Lingerie from OuiHours.Photo: Marc Balet

Calling it “more sophisticated” than Victoria’s Secret, Balet, 65, says, “The last thing we wanted to do was the laddy thing.” They signed photographers like Bruce Weber and David LaChapelle to shoot highconcept editorials mixed with celebrity QA’s.

And if it seems odd that two men are helming a lingerie business — they say men account for 40 percent of lingerie sales.

“[My girlfriend] has a very nice lingerie drawer now,” Dulac says.

Share and Enjoy