WHO TO CALL:
Fashion Editor
A Layne Christensen

| 965-2131 (118) P a
SES oo,

And though they're
built for the boys,
women are snapping
them up just as fast.

“Funny enough,” she
notes, it was hip
grannies in search of
novelty Christmas gifts
who “picked up on the
idea that the grand-
daughters wore guys’
underwear.” .

In addition to the full-
cut brief and boxer
briefs. Staples does a
thong ($15) and a
French-cut ($20). Sizes
range from Smail to

comes to

selling her
line of silk under-
wear, there’s almost
nothing Kathicen
Staples won’t do.

Christensen

The West Vancouver
entrepreneur has swapped
panties for food and drink
at restaurants, hosted a
“gonch launch” and even
dropped her trousers at a
women’s networking
meeting. And while the
nicker-revealing escapade
met with moderate success (10 pairs sold), the
gonch launch was a veritable marketing coup.

Staples, 31, held the pre-Christmas event at
the ultra-hip Subeez Café in Yaletown to boost
sales and media interest in her line, including
her newly released men’s underwear.

For the bold few who dared to dance in
their scivvies, Staples was offering free drinks
of Panty Punch. But the blinding lights of a
TV camera crew wiped out any chance of that
happening. Still, Staples figures the launch
was a success.

Before she knew it, she was pandering her
panties on the evening news and at The Bay
downtown, where she sold 1,000 undies in a
scant four weeks.

‘So what pushed this former antiques dealer
into the lingerie limelight?

notes

XXLarge.

And since she dyes the undies herself
in her parents’ washing machine, any
color is possible.

Shades you can expect to find in stores
include Vanilla Whip Cream, Alley Kat
Black (the top seller), Ooh La La
Lavender (a close second), Cabernet
Sauvignon Red, Frozen Raspberry and
Bain de Soleil.

Irregular dye-lots are quickly and inge-
niously recycled. For example, a failed
batch of Indonesian Spice, a rich pumpkin
shade, was thrown back in the wash and
overdyed navy. “I called it Polished
Mahogany, and it just sold like mad,” says
Staples with a Cheshire Cat grin.

For St. Valentine’s Day there’s Cupid's

- Sheer necessity, says Stapies.
“I wanted the luxury and comfort of silk

Little Helper red. And if cupid needs
some amorous ammo, Staples makes it

but what I found was too frou-frou. It wasn’t
meant to be worm, it was meant for the
boudoir,” she says. .

‘So she designed what she’ wanted, took
$17,000 in savings from an antique business
she was running on south Granville (She sup-
plied her Whistier-bound clients with “funky
junky stuff — pine and anything with rust”)
-and flew to China in the spring of 1994 to find
a manufacturer,

The result? Full-cut briefs in 100% silk- .
knit guaranteed to leave no VPLs (visible
panty lines). They retail for $20.

“Staples don’t go hiking when you go hik-
ing,” she i is fond of saying, and she swears it’s
the truth,

“They’ FE SGO0OO | comfortable — and warm
at this time of year,” she says of her latest
design, man-style boxer briefs ($36).

JEWELRY

_ for your

easy. She’s put together a Luv-Pak that for
$49.95 contains boxer briefs for him, a
thong for her and red velvet heart-shaped
pasties “just for a joke — you can stick
them wherever you want” for either lover.
For the sharing there are Belgian choco-
late truffles and a bottle of Rapture Love
Lotion. A blank card is provided for your
heart-felt sentiments.

The Luv-Pak is available at all North
Shore stores that carry the Staples line,
including The Bay ~ Park Royal,
Margareta, Lanita’s and The Mensroom.

Should cupid’s arrow miss the mark,
Staples has a back-up plan: “If these red
ones don’t sell, they go
back in the dye bath and
they’ll be purple for
Easter.”

WEST VANCOUVER entrepreneur Kathleen Staples plays’ cupid’s helper this St.
Valentine's Day. She’s put together a Luy-Pak that contains his-and-hers sitk-knit

undies and 8 few surprises.

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