The world of on-line business is changing rapidly; the dot-com boom has been followed by the dot-com bust. Where things will end up is anyone's guess.
Perhaps the old formula for success is still the best: find out what your customers want, and treat them well. It's certainly worked out for one on-line retailer.
Here's the story of an Internet pioneer, who was, as far as I can tell, the first to see a certain opportunity, and has filled that need ably ever since. The author is one of my oldest cyber-friends, and was kind enough to reply in detail when I asked her how her business had developed.
[And just for the record: this is not an advertisement, and even though Patricia is a friend, I wouldn't have asked her to prepare this if I hadn't received overwhelming positive feedback from Zona readers about her service.]
-Virginian
My Own Girdle Experience
I am a baby boomer but unlike a lot of women my age I didn't wear girdles as a teen. I really didn't start until after the birth of my second child. At that time I felt that I needed a little help in getting my figure back. My mother suggested a panty girdle and I started out with a couple of light control briefs. I liked the way they felt and the tummy control they gave me and soon graduated to long leg panty girdles. The long leg looked better in tighter dresses and skirts and as a bonus I noticed that my occasional lower back pain bothered me less while wearing a girdle.
I wore them a fair amount of time but my interest in girdles blossomed in the spring/summer of 1995 when while playing with our family's new home computer and poking around the internet I discovered a newsgoup called Alt.Clothing.Lingerie (ACL).
I was fascinated with the postings by Suzanne, Marcia, and Susan B. and their stories of their first girdle experiences. The discussions those posting stimulated were of great interest to me as I thought, like others probably did, that not many people wore girdles or cared about them. I started some e-mail correspondence with other women with similar interests and had long AOL chats with another friend in which we compared notes on which girdles appealed to us. This obviously led to the expanding of my personal girdle inventory, more frequent wearing of them, and a special interest in vintage girdles.
How I Got Started in the Business
A couple of factors led me to starting this business. I had started collecting vintage girdles for my own use and had developed some very good sources for them. I passed on many fine vintage girdles that were not my size all the time thinking that someone would love to own that girdle. At the same time I was intrigued by the power of the internet to reach people all over the world and thought it would be a great vehicle for a e-mail order business. All I needed was the right product...
At first I thought I would sell vintage girdles and maybe a few current styles to fill in the gaps when the vintage girdles were hard to find. That was the plan anyway- a little home hobby/business.
I started with a small ad in ACL and sent my first catalog out to those who responded in July of 1996. I had 11 items for sale and the catalog went out to about 30 people. I was totally shocked by how fast the business grew and how much demand was generated. Of course, being listed in Zona as a source for new and vintage foundations had a lot to do with that growth!
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Posted September 3, 2001