In 2000, when Sara Blakely founded Spanx, she revolutionized the apparel world by creating a modern version of the corset. For years, the company helped generations of women create a smooth, sculpted look with shapewear made from high-tech fabrics. And Blakely became the youngest female self-made billionaire.
But the world has changed over the past quarter century. The size inclusivity movement has grown, encouraging women to embrace their bodies as they are, rather than adapting to some external standard of beauty. At the same time, brands started embedding compression into all kinds of everyday garments, from stretch denim to yoga pants. Consumers seemingly liked to feel held in by their clothing.
Spanx needed to evolve. In 2011, it first introduced jeans with some shapewear technology. But now, the company is launching a new line of denim that incorporates its highest level of compression and sculpting, from tummy control to thigh shaping and butt-lifting.
An Evolving Customer
When Spanx first hit the market, celebrities went wild for the product. Oprah named the shapewear among her “Favorite Things” in 2000, the year the company launched. Celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Garner, and Adele reportedly wore the shapewear under their dresses on red carpets. Reese Witherspoon and Winfrey invested in the brand.
But over the decades, shapewear has come in and out of fashion. Some women pushed back against the idea of wearing highly constricting undergarments in order to feel comfortable in their bodies. And then, in 2019, Kim Kardashian and Emma Grede launched Skims, which offered a new take on shapewear, offering an inclusive range of colors to match many skin tones and a wider range of sizing. Now, things may be shifting again. “The pendulum is swinging back,” says Katie Weeks, VP of brand marketing at Spanx. “It’s okay to show up on a red carpet in your natural shape, and without a face full of makeup.”
Weeks says that women today just want options. They want access to highly compressing shapewear that they can wear under an evening gown or a wedding dress. But they also want to wear everyday clothes that have some compression built in, to give their butt a lift or accentuate their waist. This is why the brand’s tank tops and dresses embedded with four-way stretch. “It’s about clothes that give the same shaping and smoothing effect you would get from shapewear,” says Weeks. “But it’s more comfortable, because you have one less layer.”
A New Fiber Technology
Importantly, the compression in Spanx’s new jeans isn’t the same throughout the garment. It is targeted at specific parts of the body: the stomach, thigh, and butt.
It’s something Pascale Gueracague, Spanx’s chief design officer, has been working on for years. The new product comes out of Spanx’s long relationship with Lycra, which is known for supplying the fashion industry with stretch fabrics. As Gueracague explored Lycra’s newest products, she came across a new kind of material that has sculpting capabilities.
It all begins with how the yarn is created. It is made of cotton that is wrapped around an interior core of a synthetic fiber. This yarn is then woven into a fabric that has the look and feel of cotton denim. But what makes it special is that when you apply heat to particular parts of the jeans, it activates the technology that creates a sculpting effect.
Spanx has created several denim styles that are currently popular, including a straight leg and a wide leg jean. But at the stomach, thigh, and butt area of the jeans, the heating technology is applied, creating flatting and lifting effects. “When you heat it, it locks the fibers in place, creating a fabric that is engineered to have more compression in some areas, and more give in others,” says Gueracague. “In key areas, it effectively sculpts the figure.”
I tried an early sample of the jeans. On the surface, the jeans did seem like any other denim, with a stiff, sturdy feel. And unlike stretch denim, which offers the same level of compression throughout, I felt like the compression in these new jeans was targeted. There was compression in my stomach and thighs that felt very similar to wearing workout pants. But in other parts of the jean, like the leg, there was no compression.
Weeks believes its important to keep innovating as more competitors enter the industry. And after pioneering the concept of shapewear, it’s interesting that Spanx is increasingly creating clothes that don’t look like shapewear at all. “We’ve really spent a lot of time creating a product that looks and feels like any other denim in your closet, but that has been made better by Spanx’s technology,” she says.
