NEW YORK (AP) – Gym classes that promise a plump posterior are in high demand. A surgery that pumps fat into the buttocks is gaining popularity. And padded panties that give the appearance of a rounder rump are selling out.
The United States booty business is getting a big bump. Companies are cashing in on growing demand from women seeking the more curvaceous figures of their favourite stars, who flaunt their fuller rear ends.
Nicki Minaj for instance, raps about her “big fat” butt in Anaconda. Reality star Kim Kardashian posts photos of hers on Instagram. And in the music video for Booty, Jennifer Lopez and Iggy Azalea, wearing leotards, spend four minutes rubbing their curvy bottoms together. At one point, they slap each other on the booty.
As a result of the pop culture moment the butt is having, sales for Booty Pop, which hawks $22 foam padded panties on its website, are up 47 per cent in the last six months from the same period a year earlier. The company, which declined to give sales figures, has sold out of certain styles and colours this year, including its Pink Cotton Candy Boy Shorts.
Susan Bloomstone, Booty Pop’s co-founder, says customers have asked for larger sizes. So, the Boston-based company plans to begin selling pads that are 25 per cent larger this month.
“People just want more booty,” she says.
Feel Foxy, another maker of padded panties, says 2014 has been its best year since launching nearly a decade ago. Sales are up 40 per cent from a year ago, but the company declined to give sales figures.
“The Nicki Minaj song gave women the idea to pay attention to their rear end,” says Jessica Asmar, co-owner of the Houston company.
Deborah Santiago squeezed into a $40 Feel Foxy one-piece for her 30th birthday. The shapewear flattened Santiago’s waist and boosted her back side. A flat butt can ruin an outfit, says the New York stay-at-home mother of two. Lopez is her butt idol, but she also covets the bottoms of reality TV stars on The Real Housewives of Atlanta and Love & Hip Hop.
“I always wanted a big butt,” Santiago says. “Something you could look twice at.”