It had to happen. For years I have been wearing one and only one kind of underpants, to wit, the “Rio brief” sold by Victoria’s Secret. They overprice their daywear and employ a marketing strategy best described as “photos of beautiful slender women without cunts.” But in this one instance, damn, they figured out how to build a pair of skivvies. You could move in those suckers. And they were cotton, so they didn’t give you the Tasmanian Rot.
A nice wide flock-lined waistband that sat up above the hip bones. Front cut right up to the band so you didn’t get cloth and elastic clumping up in your groin every time you swung your leg up, say to a hanging bar or tree branch. Rise length sufficient even for my freakishly long waist. Briefs and so-called hi-cuts strangle you, bikinis dig a groove across your butt and threaten to fall down, thongs — well, can you say anal floss? A lady I hobnobbed with during my British adventures used to say ‘Oi, well, knickers always go up your crack anyway.” But these didn’t.
So now, of course, they’re no longer in the catalog. This happens whenever you find a bra or a running shoe you like. I have a drawer full, but what happens when they hit the point that the elastic peels off in the wash?
(About the models: I’m serious, people. Can you imagine a single one of those women having anything between her legs but a smooth, powdery, faintly convex space, whiffing disquietingly of polymer, like a Barbie doll? Maybe this is why the practical aspects of underwear have escaped them.)
I’d call, but any merchant that disguises its Columbus, OH headquarters location with a voice mail script delivered in a posh British accent has no real respect for its customers.
“Cover your ass” has taken on a new meaning Chez Sled. Oh well. If it’s the worst thing that happens to me all week, I’m good. Just understand that if they come for my Champion sports bra, there will be no warning shots.
Maybe you should buy up as many Champion sports bras as you can afford. You know that they’ll be replaced by bras that you’ll detest. I don’t wear bras anymore because I can’t find a comfortable one. I might be sagging, but hello, I’m comfortable!
Fortunately sport bras are really more fungible than underpants, but you do have to have one when you’re hanging upside down from the Smith machine…
I hear ya. The only comfortable knickers I’ve ever found are Marks & Spencer cotton highlegs. Since M&S closed all their European stores many years ago I have had to either order online (via a UK friend) or take a trip to Gibraltar. I also miss their bras but I find it’s too risky buying bras online.
Anal floss. Ha!
There needs to be some sort of law about companies deleting lines like this. It’s discrimination, i’m sure of it.
I hate thongs!
I don’t stick to one style of underwear but whenever I find a lipstick I like or a body lotion that smells just right the goddamn manufacturers discontinue it or replace it with an inferior product
Why %$&*# why do they do that?
Same thing often happens to me with body lotion, shampoo, shower gel…
The mention of thongs always reminds me of this Maxine cartoon
I gave up on underwear about 15 years ago, I have no opinion about bras at all except that I hate ‘em and won’t wear one. As far as knickers go, I prayed for menopause so I wouldn’t have to have any around any more. When I did wear them, I wore granny fruit of the looms.
Sounds like the type of underpants Ninja Vicki would wear.
Forget the Tasmanian Itch, try the Great Sandy Desert Itch – I spend much of the warmer weather (read 45C+) going commando.
One thinks of the wizard in the fourth Harry Potter book who defends his selection of a nightgown as Muggle incognito: “I like a healthy breeze round my privates, thank you!…”
i have an aging collection of the Rio… rats…. although not an exclusive item for me, i LOVE them in the summer, under clingy thingies. the cotton? a necessity in these parts… ugh….
I too just went searching for the rio briefs at Victorias and am so mad that I can’t find them.
Hey Everyone
I have great news. I just called Victorias Secret and they said that in September the rio brief is back . It will be called something different but keep checking. It will be under the cotton collection. She made my day.
Yippee! Thanks for getting back with that scoop. My rear end was feeling bereft.
I loved my rio’s. This was a great harsh but funny write
I wear Victoria’s Secret Rio briefs exclusively. They are cotton (how can any stand woman wear nylon down there?), which means I can throw them in the washer and dryer, plus they sit on top of my hips while covering my ass, which makes them both comfortable and near invisible.
I went to the Victoria’s Secret website today and they are no longer there.
I don’t know what I am going to do if Victoria’s Secret doesn’t bring them back. Boy shorts and thongs are not only uncomfortable, but they make my ass look much fatter than it already is. Bikinis sit on the middle of my hips, so not only to they slide down, they give me an attractive muffin top, just what every woman wants.
I don’t trust Victoria’s Secret when they say they are bringing them back, but they will be called something different. I will believe it when I see them in the catalog and can order them again.
As usual, the best product that I have bought exclusively for years gets discontinued!
I am a guy, who likes his girl to have nice, good fitting, practical, cotton, sexy, durable, distinctively styled panties.
(The signiture wide elastic band was too good to be true.)
What a hit I was when I would “surprise” her with these a few times a year!
They compliment a womens figure,………yes,…they were expensive,……..but they were the only game in town.
Don’t hold your breath about them “coming back”……..
I will be trolling Target and Kohls department stores in the near future, looking for a replacement………..Victoria Secret should fire their marketing department,….this is the type of marketing that loses your long term customers,……while you are going after new ones,…………..
Kind of sounds stupid when you finally see it in writing, hey? It’s what a hamster does on a wheel,….it trades one step for the next.
Actually the next best shot in my drawer, you should pardon the expression, was the VS cotton eyelet hi-cut. I’m holding out with what I’ve got as long as I can, though. Frosts me to have nowhere else to take my hard earned buck.
[...] hit-my-funnybone pain in your inner thigh, and not being able to pick up your leg to put on your Rio briefs without Lamaze [...]
Okay, the Rio Brief is back at VS and I ordered 10 pair and they are NOT THE SAME as the old ones! The elastic band is much thinner and the rise much lower, so instead of sitting at my waist (which is what I so loved about them), they slide down my hips, like every other style of bikini underwear that I hate.
WARNING…..$50 wasted!
“Like every other style of bikini underwear that I hate.” From your mouth to God’s ears. Thanks for the heads up and I am sorry to hear it, both in general and that anyone is out $50. I had seen they were back and distrusted the fiber content — I’d been vacillating. DAMMIT! Can’t people leave a good thing alone?
It appears that VS has brought back a new and improved RIO. A thinner waist band and thinner cotton and added 5% spadex. They feel terribly. The original waist band stayed put and the 100% thicker cotton didn’t walk about on your behind. The original Rio kept it’s shape wash after wash and wear after wear. Victoria, girls do not just wear fancy panties no matter how many commercials you show on TV. Please bring back the original everyday Rio. From what I hear from customer service, you are not listening to the many customer concerns.
Yup, I bought some of them. Still an improvement on old lady briefs or string bikinis, but basically they suck.
Yes, I forgot to mention. I agree with Robin. The new Rio is also cut lower. I tugged at the front and tugged at the back and couldn’t get them to sit as comfortably as the old Rio. No luck, so I returned 2 dozen in various colors.
I too like the old Rio Briefs by VS, the new ones should not even be called Rio Briefs as they are not even close to the original. What I would like to know, is what brand did you change too? I liked the Rio’s for the same reasons Robin listed…high cut, fit nice, wide band…cotton. I am not having much luck in finding a replacement…I do not want “bloomers”….nor a thong….
Just curious if there is anything out there even close…
Thanks
I’m still playing out my old supply in hopes something will surface. The intermediate Rio — the one that existed before they disappeared entirely — wasn’t too bad and the new one is just barely bearable (at least compared to bloomers and thongs). I lined all three styles up on my laundry table just the other day — the waistband of the new style is less than half the width of the old.
I got a couple of French cuts from VS cotton but I’ve noticed I sometimes stick them back in the drawer if they sift to the surface. They just feel like too much stuff.
Hanes used to do a sport brief that was semi-OK, and I have a wad of them too. But I can’t seem to locate them any more either. Apparently now it’s all either granny panties or anal floss. Is anyone in the underwear industry reading this? Victoria’s? Anyone?
Love the Rios, even the new style. Also love the signature cotton bras for Houston summers. Can’t find them anymore either. The company now caters to teenagers who used to rip off the stores. I know, I worked for them.
i agree…they were the best…
They don’t have the Rios anymore. New version or old…
If anyone knows where to get the new version…please let me know. It is better than no Rios
Yep. VS lost a longtime customer (with disposable income) when they discontinued the Rio – now I only check the site every 6 months or so to see if VS had a change of heart. Foolish, foolish decision.
I was a faithful Rio Customer. I still have a good selection in my drawer but i keep having to toss a pair here and there, as the elastic is starting to lose its snap. I was happy to find I am not the only person who keeps wishing to find the originals once again. Whats wrong with those people….Rios were the best!
okay I miss them too. I thought I was the only person that wore the rio and I am furious that Victoria stopped making them.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I am in 100% agreement. VS lost this customer, with disposable income and the quest for the “perfect panty” begins again….sigh…
I’m chuffed that people are still showing up here to chime in on this matter. It might seem a small thing compared to the sequester or global warming, but you know, having a wedgie, or half-mast drawers, does not make for happy citizenry, and when momma ain’t happy ain’t nobody happy. Think on it, VS.
I can bet you my bottom dollar it was a best seller at Victora’s Secret and other panties weren’t selling – i am so mad too because those were the only ones i wore – i have been lookig for anything similar and there is nothing – just so frustrating – grrr (Jockey used to have a similar style cotton underwear they did away with too double grrr)
Has anyone emailed them to see what they say? I’ve been searching for a COTTON alternative as well.
I’m sure many of you know, but don’t put your rios in the dryer. Air dry – they will last longer.
You know, after all this time and the amazing number of hits this post has gotten, it might be worth an e-mail linking the whole conversation. Or better yet — e-mail a company like Jockey to see if they’re willing to take up the slack their competition has left. I don’t, for example, know if VS still sources its cotton from producers who use child labor — there was an alert about that at one point. And it irks me to give business to a company which, on the whole, gouges for pretty cheesy outerwear and promotes an irksome Barbie-doll female image. It was just that they were the only underwear that fit, back in the day.
I am down to my last 2 pairs of the original Rios. I purchased the newer ones and was very disappointed. As the above posters said, the band is thinner and they do not stay in place like the original Rios. I agree with sledpress….maybe we can “band” together and send some feedback to VS!