Victoria's Secret bra blamed for woman's rash; formaldehyde suspected
Posted by James F. McCarty June 27, 2008 18:18PM
Roberta Ritter of Parma thinks she knows Victoria's Secret, and she wants everyone else to know it, too.Ritter, 36, contends in a class-action lawsuit that the intimate apparel merchant sold her bras soaked in chemicals that caused itchy rashes and painful burns on her breasts.
She filed the lawsuit last month against Victoria's Secret and its Columbus-based parent, the Limited Brands Inc., in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. A judge has yet to decide whether to grant the suit class-action status.
In court papers, attorney John Climaco accused Victoria's Secret of peddling dangerous and defective products, of failing to warn customers about unhealthy potential side effects and of fraud and negligence for selling unfit merchandise.
"I don't want any other women to have to go through what I did," Ritter said in a phone interview on Friday.
A spokeswoman for Victoria's Secret said the company is taking the complaints seriously and has launched an internal review.
"We will do everything we can to ensure our customers' continued confidence in and satisfaction with our products," said Tammy Roberts Myers in an e-mailed statement.
She said she believes the company will prevail in the lawsuit.
In January, Ritter bought two bras -- a black satin Angels Secret Embrace and a pink satin Very Sexy push-up model -- for $42 apiece from the Victoria's Secret store at the Parmatown Mall.
She said her skin began to itch after she wore the bras for a few days. The itch turned into a rash, and the rash developed into ugly red painful welts that were hot to the touch, she said.
"I flipped out," Ritter said. "I knew it had to be the bra. I had perfectly shaped burns where the cups were."
Only then did she notice that her old reliable bras were made in India, but her new bras bore tags "Made in China."
Ritter contacted Victoria's Secret, where she said a service representative offered her replacement bras and a warning: "I guess you know what bras not to wear now."
The company reps asked her to return the bras, but Ritter refused until she had figured out what had caused her skin problems.
A dermatologist told her the cause was likely formaldehyde, a chemical used as a preservative in fabrics to help retain their shapes.
Ritter said her skin problems went away after about a month of cortisone cream and aloe treatments. But her concerns remain.
"I tell you, that scared me," Ritter said. "It put me out of commission for a month. I don't want to ever go through that again."That is why you WASH your damned bras before you wear them! There are all sorts of chemicals that go into bra manufacturing, and only a complete MORON would wear a bra before washing it. If she did wash her bras before wearing them, she may have a case. If she didn't, then she's a moron, and she deserves nothing.
Common sense, people. Wearing any article of clothing without washing it first is like eating fresh fruits or vegetables without washing them first.
Also, I really hope that the bra tag said, "wash before wearing." That would make it even more funny if she didn't bother to wash them first.
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8 comments:
Tell that to the other 44 women at Web MD and all the ones who are still buying the bras without a clue?
Did you just totally skip over the part where I said that if she did wash the bra beforehand and still got the rash, I could see where she had a case?
And really, why would you wear a bra without washing it first? God only knows where it's been!
I washed my three Secret embrace bras when I got them home. And the rash didn't start until they'd been washed one or two times more. I had the same issue the woman did, contact dermatitis, doctor's visit, nasty creams I had to apply twice a day, and I pretty much stopped wearing bras at home thinking it was something wrong with ME, not with the bras. She is certainly not the only person who had this issue.
If she did wash her bras before wearing them, she may have a case.
Why are you people ignoring the part where I acknowledged that if she WASHED THEM FIRST, I AGREED with the lawsuit? Good grief!
Just an FYI, It would not matter if you washed the bra first or not, lets all just think about the components of a bra, and what the chemical make up is of all of those parts...hmmmmm
Glad someone started talking about Victoria Secrets bras....
I washed them and still got the huge blisters; I still have marks on my back. I used to buy the same type of bras for about two years and didn't have any problems. I even showed my blisters to some of my coworkers because I didn't see anything like that before.
November 12, 2008
Yes, I washed them first, and NO, there are no tags to indicate the necessity of cleansing new bras, because no such necessity exists, and YES I suffered incredibly from burning red welts all around my sides and back, and get a grip! Too bad you didn't wear one of these upscale pieces of lingerie so you could understand and not be so outspokenly arrogant! Want to pay my dermatology bills? I'd be glad to forward them to you...that's what's out of my head to you.
Excuse me, but I did say that if she did wash the bras first, she had a case. I'm getting tired of you people reading the word MORON and ignoring the rest of what I said to be so damned defensive.
And no, I don't wear that "upscale lingerie" because they don't make it my cup size. When I was in a cup size that they carried, the quality of the material did not justify the cost.
Please READ ALL of what I write before you jump down my throat next time, okay? I said she had a case if she washed them first.
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