Bette Bentley came up with Skimpies in 2020 because she could not find underwear she liked wearing with leggings. She wanted the no-lines look of going without underwear but preferred cotton against her skin. Her first attempt at a solution was simple: she put a panty liner directly into her leggings and went for a run.
It did not stay put. By the second mile, the liner had bunched up. Bentley began cutting apart underwear and liners at home, experimenting with different shapes and calling manufacturers to learn how the products were made.
Bentley did not have a background in apparel or manufacturing. She had worked as a comedy writer and performed at New York’s Upright Citizens Brigade before moving to Los Angeles, where her work included writing for projects involving Will Ferrell.
Most of the manufacturers she contacted had little interest in her idea. One woman at a German manufacturer was willing to explain the business to her, sending samples of cotton and adhesives and showing Bentley what existing machines could and could not make. Bentley eventually developed a liner shaped to fit into the seam of leggings rather than underwear. Making it commercially was another problem. The unusual shape required its own mold, which would cost about $25,000.
Bentley found a cheaper way to get started. A manufacturer produced Skimpies in sheets, and she cut each one to shape herself at her kitchen table. She wrapped the finished products in brown paper and twine and delivered them to customers around Los Angeles. She also set up tables at gyms, stores and parks to introduce the product directly to women. The small operation remained a side business for several years.
In 2024, Bentley learned during a mammogram that she had a precancerous growth. Her grandmother had died of breast cancer at 40, and Bentley decided to have a double mastectomy and reconstruction. While recovering in the hospital, she decided to commit to the business she had been running on the side. Before leaving the hospital, she put down the deposit for the mold that would allow Skimpies to be manufactured rather than cut by hand.
Money was tight. Bentley has said she taught children’s improv classes in her backyard to help pay for the first manufacturing order and sold her 10-year-old Hyundai Tucson to put $10,000 toward trademarks. Skimpies officially launched in September 2024.
Bentley first tried to build the business much as she had sold her handmade versions, by meeting customers in person. Social media soon changed that. A short TikTok video about the product received about 6 million views and brought in thousands of orders before Skimpies had even connected its TikTok store to its regular online fulfillment system.
Bentley began spending hours at a time selling Skimpies live on TikTok. Her first livestream drew four viewers and produced no sales. She kept doing them every day for six months, talking with viewers while demonstrating the product and answering questions. The live sessions gradually became the company’s main source of growth. One 10-hour session in 2025 produced about $60,000 in sales.
The company grew without a paid advertising budget during its first year. By mid-2025, Modern Retail reported that monthly sales had increased tenfold in March alone. Skimpies then made its first major move into stores through TJ Maxx and Marshalls, taking a product Bentley had once delivered herself into national retail distribution.
By 2026, Skimpies had sold more than 60,000 boxes through TikTok and had generated about $10 million in first-year sales. Bentley had also expanded from working largely on her own to a staff of eight. The company raised its first $1 million in outside funding that year to expand production, retail distribution and its product line.
The product itself remains close to the problem Bentley was trying to solve at home in 2020. Skimpies is neither conventional underwear nor a panty liner. It is a disposable piece of organic cotton that adheres directly to the inside of leggings or other clothing. The custom shape that Bentley once could not afford to manufacture is now patented.
