Sara Blakely created the wildly successful Spanx brand for the “haves” and then made them cheaper for the “have nots”.   Assets, a knock-off of Spanx made exclusively for Target, provide similar support at a dissimilar price, and should have an instant market with the thirty-somethings trying to maintain a twenty-something figure. A long time devotee of the Spanx line, I decided to see what half my money could buy. 

I tried the nude, highwasted panty which retails for $20.00 at the infamous Target. Like any support garment, these are not attractive. The pair I tried resembled a casing I once saw on a show about how sausage was made. After some effort, I managed to get my ass-ets, where they belonged and slid a form fitting sheath dress over my somewhat constricted self. The results were impressive. While I certainly didn’t have the 17 inch waist extolled by Scarlett O’Hara, my waist did look smaller and (thank you Baby Jesus!) my back fat was, for the moment, gone. I did notice that these did not have quite the sucking in factor (I think that’s a technical term) offered by the Spanx brand, nor did they have the convenient slit in the crotch for bathroom ease. However, as long as you limit your fluids and are not trying to audition for America’s next Top Model, you should be peachy.

Note: Be careful of wearing the biker short version under anything short. When you sit down and your hem comes up, they are readily visable. This defeats the whole purpose of trying to convince your friends and enemies that you look much, much better than them.