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Savior for Sweat Stains! The Power of Belle Maison’s Bestselling Innerwear "Salalist," Surpassing 9.16M Sales
Belle Maison is a mail-order service by SENSHUKAI Co., Ltd., offering everything from clothing and home decor to everyday goods. Among their numerous products, Salalist®, a summer innerwear series designed specifically for sweat control, stands out as an original development by Belle Maison.
With cumulative sales exceeding 9.16 million units[1], the secret to "Salalist"’s immense popularity lies in technical innovations no other company has achieved, now revealed here.
PROFILE
Nozomi Hiyama
SENSHUKAI Co., Ltd., Belle Maison Division, With Family Business Unit, Brand Strategy Team
From her first year at the company, she has been engaged in planning and developing innerwear. With a dedicated "customer-first" philosophy, she strives to bring the biggest smiles to every single customer. Currently, as Merchandise Director (MD) overseeing Salalist and Hotcott, the core innerwear brands, she is in charge of everything from product planning to sales direction.
PROFILE
Yuki Higashi
SENSHUKAI Co., Ltd., Belle Maison Division, With Family Business Unit, Procurement Team 1
Responsible for Salalist product development purchasing. Utilizing expertise gained from previous positions in materials and functionality testing, he puts a strong emphasis on material development and product innovation from a functional perspective.
A Series Born to Tackle Sweat Worries
Summer sweat struggles are never-ending. Belle Maison, having produced countless innerwear solutions, faced this universal problem and ultimately arrived at an answer with their "Salalist" series.
"We started handling sweat-absorption innerwear in 1998 and in 2011 launched the 'Salalist' brand specifically to address sweat concerns. With more women advancing in society, demand for perspiration-absorbing innerwear has only grown." (Hiyama)
Hiyama shares that the brand was created out of a desire to become a place customers would want to return to.
Even if someone finds a product they love, it’s rare to remember the exact item name. That’s why the memorable name "Salalist" was chosen for this series.
Sweat Blocked with a Waterproof Sheet
Because they have spent over 20 years addressing issues related to sweat, "Salalist" has successfully set itself apart from other products. What kinds of concerns have users voiced?
"When it comes to sweat concerns, there are mainly two big issues: 'sweat stains' and 'odor.' Our initial aim was to solve these two problems." (Hiyama)
Among sweat stains, many people who sweat a lot feel embarrassed when the color of their clothes changes, particularly due to underarm sweat. For those people, the "Salalist" series was developed, and within that, the especially popular lineup is Ooase-san. This lineup features the "Ooase-san Sweat Stain Guard" mechanism.
"To thoroughly prevent sweat stains, we put a lot of emphasis on the 'sweat-absorbing pad.'"
Typically, sweat pads prevent sweat from passing through by folding over fabric under the armpit to add thickness. We also used a similar structure in the beginning, but one year, a customer commented, "I wish it included a waterproof material like 'sanitary shorts.'"
Inspired by this, we made a dramatic overhaul. For the fabric that touches the skin, we use thin, fast-drying cotton and rayon yarn, with a deodorized waterproof sheet layered in between.
Thanks to this three-layer structure, we achieved unprecedented effectiveness in both sweat stain prevention and odor control.
In addition, the waterproof sheet is large enough to cover the area from the sleeve opening to the body’s side, big enough to completely cover your face.
"With this pad's structure and its size, even if cotton soaked in water is placed under the armpit, nothing seeps through to the surface." (Hiyama)
It seems their unique pad structure makes sweat much less likely to seep through, but does the inclusion of a waterproof sheet affect comfort?
"When we first launched, we received a lot of requests for improvement—comments like it feels stiff or the foreign sensation is bothersome.
"To address that feedback, we now use the thinnest and most high-performance waterproof sheets possible. I think there’s still room for improvement, but compared to before, complaints have decreased."
Achieving Higher Function by Modifying the Yarn
There was also another big demand for the innerwear: 100% cotton content.Especially in summer, many people said they prefer cotton because sweating often irritates the skin. That’s where "100% Cotton Salalist" was introduced.
"Not only is it gentle on the skin, but it also uses a special yarn that has both quick absorption and drying properties, as well as deodorizing functions.
"Cotton naturally has absorbency, but in order to truly address sweat-related concerns, we needed even better absorption. That's why we modified the material at the molecular level, developing a brand new kind of yarn.
"On top of that, by precisely adjusting the yarn's twist, we successfully added quick-drying properties as well." (Higashi)
While pursuing high functionality is a given, it would all be for nothing if that came at the expense of comfort or texture. Ensuring these qualities was also a major focus in the development of the yarn and creation of the products.
In particular, innerwear is popular with women, and since it's worn directly on the skin, many are very particular about comfort.
The "Salalist" Team's Pride
As seen so far, "Salalist" has become one of Belle Maison's flagship products, earning the trust of many customers. So, what were the advantages of in-house development for a mail-order business like theirs?"Most of our customers are women, so our target is very clear. Plus, we have many opportunities to directly hear requests and opinions through our call center, e-commerce site, and community events.
"That allowed us to really focus on combining desirable textures with high functionality. We're also able to create more specialized innerwear for specific concerns. And since we're mail order, we offer a full range of sizes—up to 6L.
"Above all, our biggest strength is our special attention to sweat pad design. Our waterproof sheet, for example, along with cutting and sewing adjustments down to the millimeter, are all to maximize comfort. By minimizing seams, we've designed it so sweat doesn't seep through." (Hiyama)
Listening to customer voices and reflecting their needs in our products. When feedback is received, further improvements are made. This win-win relationship is likely why "Salalist" has earned such high praise from users.
"We've received over 20,000 reviews for the 'Salalist' series, and its overall rating is 4.13 out of 5［2］.
"Our 'Big Sweater' line in particular has comments like, 'Nothing else worked for me, and I was about to give up, but with 'Big Sweater' I finally don’t get any sweat stains—I’m beyond grateful,' which reassures us that our passion is being heard." (Higashi)
Becoming One of the 3 Summer Essentials
As demand for "Salalist" continued to rise, the series reached cumulative sales of 9.16 million units. So, what comes next?"We want 'Salalist' to become a long-loved staple and are aiming to boost its recognition even more. As part of this, we recently did a tie-up with the Podcast 'Beni Shoga Wa Sukizuki! (Benishoga wa Suki Zuki!)' in April, and launched commercials for the 'Salalist' Big Sweater line on TVer.
"For new product development, rather than just asking how to prevent sweating, we’re turning our focus to what can be done after you sweat, and developing solutions accordingly.
"These days, people use deodorants, sweat wipes, or portable fans for sweat control, but we hope 'Salalist' will become that essential third item, cementing its place as one of the three must-haves for summer." (Hiyama)
By shifting the way we think about sweat from "controlling" it to just "accepting that everyone sweats," "Salalist" aims to evolve even further. That’s why no matter your sweat concern, it can probably solve it.
If you’ve ever worried about sweat, even once, you should definitely give "Salalist" a try.
Note:
［1］Cumulative series sales from March 2010 to December 2024
［2］Customer product reviews (on a 5-point scale) reflect the average of all reviews as of March 31, 2025
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