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Sleeveless LDS Garments are Available Now Across the U.S.
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Sleeveless LDS garments are available now across the U.S. [sltrib.com]:
La versión original en español de esta publicación está disponible aquí [sltrib.com].
Hundreds formed lines outside stores. Others kept pressing “refresh” on their computers to make sure they could snatch up the long-awaited items before they sold out.
Were they buying tickets to a Taylor Swift concert, getting the latest Apple gizmo or snagging an Amazon Prime Lightning Deal?
Nope.
The hot commodity: newly designed sleeveless temple “garments,” [sltrib.com] sacred and symbolic underwear that devout members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints wear under their street clothes.
On Tuesday, they finally went on sale in Utah and across the United States — in Deseret Book stores, at Latter-day Saint “distribution centers,” and on the church’s online store.
Online prices generally range from $3.25 to $4.50 apiece, though one specialized style costs $13.60. A few new designs or fabrics are listed as becoming available in the first quarter of next year.
The expected high demand overwhelmed the online store’s website after just a few hours.
The site posted that it “is currently experiencing a high level of traffic and, as a result, you may encounter slower-than-normal loading times or minor delays. We appreciate your patience and are working to ensure a smooth experience for everyone.”
Some members got into the system but got this message when trying to place their orders: “The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.”
By Tuesday afternoon, the online site simply stated that it was “undergoing maintenance.” Members said getting in essentially was hit and miss.
With snags in online purchasing, Latter-day Saints flocked to church distribution centers and Deseret Book stores in Utah.
More than 200 people lined up at a distribution center in Centerville on Tuesday morning. And an outlet in Sugar House had about 100 (almost exclusively women), including customers who arrived two hours before the store opened.
What shoppers said
Some 10 minutes before opening, Orem’s Deseret Book had a full parking lot, with a mix of more than 200 Latter-day Saint women and men waiting in line.
Sydney Benavidez, one of the excited members, said she was surprised at the sheer number of people who showed up.
“I’m used to waiting in lines for drops and stuff like this,” Benavidez said. “But this was a lot more people than I was expecting. It’s awesome that they have this turnout.”
She explained that she had been consistently refreshing the church’s webpage for the past week in hopes of ordering the new garments. When Tuesday’s news came, she knew where she would be.
“Hopefully this inspires the church and more people to make other alterations to the garments,” she said. “That allows us to be able to keep our temple covenants and have more options to perfect the things that we can wear.”
Linda Davis said she has been wearing garments for more than 50 years and in that time the design has rarely fluctuated.
Davis said she volunteers in one of the faith’s temples and is eager to don the sleeveless tops.
“I have a dress I got that was a sleeveless dress,” Davis said. “And it was so cute, I was going to put my own sleeves on it because I sew. And I thought, ‘OK, now you don’t have to.’”
While many of those in line wanted wear the new styles right way, others were interested in having them for hotter weather.
“I lived in New Orleans for a few years. It is so hot and humid. I would have killed for these,” Megyn Jackson said. “Everybody has their preferences, so it’s kind of nice that there’s a little variety now.”
Westin Perry echoed that sentiment while waiting outside the Orem store.
“I work in construction,” he said, “so working outside in the heat, especially here in Utah, it would just be nice to wear some tank-top garments.”
At the Sugar House Deseret Book, store employees said purchases were limited to 20 items. They also handed out brochures, which described new sizing on the women’s light nylon or dry stretch styles.
Here are responses from shoppers waiting in line there:
• “I am buying garments for my wife. It will help her find clothes to wear what she likes. We are always excited for change in the church.”
• “I like that the church is making it possible to keep our covenants and feel comfortable in the clothes we wear.”
• “I wish they would give us a template so we could alter the current style ourselves. Getting rid of the old ones [sltrib.com] seems so wasteful.”
A yearlong wait
The Utah-based faith confirmed almost exactly a year ago [sltrib.com] that the new designs for women and men were being tested in “warm climates” — including Uganda, Kenya, South Africa and the Philippines — but would not be coming to the U.S. until “the fourth quarter” of 2025.
In the “open sleeve” model, temple garments look more like tank tops than the current capped sleeve choices.
There also is a light, one-piece slip-type option and skirt bottom for women who mostly wear dresses as in Africa.
Some American members, though, just couldn’t wait.
Many had summer temple weddings and wanted to wear sleeveless bridal gowns [sltrib.com], so they found friends abroad to buy them and ship them back. Others had family members returning from their missionary service pick them up and bring suitcases full of the hard-to-get new styles.
Indeed, so many were doing this work-around [sltrib.com] that the church imposed limits on purchasing them overseas.
As anticipation built the past few weeks, rumors of the garments’ arrival swarmed all over social media.
One woman told Rachel Gerber, an Instagrammer at LDS Changemakers [instagram.com], that so many members have staked out Beehive Clothing, where the garments are made, that the Utah facility had to “hire a private security company.”
Another said there was a line outside a Utah Deseret Book as the store opened last week, Gerber said, because people heard rumors that sleeveless garments were dropping that day.
They weren’t.
A blessing for women’s health
Some members may think it is “a bit silly, all the online chatter the new styles were getting,” said Gerber, a mother of three in Northern California. “But for Latter-day Saint women who have silently suffered with rashes and chronic yeast infections, the new garments could be life-changing.”
Her questions are: “Why did these changes take so long and what new styles are coming next?”
Gerber’s last query was partly answered by Tuesday’s items on the church’s website, which included a new “Women’s Premium Nylon Feminine Absorbent Natural Waist style,” also known as “period garments.” Those are available now for $13.60.
“The leakage/period garments are another signal that the church is listening to the health needs of women. Women have always had issues with garments,” Gerber said. “Their design is catered toward men’s fashion and men’s bodies, but these new fabric options and styles are a signal that the voices of women are being heard by the brethren.”
She has heard that the church “will be releasing nursing tops in 2026, but there are no sleeveless options for maternity tops yet.”
Gerber, who had a new baby last week, “was lucky enough to get a slip-dress style during my pregnancy, and found myself incredibly comfortable during those last few weeks,” she said. “My experience with maternity garments during my other pregnancies was not great. The slip dress was a game changer for me. Access to a new style made wearing my garments easy and not a burden.”
The mom assumes “that this is just the beginning, and we will soon see even more fabric options.”
Kenzi Hamilton, a Latter-day Saint who lined up at the Orem Deseret Book, also highlighted the advantages for women’s health.
“I know a lot of women who suffer with UTIs [urinary tract infections] and different issues because of the bottoms and how tight they are,” Hamilton said. “So to be able to have a slip that provides more airflow and things like that will benefit not only fashion but physical health as well.”
Upon hearing the news, St. Louis resident Amy Keel Brown said she hopes the new styles live up to the hype — that the sacred underclothing will “keep people cooler,” Brown wrote on social media, that they will be “more form fitting and not as bulky.”
How many wearers “are constantly tucking in extra fabric around the waist,” she wrote, “or adjusting our bra straps to keep the garment tops from sliding into sight?”
She doesn’t view the changes “as an erosion of modesty,” Brown wrote. “My commitment to God hasn’t changed.”
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