Lingerie wars are coming to a mall near you.

Retailers including J.C. Penney Co., Target Corp. and Kohl's Corp. have discovered that fashionable underwear for women is a hot trend. To cash in on it, they are launching lingerie lines, giving old ones a makeover or redecorating dressing rooms and offering professional fitting services.

Other companies, including Chico's FAS Inc., American Eagle Outfitters Inc. and Charming Shoppes Inc.'s Lane Bryant, have created stand-alone lingerie stores.

The retailers are hoping to steal some thunder from Limited Brands Inc.'s Victoria's Secret chain, which has dominated fashion lingerie in the United States for many years.

"Lingerie is second to handbags as the fastest-growing apparel category, so everyone in retail is trying to capitalize on that growth," said Marshal Cohen, chief research analyst with NPD Group, a market-research firm .

U.S. retail sales of intimate apparel last year rose 10 percent to reach $10.5 billion, more than double the growth rate in 2005, according to NPD. Driving that growth are new technologies and fabrics that allow for innovations such as laser-cut seamless bras, as well as the growing fashion appeal of lingerie, particularly among young women.

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Many younger women today have no compunction about "wearing innerwear as outerwear," NPD's Cohen noted - for instance allowing colorful bra straps to show without embarrassment. That creates a market for lingerie to change with the seasons instead of just being bought as "replenishment," he said .

The intimate-apparel category is appealing to retailers because it has higher profit margins than regular apparel, drives store traffic and boosts customer loyalty.

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"If you solve a woman's bra needs, you have a customer for life," said Adrianne Shapira, an analyst at Goldman Sachs.

For much of the p ast 20 years, Victoria's Secret had the market for fashionable lingerie to itself. Brands sold in department stores, such as Maidenform, Vanity Fair and Bali, have typically appealed to different shoppers, loyal consumers with more conservative tastes, said Monica Tang, retail strategist at Kurt Salmon Associates.

"The younger, more fickle customer has been lured away by Victoria's Secret, whose pieces have a fashion component," she said .

But in the fiscal first quarter ended May 5, Limited reported its overall net income fell 47 percent, hurt by profit-eroding markdowns, and said it expects continued weak sales in its Victoria's Secret division. Net sales at the lingerie unit rose 14.8 percent, while same-store sales - a closely watched measure of revenue from stores open at least a year - increased 2 percent.

The Victoria's Secret teen line Pink is battling American Eagle's Aerie, launched in August. American Eagle has tested three stand- alone stores and the results were so good, a spokesman said , that it plans 40 new stores this year. Aerie will roll out 10 different lingerie collections throughout the year.

In February, J.C. Penney launched its Ambrielle lingerie collection with a series of ads during the Academy Awards. The company predicts it could become one of the store's private-label "power brands."

Sharen Turney, chief executive of the Victoria's Secret brand, said in a recent conference call with analysts that Victoria's Secret was "qu
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