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Community Corner

Chocolate-Inspired Lingerie A Delicious Success

Kinnelon resident turns love for sewing and chocolate into a successful business venture.

resident Audrey Romanski has come up with a chocolatey gift for romantic couples, minus the calories of a box of truffles.

"It started out with everybody thinking that, 'You know, it's Valentine's Day and my husband is going to bring me chocolate,'" said Decadence founder Audrey Romanski. "We're all sitting around thinking 'Oh God, we're trying to lose weight.' So I thought: chocolate lingerie. Instead of giving your (significant other) a box of chocolates, you give them a box of chocolate lingerie."

While the lingerie is not edible, Romanski said the pieces' chocolate names are derived from fabric colors.

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Romanski began the business about three years ago operating out of her home on Forestdale Avenue in Kinnelon, which is still the headquarters to this day. Romanski has been sewing and hemming for many years.

"My first sewing machine, I paid $20 for at a flea market. I was in my teens. Every time I bought a pair of jeans I had to cut off about 10-12 inches, so I just started making my own," she said.

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Romanski was selling some of the lingerie pieces, but if not for an old friend's helping hand last April, the business may have never taken off as it has now.

"One of my clients did a Republican convention at the Trump Plaza," Romanski said. "And she said, 'How would you like to come down and do a runway show?' I was like, 'Oh my God.' I didn't expect that so fast. I called Greg (Pires) up and asked for help. I'm very particular in the work that I do...I think Greg does great work."

Romanski had met Pires during her time as fabric manager at The Rag Shop in Kinnelon.

"I would frequent that place a lot, and her and I became friendly after that," he said. "Right around this time of the year last year, she had a runway show. She called me up in complete and utter panic, she said she needed my help to finish the product line. I came back and delivered all the stuff, and she pitched this idea to me and asked if I would be interested in becoming her partner."

After the two presented the line at the Trump Plaza on April 29, they decided to start showing off their merchandise at home parties. Decadence sends out 10-20 invitations for the hostess, the guests gather at the house and the pair shows off the entire collection -- about 30-40 pieces, according to Romanski. The two have shown off their collection at home parties as far south as Philipsburg, Pa., and as north as West Milford. However, the lion's share of the shindigs are held in New Jersey.

"(After the home parties), we started to get questions from some of the moms, if we have anything for the little girls," Romanski said. "We started to put together our 'Little Miss' collection, which took off like crazy. Then we have our spring collection, which we call 'Rock Candy' because of all the lighter colors."

With the dynamic duo "constantly" coming up with new ideas and concepts, it was only a matter of time before the business expanded. That's when the "The Affair After the Affair" line was born.

"'The Affair After The Affair' is something that took off too," Romanski said. "We duplicate the bridal gown. You take the gown and wear it for about four or five hours, get it cleaned and then put it away forever. What I do is duplicate it so they can wear it on their wedding night and maybe on their first anniversary, so they have it to remember."

Decadence isn't strictly for women. The company also produces men's robes that come with lounging pants or drawstring shorts, and also manufactures retro robes.

The ultimate goal for Decadence is for the products to be sold in boutiques, but that is easier said than done. Romanski said in order to get her work sold in boutiques "we have to pound the pavement. We have to let boutiques know what we have and see if they're interested. I'm sure the market is out there, our idea is to get out there ourselves and let people know what we have."

However, some of the pair's goals cannot be measured in monetary gains or seeing the company's work in exclusive stores.

"The thing that I try to put forth is that no matter what size you are, you can be gorgeous," Romanski said. "You can feel beautiful. If you go to Victoria's Secret you have to be a size zero or size two, and not everybody is. You can feel just as nice and feel just as beautiful in it, that's our goal – to make all women feel that way."

Romanski added that the company is "my life. It's everything. I took classes years ago on how to make lingerie because I just loved it. I can't buy it at Victoria's Secret, so I just decided to make it for myself. There aren't too many size two people out there, there's no reason they can't feel as nice or elegant."

Pires agreed.

"The last year has been so cool," he said. "Putting both of our minds together and watching our sketches and designs come to life is just amazing. I absolutely have had a good time. Audrey and I just kind of hit it off right off the bat; her and I think alike, our work ethic is the same and we're both perfectionists. When you have someone working side by side with you that thinks and acts and does pretty much the cookie cutter of what you are, it just makes everything so much easier."

He also agreed that the company's success and his happiness do not rely strictly on how well Decadence is doing.

"One of the things that I enjoy the most is when you deliver that final piece to the customer and they take it out of the box and they see what it looks and feels like in their hand and they know it's made specifically for them-that's just a joy in itself," he said.

For more information about Decadence, visit their website here.

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