Hotting up

Sell-out £25 fat-burning pants are back on the shelves.

13:37 22 July 2009

For those wishing they could shed a few pounds for that summer wedding or girls' night out – the fat-melting knickers are back!

After a burning success, when they were launched in May, John Lewis' £25 anti-cellulite control pants are back on the shelves.

More than 4,000 women had signed up for an email alert to tell them when the Scala Bio-Fir pants were available again, suggesting the latest batch may not be around for long.

The Scala Bio-Fir Anti-Cellulite knickers cost £25 from John Lewis

The department store ordered 40,000 of the magic knickers after stocks sold out on the website in half an hour, while frenzied customers mobbed staff at the Oxford Street branch, selling out all stock by the first day.

Fans of the range - said to include Sienna Miller – seem convinced by the "scientific proof" of the knickers' fat-melting abilities.

The magic of the pants is in the special bio-crystals which heat up upon contact with the skin to 'melt away' fat, which is then excreted through the liver.

Independent trials have shown four out of five women wearing the knickers every day for a month reduced their cellulite as well as losing inches from their stomach, hips and thighs.

The store claims that these results will last up to 12 months, provided wearers follow a healthy lifestyle by exercising and eating healthily.

Helen Spencer, lingerie buyer at John Lewis, said: "This product has created a real phenomenon among women, with customers buying as much as 10 pairs each."