Manufacturer tells customers to look forward to staining and smells.

At first glance, this product from Japanese company Ligre might look like just a pair of understated, yet extremely large, panties. But while that’s technically an accurate description, they’re not meant to be worn, but instead used as a pillowcase to rest your head on as you drift off to sleep.

Measuring 55 centimeters (21.6 inches) long by 32 wide, the extra-large panties should fit over most normal-sized pillows. They slip on just like legitimate lingerie, sliding over the corners of your pillow as easily as they would a pair of soft, fluffy hips.

Japan occasionally takes a matter-of-fact attitude about undergarments, and in the past we’ve seen panties promoted as both a chaste Mother’s Day gift suggestion and good-for-a-chuckle novelty goods. However, the Panty Pillowcase (as the product is officially called) isn’t an example of a bedding manufacturer having a little tongue-in-cheek fun. Ligre also makes a line of Tenga-like masturbatory aids, and the company fully embraces the potential dirty pleasure customers can derive from the cover, as shown in its introductory video.

For starters, the designers boast that when you lay your head down on the pillowcase, the back of your neck will be on the panties’ crotch, allowing that portion of the cover to pick up plenty of oil from your neck and hair.

As diagrammed in the video, in time this will produce a patch of lovely discoloration on the crotch, which will help heighten users’ enjoyment in the same way as a broken-in, weathered leather jacket does.

▼ Which begs the question “Why not a leather panty pillow cover?”, but the white cloth material does help staining stand out.

Of course, any pillow case that’s seen enough use to discolor is probably going to develop a distinct scent. But that’s OK too! These panties aren’t just for sleeping on or staring, but for smelling too, Ligre informs us.

And don’t forget that your fingers can get in on the fun too with some twisting and pulling action.

Lost in Ligre’s excited trumpeting of the Panty Pillowcase’s multi-functionality is the downside that it provides less-than-complete coverage of your pillow, meaning that some portions of it are going to be exposed to dirt and grime. We suppose you could avoid this problem by using the Panty Pillowcase in conjunction with a normal, all-covering pillowcase, but that extra layer of “clothing” runs counter to the ostensible sexy semi-nakedness Ligre is going for. Then again, perhaps the idea is that you’re supposed to regularly buy new pillows, giving you the feeling of being a Casanova who’s bedding a new girl every few weeks, with a variety of skin tones to please your broad palate for female companionship.

The Panty Pillowcase is available for order here from novelty goods retailer Village Vanguard for 2,376 yen (US$21.60), which in terms of depravity-per-dollar represents a pretty good value.

Source: Otakomu
Top image: Village Vanguard
Insert images: Village Vanguard, YouTube/リグレジャパン

Follow Casey on Twitter, where he’s now feeling a little weird about that time he used a T-shirt for a pillow case when he was behind on the laundry cycle.