For many years my team and I have had the privilege of designing men’s lingerie for our hundreds of thousands of XDress customers across the world.
Convention says that men should be limited in their underwear choices to wear rather basic and sometimes unattractive men’s underwear. We typically see two or three lengths of boxer briefs and maybe a plain brief in cotton or modal. There are several colors available, albeit mostly rather dull “masculine” shades of black, white, gray, and navy.
When we look at what’s on offer in the women’s collections, there is an incredible choice in colors, styles and fabrics. How did this disparity come about, and why are the companies who branch out into making attractive men’s underwear (both masculine and feminine styling) relatively small in comparison to the mass market companies? Is it simply because men are not supposed to be interested in fashion, especially not underwear, as it’s not a “masculine” preoccupation? This is a question that often comes up in discussions with our customers.
I have a theory that investment money tends to bet on what it believes is a sure thing. When boxer briefs were first introduced by small companies like Body Aware and several others maybe 20 years ago, they turned out to be quite popular. Compared to the old woven boxers or saggy white cotton briefs, these were quite sleek and form fitting, a revolution in men’s underwear at the time. As larger companies saw this trend, they moved into the market and this style has become ubiquitous, added to by agile e-commerce companies quickly dominating the market in more recent years via several rounds of venture capital funding. Tommy John is a prime example. So the bet on boxer briefs appears to have worked out. Maybe I will be proved wrong, perhaps there are venture capital investors looking for more interesting and poorly served markets?
When a style for men becomes the norm it seems to take a long time for a change, compared to women’s fashions that change from year to year or even season to season. I always think back to how men’s athletic shorts were always very short back for several decades up until the 1980’s, but gradually the fashion became for shorts to be much longer and looser fitting, and this has now been the standard silhouette for men’s shorts for over 20 years.
But why does the investment money stick to this one path, and not consider that maybe there is a significant market for men who would like more variety in their underwear choices? Having researched other brands in this space, the only small company I could find that has been successful in raising venture capital is TomboyX.com, and I recommend you read their interesting story.
So that brings us back to XDress. We have no outside investment but are lucky that with the support of our customers and great staff, Kristina and I are still running a successful family business. We are continuing our mission to make attractive underwear well beyond the boxer brief. It is a greatly rewarding experience, when we hear that our products are bringing joy to men and their partners. Customers tell us there is nothing quite like anticipating and then receiving an order of pretty panties in the mail, unwrapping them and trying them on – and the best of all – they not only look good, they actually fit!
As XDress enters its fourth decade, I would love to hear from you, our readers and customers, which direction you would like XDress to expand into, or maybe what you would like to see XDress design next, not just limited to men’s lingerie. Tell us what fabrics and colors you love, including past designs that you would like to see revived. Would you like to see more outerwear or activewear? Let your imagination run wild and leave the rest to us!
David
31 comments
Hi David, thank you for continuing to provide excellent products and customer service. I have been a customer since I discovered Xdress in 2014 and absolutely love it! The underwear Xdress makes has helped me feel more confident and comfortable wearing panties. I am very grateful, thank you.
One thing I’d like to see would be a dedicated sport/active underwear collection. I workout a lot and would love to see practical options for panties that have typical features of sportswear, including sweat wicking/absorbing, stretchy, etc, but that still have a feminine touch/design.
It seems like high-wasted satin panties are making a comeback. I would love to see a collection that offers something along those lines with various styles and coverages, including floral patterns, bright patterns, thongs, cheekies, briefs, etc. I think that this would be really fun!
In general, I would also like to see more color/pattern options. I like what you’re doing with the 3-pack of animal prints and would love to see more of these with a wider variety of patterns, themes, and styles (thongs, cheekies, bikinis, high-wasted, etc.). Maybe even an option to upload a custom print could be a good idea, not sure how feasible that is though.
Final thing would be more panties with your logos! I think the pink bow is so cute and would love to see this woven into more of the designs of your panties. I’d love to wear panties that have a logo waistband with the pink bows all across it, or a pair of panties that are printed with the logo either all over or more strategically (for example, in the back). I’d be proud to show it off! Plus, free marketing :).
Thanks David for your blog post. Xdress has for me and many others been a revelation and a godsend. We can buy beautiful sexy lingerie that makes us feel fabulous. Not only that but like other people have mentioned it fits the male form. I love waring my lingerie bras, panties, stockings , and nighties and I’m sure you will continue to offer these in a range of colours, styles and materials especially satin, What I would like to see is some outerwear skirts and dresses and of course shoes to complete the look, Keep up the great work and thank you so much
I also used to buy panties and other lingerie from women’s stores. I would only shop online because I felt embarrassed to actually go into a store, and therefore many of the items I purchased never fitted very well, and never looked quite as good as they did on the women models. Finding xdress was a revelation! Suddenly I could be confident that the things I saw would fit me, and look as good as they did on the models on the xdress website (well nearly!). I’d like to see more sexy lingerie! Classic black in satin and lace being my favorite. A matching set with bra, panties and garter belt in black satin would be perfect, and, just like JJ, I’d also love to have a sexy black basque with matching brazillian cut panties and stockings. I’d also love to get some heels!
Hi David. I’ve bought many items from Xdress over the years and like all of them. My favourite pieces are the satin merrywidow, which I love wearing with nylon stockings, and any of the satin panties I have. I used to shop for lingerie in women’s stores but always found it to be a bit of a lottery over how well things would fit me. The best thing about Xdress is that everything always fits perfectly without compromising on the feminine look. I’d love to see more garter belts, in satin or silk, and maybe a basque that fits the male form better than the women’s basque I have. I’d also like to see the maid’s dress return (in black) as I didn’t get the chance to buy it before. Other than that, I’ll continue to enjoy browsing and shopping with Xdress. Thanks, JJ
Dresses : shift and bodycon t-shirt dresses, 4 in heels, Blossom collection more colors. Other styles in plain colors