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 interested in Xdress?
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 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
30 comments
Xdress has been a revelation for me too. Being able to wear feminine and sexy underwear that actually fits has been a bit of a game changer. Previously I dressed up in my wife’s panties, without her knowing, but they never really felt comfortable. Everything would either fall out the sides or be squashed in to the point of discomfort. After a lot of soul searching I decided to show her the Xdress website and tell her that I’d like to try some of the ‘different’ men’s underwear that was on show. She wasn’t exactly enthusiastic but she didn’t object either. She helped me pick out a couple of pairs of panties and, once they’d arrived, told me that she actually quite liked them on me. This has led to me building a small collection of Xdress panties which I wear regularly, and I like all of them. I particularly like the recent glow collection and would love to see more things in the same material. I also love the feel of wearing satin and, like a few other commentators here, I’d like to see some satin high waisted, high leg panties, and maybe a vintage lingerie collection, longline bras, girdles, multiple strap garter belts, etc. At the moment I only wear panties, because that’s all my wife knows I’m interested in, but I’d really like to take things further.
Hi David! It’s great to hear from the owners every now and then. Lately everything X dress has been producing is extremely skimpy. Especially over on Bodyaware! I somewhat stopped purchasing from Bodyaware because of this. Too low of front and backs on most items. Too small on the sides. While fun sometimes, not all day everyday. I would really love some panties and briefs with 2in-3in width sides. That would be a much more comfortable all day wearing experience. It would be exciting for X dress to explore some modal fabrics. And Bodyaware to do some microfiber fabrics. No more cotton please! It’s not soft enough compared to other brands.
Please do swimwear!!! We need Xdress swimwear! Bikinis and one pieces would be so much fun. But please have it lined, over the years the pieces you did were not lined, that’s not practical. Summer is almost here so hopefully your team can whip this out! 👙 J
I would like to buy an xdress designed sports.bra and panty set. I’ve tried buying female versions and they never fif smoothly—there’s always a pucker or ill fitting panel that destroys the desired effect of sleekness that would inspire me to amp up my workouts. I’d. also like to buy a longline bra that has a bodice long enough for a tall man. This would be a vintage design that could be paired up with a vintage girdle. The bras are never long enough to prevent muffin tops. I think you’d find a huge market for a male measurement longline. Thanks!!
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 :).