We give you an interview of a company we have worked with over the years. Ryan has always been amazing and designed fun undies. So when he sent this in we loved it! If
What gave you the idea to start McKillop? Were you out with friends saying “I could do better” or did you stumble into the industry
I started toying around with the idea in 2008 when I tried on a friends pair of “lets say cowboy underwear” and they were the most ill fitting underwear I have ever worn. I knew that Men should have better fitting clothing, and that I was able to offer that to them. You are right I did test out the ideas with friends first, and scouted fit models on apps like Grindr and Scruff to try on and review pairs that was a different size other than myself. But I also did stumble in to the industry as well. When I was in college I thought I would be making high fashion gowns but I must say this is a much better fit for me.
Did you love underwear before your entry into the market?
Honestly I had a little fetish but totally forgot about that – kind of till now. When I was 16 – 19 years old, anything a little out of the ordinary peaked my interest and back then there wasn’t very much to chose from. I remember buying a jock with a zipper down the front and another white jock, I cannot remember the name of the brand but I remember it was French and the quality was amazing.
What made you focus first on jocks?
First I focused on our pouch – funny story but I used to go to the clubs and when I got there I wished I went commando – but I never wanted to go commando on the way there- so I made the pouch so it could easily be removed and replaced when it was time to go home. Then after perfecting that design I threw on some leg straps to expand the line. Also being that I started with a product line that required a tiny bit less work and fabric allowed me to learn the ropes of this industry without the complicated items we do now it was a perfect choice.
How has the experience been for you in the first few years?
We are 5 months away from our 5th birthday and we are still learning everyday. The first few years was such an adventure navigating through the wilderness per say. Learning social media , web design and heck running a business properly. It took everything I had but it gave me my dream. In year 1 we had a very successful line and year 2 a horrible one, that was hard to overcome but you need to be a chameleon; change, move and adapt, and FAST. This is one of the reasons we pulled out of China. We test market everything in our design studio with our MUSE program and we only sew what our customers need and nothing more. If something needs to change we can do it immediately. But we are not there yet we still work our asses off each day to become better at what we do , how we do it, and communicate to our customers the feeling like they are a part of something bigger than fabric and elastic. I look forward to our year 10 interview and you ask me about today : )
Looking back would you do it all over again ?
Funny you should say that – WE ARE !!
Mckillop has a dirty little secret that we are not giving up. We will hint a little though. We have made almost every mistake possible in the past 5 years and learned from each and every one. These lessons have put us in a good position to become stronger. We are in the process of “The year of change” as I am calling it. Mckillop is getting a facelift (www.Mckillop.co), we are going to expand our enhancement products and we are opening another brand. The cool part about the new brand is that it has a huge advantage of being smarter at the starting line. This new brand I can tell you will be the exact opposite of Mckillop – Mckillop is somewhat conservative, we are based on fit, style, comfort and luxury but our new brand will throw all of that out the window. Its like our alter ego and guys is it ever dirty lol – you are going to love it. We can’t wait to show it to you later this year.
