When we think about when we first get into undies, there are probably a few stores or people who stood out in encouraging you along the way. It could have been a store you found on vacation that had an amazing underwear selection. Or, it could have been a friend (in person or online) that exposed you to new brands and encouraged you to step out of your box and buy that thong you had your eye on.
I have a ton of these over the years. Now it’s a lot easier to love undies. Because back in the day there wasn’t an internet and that made it hard to discover new brands. There were also very few stores (that I knew of at the time) that sold “good” underwear. The one thing I found was the International Male catalog. Later to become UnderGear. On a side note, when I found out that UnderGear was being released I was so excited. An entire catalog of underwear and gear. Today that just seems crazy I would get so excited. But at that time there wasn’t anything.
International Male/UnderGear (IM/UG) exposed me to more fabrics, cuts, and colors. Some of the styles were incredibly skimpy and sexy. It was the first place I really saw thongs and skimpy bikinis. These hot guys were wearing it like it was no big deal. When new catalogs came in I would mark everything I wanted. At first, it was just wishing then one magical day I got an International Male Credit card with a $200 limit. I thought I had hit the jackpot. A 19-year-old with the ability to buy 200 bucks of undies? WOW this was unreal.
In the early days, you had to phone in your orders. Yes, you had to talk to an actual person. Most of the operators were women. I’m sure this made some guys never order the crazy stuff, but I didn’t care. I had to have the singlet, thong or jock I was ordering. I didn’t’ care who knew. Later the internet came and the rest is history.
UnderGear allowed me to embrace the wilder side of underwear. It showed me that erotic cuts can be a lot of fun. In the time of the grays, they had all sorts of colors. Any color you can think of, they had over the years. Lastly, UnderGear made me see that there was more to undies than briefs and boxers. It opened my eyes wide that allowed me to be the underwear lover I am today.
Who or what has influenced your underwear journey in the early years? How did they influence you?
1 Comment
First I have to say I love your website and look forward everyday to getting your emails. You have turned me on to an incredible amount of new companies. I was so excited to hear your kind words about International Male/Undergear. I was an Art Director at IM from 1983 to 1986. I was there at the inception of Undergear. I did the first cover with Brian Buzzini. He’s actually wearing my lovers shoes, LOL. I had an incredible time when I worked there. I worked with the original owner and buyer. We had so much fun, but we also had a lot of loss from AIDS. Not to be a downer but they were not only my coworkers they were my friends.
The buyers would design new briefs and then they would have them made and give them to us to try. We would have to wear them for a week then tell them what we thought of them. You would have loved our annual sale, we would do it in the parking lot and set up huge boxes full of clothes and underwear. Imagine box after box full of hundreds of pairs of underwear. And everything else we sold.
Well I didn’t mean to write this much but I have tons of stories (and pictures) from that time period. If you ever want to talk email me.
Dennis Mori
moriconi26@msn.com