H&M – Underwear News Briefs

In Men's Underwear

Getting Your Sock Collection Started

November 23, 2013 1 Comment

At the beginning of the summer, I told you about my love of socks, and delved specifically into the Happy Socks brand. The problem for a lot of folks is nice socks can be expensive. A pair of Happy Socks will usually run you around $12. The good news is there a few less expensive alternatives that I’ve tried and have worked out well.

So here they are, three places for your to get your sock collection started on the cheap:

Nice Laundry — I actually came across the folks on Facebook. If you’re anything like me you totally tune out all the ads Facebook tries to push in front of your face, but when I saw an ad for this brand I was intrigued. They offer 6-pair packs in several different styles for $39, which when it comes to high-quality socks is a stead. Probably my favorite part about this company is that they give you the option to send in old pairs to be recycled. As you might have figured out from my post on PACT, I have bit of green streak, so I thought this concept was awesome.
MeUndies — my boyfriend has been fond of the underwear from MeUndies, so at one point when he was getting a few new pair,s I figured I’d try out their socks as well. They offer a similar option to Nice Laundry—selling 6-packs for $40 in addition to single pairs for $10. If you sign up for subscription, you get $2 off each pair. If you’re looking to totally change out what you have, or start fresh, they also offer a 10-pair pack for $100.
H&M — I’ve long been a fan or H&M as a great source for cheap, stylish looks. Their socks are no exception. They sell 2- and 5-pair packs in a variety of colors both online and in stores. Though the brand has a reputation for garments falling apart relatively easily, I haven’t had this problem with most of those socks I’ve gotten from them. If there’s an H&M store near year, I would recommend checking there first over the website. I’ve found that they tend to have wider selection in store than online.

What did I miss? I know all of you out there aren’t sock fans, but to those of you who are: where did you go to get your collection started? Tell us in the comments.

In Men's Underwear

Look Into David Beckham’s Eyes – New Pictures for Bodywear

September 6, 2013 No Comments

This week H&M released a new series of pictures for the David Beckham Bodywear line. They have expanded from just underwear into lounge wear. What do you think of the new additions

In Empirio Armani

DAVID BECKHAM the face of a new culture of underwear-consciousness

October 15, 2012 2 Comments

FLASHBACK: I’m in a class for my costume design major in college, and I’m surrounded by a bunch of women and a straight guy. Today’s assignment had focused on designing the character’s clothing from the ground up, even their underwear. As I mention that one of my characters is wearing a trunk in one of my designs, I get interrupted by one of the girls. She asked me why the character was going to be wearing “swimming trunks”. I explained what a trunk was, and slowly the rest of the class acknowledged that none of them really knew that there was any other cut of men’s underwear besides the horribly named “tighty whiteys” (also known as y-front briefs) and boxers. Shocked was I for the girls (the straight ones at least) for having a history of dating men with such limited wardrobes, and the boy who had yet to see the world through the eyes of stylish underwear. My costume design professor noticed the information gap, and asked if I would mind preparing a small presentation on the current state of men’s underwear, to update my classmates’ knowledge a few decades. I hurried home and got to work…

David Beckham has many pop-claims to his life: major American-soccer/football cred, popstar turned fashion icon wife, movie with his name in the title, and especially ruggedly handsome model-good looks that have been put to good use leading to various endorsement contracts.

Beckham first brushed with the men’s underwear world back in 2007 when he modeled underwear for the Empirio Armani Brand. This underwear campaign did lead to controversy, because here was not just some anonymous model, this was a celebrity, who is lying back with a rather ample bulge prominently displayed for the public. When Marky Mark back in the day did his Calvin Klein ads, even the front of his undies were pretty baggy. Beckham’s ad left NOTHING to the imagination. Beckham has reached quite a gamut of positive facts. He is a sexy husband/father, who works hard, and looks good. Aside from the usual celebrity alleged sex scandals (none of which have been confirmed), he seems to be a great guy who also gets to live this magical life of riches, fashion, and fame. He represents what I like to call “straight man gold”.

Now, it’s one thing to be a model for an underwear label, but Beckham upped his game in early 2012, joining forces with H&M to create a line of David Beckham Underwear for their stores. This line is starting classic- no Andrew Christian competing here. But what these pieces offer, is a step in the right direction for guys who have had limited underwear wardrobes up till now. His designs are fairly classic in genre, but modern in cut and quality.

I am really excited about Beckham’s journey into men’s underwear marketing. He is a positive image that I think can help straight men who don’t consider themselves “metrosexuals” to start considering putting thought into their underwear choice. I think celebrities like Beckham and Mario Lopez’s “Rated M” underwear line, will help straight men realize it’s not necessarily a “gay” thing to put thought into your underwear.

What do you think? In the onslaught of certain companies targeting gay men in their advertising to increase their more popular demographics sales, do you welcome Beckham and Co’s no-nonsense marketing of classic underwear redesigned for the new modern straight male? Or do you see it as just a random marketing campaign by a celebrity and it will not open the less popular demographic of straight men to opening their underwear opinions?

In Bodywear Collection Underwear

Men’s Underwear Taking a Turn?

January 7, 2012 No Comments

When I first started this blog three years ago, men’s underwear wasn’t what I would consider main stream. It was still for the fashion conscious guy and not the every day guy. Then 2(x)ist introduced the Evolve line at Target and we got to see more and more underwear hitting the mass market. That is underwear you don’t buy in a three pack.

In the last few months we have had some big names enter the underwear market. The to guys that are turning men’s undies into mainstream are David Beckham and Mario Lopez

The first is David Beckham, granted he’s no stranger to the world of underwear. He previously modeled Emporio Armani with his wife, Victoria Beckham. Now, David has stepped into role of designer with the Bodywear Collection for H&M. The initial collection will feature 9 different styles. H&M Says:

Designed by David’s in-house team and sold exclusively at H&M, the focus is on fit, function, comfort and design, avoiding overt branding to present a range of new classics, comprising of briefs, boxers, vests, T-shirts, pyjamas and long johns. The result of eighteen months of research and development, the collection aims to set a new standard in men’s bodywear for the 21st century.

The Bodywear collection will be available February 2, at all 1,800 H&M stores. This, if you haven’t gathered is an exclusive just to H&M

The next guy bringing men’s underwear to the attention of the masses is actor Mario Lopez. Which I will say I didn’t expect, so when I was told he was doing an underwear line, I was like “Huh?” But it makes sense he’s has always been a body conscious guy. When we first saw him on Saved by the Bell, he was the jock and then after he’s always been one to try and look good.

We covered this a few weeks back and to refresh your memory Freshpair.com said to us:

I got a chance to talk to them this past week. They told me the line is going to start off conservative but after the first of the year it will expand. Which is a smart thing to do. This is what we were told – “The prices range from $18 – $29 (briefs being $18, trunks $20, and shirts going up to $29). They are contemporary basics and come in red, blue, white, black, and gray. There are several lines, but the Elementary line will be the initial launch with others to follow early next year.”

This line is only available at Freshpair.com.com and is currently being sold.

We have a super start of sports and an actor/entertainment reporter both come out with underwear lines within two months of each other. We have some questions for you:

What do you think of these two lines?
Which star of stage, screen or field (aka actor, singer or sports start) would you like to see come out with a line of underwear?
Do you think we will see more male celebrities endorse/design underwear?

It’s great to see men’s underwear hit the main stream!