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MIRDLE:
It's for the man who has a little too much of everything — the man girdle, or "mirdle."
In a land where metrosexuals reign, a London department store is hoping to cash in on the lucrative men's underwear market Thursday by launching a throwback to the Victorian era, a gut-cinching garment that designers say will help men make it through these belt-tightening times.
The stretchy contraptions resemble normal sleeveless tank tops or long-sleeved T-shirts — only shrunk down two or three sizes in a special blend of Spandex, nylon and polyester. Control underwear will be launched later this year.
"It makes waists look trimmer, improves posture and helps men get into the latest slimmer fitting suits," said Gavin Jones, head of the Australian company Equmen, which launched its male shapewear line in Selfridges on Thursday. "Men are under a lot of pressure right now to perform financially, socially and romantically. Why shouldn't we have the same products that women have had for years to make us feel better?"
Europe has been at the forefront of the metrosexual revolution, illustrated by images of a svelte Daniel Craig in tight bathing trunks or a fitted tuxedo as 007, and a near hairless David Beckham in white Armani bikini briefs — larger-than-life ads that stretch out across London's double-decker buses. Even Clive Owen, the British actor known for his rugged good looks and reticent characters, is the face of Lancome's new anti-aging skin-care line.
A booming business
As male vanity has increased in the past decade, so have retail sales.
In the United Kingdom, sales of men's grooming products — moisturizers, home waxing kits, manicure kits — totaled some 840 million pounds ($1.18 billion dollars) last year, according to a report from market research firm Mintel.
Similarly, men's underwear sales are growing faster than women's. In Selfridges, sales of men's underwear were up 21 percent whereas women's underwear grew by some 10 percent last year. The UK alone totaled roughly 679 million pounds ($957 million) in men's underwear sales in 2007 — the latest statistics available — whereas the U.S. tallied about $4.9 billion in 2008, according to Mintel.
Equmen's undershirts promise "to do for guy's chests what Spanx have done for flabby female thighs."
"Brands like Spanx have been huge for women, so we thought pretty soon the same thing would happen for men," said Mithun Ramanandi, a Selfridges underwear buyer. "We saw the brand last year and it was something that didn't look like a corset — something that men could wear to look slimmer without looking silly."
Spanx, one of the leading brands of shapewear for women which exceeded $350 million in retail sales last year, is also considering a new line for men.
"We have something in the works," said Misty Elliott, a spokeswoman for the Atlanta-based company. "Men have been asking us for it and let's face it — they want to take advantage of the style tricks women have been using for years."
Department stores in the United States, such as Saks Fifth Avenue, are also offering lines of male control wear. Saks started carrying a line last year from 2(X)ist, which features briefs and slimming undershirts.
Men's control wear has been around since Victorian times in Britain, where dandies such as Lord Byron and Oscar Wilde were known for their fanciful and slightly feminine outfits. Advertisements for male girdles became popular in the 1930s but many of the products struggled to look different than women's undergarments.
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Today's man girdle looks like something Marlon Brando might have worn in "A Streetcar Named Desire" — a slimmer and more coifed Brando, that is.
"An old relative of mine said there used to be men and women, now there's this gray," said Pete Bainbridge, 31, a consultant in financial services. "I suppose some people want to look good. It's not my taste."
Male options
Retailers say it's not about making men more feminine, it's about giving them more options.
Some agree, in theory.
"I suppose I would buy products I wouldn't have 10 years ago," said Adam Lazarus, 51, a business consultant.
Jones, who founded Equmen in 2007, said he got the idea by looking at specialty clothes that athletes wear.
"I thought if there is apparel that can help shave off a second of the time for swimmers or cyclists there must be something that could improve the performance of hardworking men who have kids and a mortgage to pay — a man who doesn't necessarily have time to get off the merry-go-round and make himself look and feel better."
Selfridges, which opened up a spa last year for men, has increased their underwear department by more than a third in its flagship London store. In its other UK locations, the underwear department has tripled in space to make room for specialty garments like Equmen's.
"If it's going to be called a bloody girdle or 'mirdle' then I'll take it on the cheek if it gets men to try it," says Jones. "But I think there needs to be line drawn between a man wacking on a bit of mascara and buying a product that's going to give him more confidence and keep his belly from hanging over his belt."
Equmen's precision undershirts, start at 49 pounds ($69 dollars). Other lines for warmer climates will be released soon.
MANTYHOSE:
For more than a decade, Mack wore women's pantyhose under his clothes to keep him warm while he worked as a landscaper. But four years ago, Mack, 35, discovered "mantyhose" —pantyhose for men.
"It's nice because they are specifically made for men, so I felt less weird about it," said Mack, who declined to give his last name (because his wife does still feel weird about it). "They are tougher, less delicate than women's pantyhose, but not as bulky as long underwear."
He says that he enjoys the fit and feel of the "mantyhose" so much that he wears them year-round, even though he now holds an office job.
Mack is one of a growing number of men — from construction workers to athletes and businessmen — who've found a passion for pantyhose, claiming they wear the hosiery for support, comfort and aesthetic purposes. Luckily, there are now pairs made specifically for men so that they don't have to ravage their wives’ or girlfriends’ dressers to nestle into a pair of nylons.
Coming to America
European men have been sporting hose for several years, but the trend has been slow to catch on in the U.S. (It is important to note that the trend has no connection to men who wear hose to cross-dress, since they prefer to wear pairs that are more feminine.) The "mantyhose" is also part of a larger trend of untraditional men's underwear designed to lift, sculpt and suck in that beer belly — from the "mirdle" (man-girdle) to Australian designer Equmen's Core Precision Undershirt, touted as the "Spanx for men." A small group of male pantyhose enthusiasts from America, Canada and Europe even set up a Web site, the U.K.-based e-mancipate.net, "to speed up the mainstreaming process of male pantyhose" for men all over the world.
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These men's cotton tights by Collanto are sold at Luxelegwear.com. |
Steven Katz, co-owner of Ohio-based Comfilon, which creates and distributes men's pantyhose, says that while the market for men's pantyhose in the U.S. is "tiny," 2008 has been "our best year ever."
The "mantyhose" comes in a variety of colors and designs, but, Katz says, basic black holds the title as most popular.
Katz came up with the idea for creating men's pantyhose after surfing the Internet and finding complaints from men who were frustrated about their lack of options.
"Men were being told by their doctors that they needed compression legwear for knee problems," Katz said. "So they were sent to buy women's hosiery, and that was embarrassing for them."
One such man was 55-year-old Steve, who suffers from restless leg syndrome; he declined to give his last name for publication. "My legs would ache at night and I wouldn't be able to sleep," he said. "I thought they would help with my circulation, so I ordered a couple pairs, and my legs haven't bothered me since."
Four years later, Steve, a coffee shop manager from Greenville, S.C., can't imagine life without wearing men's pantyhose.
Not your mother’s pantyhose
Katz, who was looking for a way to boost his company's sales, said he wanted to fill a void in the market and cater to men like Steve. He began designing pantyhose styles that had masculine proportions and fly openings, and in 1998, Comfilon's Activeskin Legwear for Men was born. The company now sells hosiery and intimate apparel for men only through the Internet, and also distributes a men's pantyhose line from the mainstream French hosiery company Gerbe.
Comfilon's sales tagline? "This is NOT your mother's pantyhose."
That's what Dave Andrews, 40, found when he first tried a pair of "mantyhose" in 2006, after he had worn women's pantyhose for six months.
"The benefits were there — you can't argue with the muscle support when you're on your feet all day," said Andrews, a sales representative from Indianapolis, Ind. "Plus, it's made for the male anatomy, so there's added comfort, and the control top makes you look better."
Katz says his Activeskin line isn't sold in stores because there is continued stigma about men wearing pantyhose.
"There are a lot of guys who like wearing the product because of the benefits — the support, the warmth — but the gender hang-ups about pantyhose are still so pervasive," he said.
Many men who wear "mantyhose" say it isn't them or even other guys who are embarrassed —it's mostly their wives and girlfriends.
"My wife was really uncomfortable at first — she was nervous about going out with me in public when I had them on," said Andrews. "But then we went out and she saw that no one noticed or had any adverse reaction."
Mack says his wife still isn't keen on the world knowing about his hosiery.
"I understand how people can be taken aback by it, but men used to wear this legwear before women ever did," he said. "No one's gonna stop me from wearing what I need to wear."
Andrews often gets positive reactions from people when they see that he's wearing "mantyhose." And for those who are still turned off by men wearing hosiery, Andrews responds with a couple of clichés.
"Don't knock it till you've tried it, and don't be afraid to take the leap," he said.
