Undergear closing

[Captain.Jammer]

Originally Posted by Dooley67

As a straight man, I used to buy from International Male and Undergear because the swimsuits and the underwear they had were those that I liked. Being heterosexual, I never thought of either of those sites as being gay sites or that they catered to only gay men. I viewed them as sites that carried bikinis and briefs that anyone could/would wear and that by wearing them, you weren't being identified as gay. You were identified as a guy who liked to wear bikinis and briefs.
...
D67

This describes me and my thinking, totally. Had no idea they were a gay-centered catalogs. I was more into purchasing the underwear, but did get a couple of swimsuits.

Attachments are pics of me in purchases from Undergear/International Male made many years ago:
Undergear Ribbed Cotton Contour brief underwear in powder blue (very soft and comfortable)
Tactics Sports Thong Swimsuit in orange (never been worn outside the house)

[PSDave]

It is interesting that International Male and Undergear didn't impress you as a gay store. It was my thought from the beginning that they were both directed at the gay male. However, my thoughts were stilted by the fact that I visited their shops in West Hollywood -- the gay mecca of Los Angeles.
Years before there had been AhMen that was one of the first to offer really skimpy underwear underwear out of soft and sexy fabrics. (I was very young when I saw an AhMen catalog at a friends house and I was fascinated and wondered from then on if that is what his father wore) It was a small shop on Santa Monica Blvd that eventually expanded into a full line clothing store with a huge inventory of bikini swim and underwear. Unfortunately the owning partners broke up and the store closed. In its place went International Male -- a store based in San Diego. (UnderGear was an off shoot of them) At the same time Parr of Arizona opened (now nu-parr) so in a few blocks of Santa Monica Blvd were several shops focusing on skimpy male attire. Having shopped in the stores I can attest that the staff was all gay and somewhat too helpful at times.
Having seen the catalogs from all the above mentioned I would not automatically assume that they were gay if I hadn't been in the stores. I think that, unfortunately, if there are bikini swimsuits and/or underwear in a shop it is automatically assumed gay.

[Captain.Jammer]

Originally Posted by PSDave

It is interesting that International Male and Undergear didn't impress you as a gay store. It was my thought from the beginning that they were both directed at the gay male. However, my thoughts were stilted by the fact that I visited their shops in West Hollywood -- the gay mecca of Los Angeles.
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Well, my first exposure to International Male was when I was in grammar school, long before Undergear came about. I regularly saw the advertisements in the back of the LA Times newspaper's Sunday "Home" magazine.

I was intrigued by the "Buns" brief and the "Scoop" undershirts. I was interested in the gear they advertised there, because it was not the standard baggy white briefs that I was familiar with as a kid. Maybe the products and ads were aimed to homosexuals, but I didn't see it. At that age and back then in the 70's, "gay" was not as prominent in people's minds or as well known--or at least it wasn't to me in my innocent youth. I believe the term "queer" was used at that time, but didn't understand what it meant other than odd. It seems that "gay" became the universal slang term a few years later. Of course the terminology is irrelevant, except to explain my ignorance of it at that age.

I couldn't find the exact display ads that I had seen in those days, but this ad does feature those two products that first caught my eye.

[Newguy23]

Hi everyone. I registered this account to join this discussion. I got my start with alternative male underwear there, but ThI also shop at Freshpair.com and Internationaljock.com.

One of the things I've noticed is that whenever I order from Underwear or Freshpair, the packaging is not only identical, but ships from the exact same address. Does anybody know if this is the same company?

Freshpair is a great website and rarely has the same inventory clearing sales and promotions like Undergear.

Thanks!

[PSDave]

I think what is happening is there is one company that handles several mail order companies and it is all housed under one roof. Probably a way to save on shipping costs etc. When International Male/Undergear first left San Diego is went to Hanover Pennsylvania. A place called Hanover House was the central mailing for several catalogs. They may have moved or changed operations. I am guessing that having shipping departments working full time filling orders saves a lot by prorating the costs out. Very few companies would have enough business to keep a shipping staff busy full time.

[VDane77]

I can remember when Intl Male was in its heyday when they still had their retail stores and personally went to the WEHO franchise a few times. Their merchandise was as nice as their catalogs. Then, they branched out to create UnderGear then phased out the Intl Male Catalog. I think that was a mistake on their part. I think ever since 2015 started, they ceased distributing catalogs because the last catalog I got (& still have) was from the Holiday 2014 issue. I still have some old Intl Male & UnderGear Catalogs and will probably just save them as mementos of a bygone era. I wonder if they went under because they might have felt they were losing out to Andrew Christian which has a Huge gay following. If that were the case, they shouldn't have felt like that because Andrew Christian has their own style of merchandise and UnderGear's style was really cutting edge which is why I Loved their merchandise. Oh well, I hope they come back sometime. . .

[sebbie]

http://www.out.com/truman-says/2015/...male-undergear

see this link

[VDane77]

Originally Posted by sebbie

http://www.out.com/truman-says/2015/...male-undergear

see this link

Thanks for the link. I found it informative & unfortunate at the same time. As the article said, I guess I'm one of the lucky ones as I saved a lot of them from the 90s thru 2014. I'm going to miss buying clothes from them and I'll cherish the clothes I bought from them. They had really nice shirts, jackets, and accessories. Their buyer(s) did a Great Job, I should say. Being a SoCal (LA County) resident, their style was the epitome of the metro-sexual male. I don't think anyone can replace IM/UnderGear. . .

[PSDave]

I can sum up what happened to IM/Undergear in one word: Hanover. When they started in San Diego and then expanded to West Hollywood they knew their market and catered to it. When they decided to go more mainstream and turned it over to Hanover -- a company down the road from Amish Country -- they lost their edge. The cutting edge styles became run of the mill and their swimwear that went to the extremes became safe and the underwear was too much for mainstream buyers. Trying to divide with a separate catalog: Undergear, was a valiant attempt, but still marketed by the wrong people.
When they left SD the service went down, the styles suffered and the appeal to the gays dwindled. They knew their market when they only dealt in one market but when Hanover, that deals in dozens of markets, took over they had no idea what the gay or metrosexual man wanted.

[VDane77]

103015.jpg...should I show this to Caitlyn?