Fighting bulge one 'man girdle' at a time
Updated
Men's underwear sales in Australia and the UK are up, largely thanks to body-shaping garments.
For centuries women have worn corsets and girdles to give the illusion of a perfect figure, but now it seems men are developing a taste for underwear to hide their love handles and reshape their rear.
Presenter: Stephanie March
Speakers: Will Cleare, customer; Zoe Ellis, senior buying manager for a British online retailer; Anna Santi, Drapers Fashion Journal commissioning editor
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MARCH: They look like regular cotton t-shirts, but put on the garment nicknamed the mirdle - or man girdle - and the elastic material makes unwanted bulges disappear. British father of two Will Cleare says he was sceptical about trying the vest designed to improve his posture and slim down his stomach for rugby, but his doubts dissipated as fast as his unwanted flab.
CLEARE: There's just no reason why you should feel embarrassed to wear it. You can either be open about wearing it or you can get away with people looking and thinking, 'Oh they're shaped up a bit', that's fine.
MARCH: Modelled off compression suits used by athletes, the garments were launched by an Australian company in January. The country's retail figures for the first eight months of 2009 show apparel sales were down for all items except men's underwear.
ELLIS: Yeah, this was developed by a physiotherapist. It's got a lot of panelling in [it] to give a more rippling effect on your front, and on the back, we've got the cross seams which pulls tour shoulders back and gives you a much better posture."
MARCH: According to senior buying manager for British online retailer figleaves.com, Zoe Ellis, the trend stretched to other side of the world.
ELLIS: Since May, it's come from nowhere really. It's about 10 per cent of our men's underwear sales so it's doing really well for us.
MARCH: The range includes, vests and shirts designed to slim down the waist and tone up the torso, and underpants designed to lift the bottom and enhance the front. She says the garments are popular among a variety of customers - from business men to sports figures.
ELLIS: I think men are looking after their bodies a lot more. It started with the pink pound but I think that we find now that our products isn't just about that market. The straight man is buying it as well.
MARCH: Ms Ellis says she's not sure if women will be as accepting of men using the same techniques to disguise unwanted bulges as women have done throughout history.
ELLIS: I think women are fine with it. Women have been wearing Shapeware for years.
MARCH: Drapers Fashion Journal commissioning editor Anna Santi says it's to early to say if the popularity of slimming underwear for men is just a passing trend.
SANTI: We need to wait and see what will happen. The mens underwear market is very small so it could be a bit of a gimmick, a bit of a novelty. But at the same time, we've seen from a beauty point of view, we've seen a growth in men's grooming products so as a consumer product it could lend itself quite well.
MARCH: While the trend may not last, men's shapewear could still be the perfect Christmas present for the man who has everything, except, the perfect body.
