Before he was known as MWearNYC, a men’s underwear and swimwear brand designed and made in NYC – Matthew was known as the custom underwear guy! MWearNYC was created in NYC in 2017 by a theatrical costume designer, Matthew Hampton. While he was at work on the Great White Way, the assorted burlesque performance and strip shows, Matthew realized that all shapes of men would love to have underwear made specifically for them and their bodies! That realization spurred Matthew on to create MWearNYC. Their goal is to empower men of all diversities to feel sexy and comfortable in their skin by offering customizable ready to wear underwear and full custom service. For those of you that have read Undies101 long enough, you’ll know that we embrace the ethos of MWearNYC – all men deserve to look and feel sexy in their underwear! That’s been our mantra from the beginning, so we’re thrilled to be working with them this month! Check out our review of one of their jocks and the guest bulge post from a member of the MWearNYC team as well. In one of those posts you’ll find a special discount code for 20% off your purchase (excluding custom pieces) – so go find it and order – it’s good through 15 Aug!
This week we wanted to dive a little deeper into MWearNYC and figure out what made them tick. Why did they create the brand and the store? What motivates them? So, without further ado – here’s more from the man himself – Matthew talks about the how, the when, the where and the why!
What made you want to start
MWearNYC and why underwear/swimwear?
I was always fascinated with the appeal of men’s underwear in general and having the skill to make them and understand how to alter designs and styles to fit whatever my customers and I want is an exciting skill set to have. Especially when you see your product being used in someone’s every day life.
Did you start as a custom design studio/house or did you roll out a specific line first?
Before having a website that customers could go to and place orders on their own, I was very flexible with the types of fabrics I would make their underwear out of as a way of discovering what worked and what didn’t so I guess you could say that was a mildly “ customized” process. I think I was known as the custom underwear guy before I was known as MWearNYC – a place where you can purchase ready-to-wear underwear.
Do you have underwear/swimwear designers that were an inspiration?
It’s such a broad source of inspiration. There are specific things I like about certain brands but there’s not really another brand that I modeled myself after. I, unfortunately, wasn’t super thrilled with any other brand out there which is why I chose to develop my own.
How often do you expand your collection and add new pieces?
We just launched in June so there hasn’t been any need to add new pieces yet but I imagine a couple times per year for now. I’m sure I’ll make many discoveries about what the demand is over the first fiscal year which may change that answer.
What’s the percentage of your business that is custom vs. ready to wear?
Probably about 10%-15% Custom Orders and the rest is RTW.
What’s harder to design and manufacture – thongs, jocks or briefs?
They all have their challenges and rewards about them. Jockstraps and thongs can be tricky to design because the constant obstacle is always how to choose a print that is small enough to be able to tell what it is on the small surface area of a thong or jockstrap but large enough to have an impact on anyone looking at it from whatever distance. Thongs probably take the most amount of time to produce, then jockstraps, then briefs.
What custom piece are you most excited by – if you can talk about it.
Anytime a customer let’s me take creative liberty over something, I have a blast making it. I’ve made a few pieces with leather, metal spikes, and crystals that were really fun to create.
Stick around – next week, we’ll be featuring some of the custom designs that
MWearNYC have done and we’ve got some great feedback from some custom customers and some great shots of them in their pieces – with feedback from Matthew himself! Now what are you waiting for??? Go check out the site and use that discount!
Undies101 wants to know…don’t forget to vote in the poll!
