35 Pros & Cons Of Starting A Men's Underwear Brand (2024)

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Competition is high when it comes to your men's underwear brand, so it's important that you spend a good amount of time analyzing the market and understanding where the demand lies.

Finding The Right Supplier

Most businesses in this space go the supplier/manufacturer route, which isn't a bad thing! However, finding the right supplier can take a lot of time, energy and trial/error. If done properly, this process can save you months (if not years) of time and energy. More on this below in the "finding a supplier" section.

Security Issues

With any Saas business, data loss and security issues may arise throughout your process of building your product. It's critical that you understand exactly what you're responsible for and how to avoid potential issues down the road.

Lack of benefits

With a men's underwear brand, you are typically self-employed and responsible for finding your own insurance, which can be quite costly and time-consuming.

Isolation

Often times, as a men's underwear brand, you typically work alone and do not have much face-to-face interaction with other team members.

Taxes

As a men's underwear brand, you typically pay self-employment taxes which can be quite high. It's important to understand what you will be paying in taxes each year so you can determine if the work you're taking on is worth it.

No safety net

Typically, as a men's underwear brand, you do not receive a consistent pay-check and instead earn money based on your transactions each month. During the slow periods, you typically take away less since the job is based on commission. It's important to budget accordingly for the slow times.

High overhead expenses

With starting a men's underwear brand, there are overhead expenses that come with selling a physical product. You will want to make sure you strategically budget for these overhead costs. We discuss this more in the startup costs section below.

You may need to charge sales tax

If you are selling your products in various states, you may be required to charge sales tax. Although this may not impact your financials specifically, it can be a headache to create a process and procedure for this. To learn more about sales tax, check out this article

Work can be repetitive

You may find creating the same product over and over repetitive and tiresome. One way of avoiding this is to diversify product lines and revenue streams - this will keep things interesting!

Difficult to build trust with your customer

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With starting a men's underwear brand, there can be minimal face-to-face interaction, which means it can be a lot more difficult to establish trust with your customers. You'll need to go the extra mile with your customer to grab their attention and business.

Minimal physical activity

A big part of starting a men's underwear brand is sitting at a desk for the majority of the day starting at your computer. Some may enjoy this, but others may struggle with sitting for the majority of your day without much physical activity.

Learning Curve

When you start your own business, you no longer have upper management to provide you with a playbook for your roles and responsibilities. You should know the ins and outs of every aspect of your business, as every decision will come down to you.

The underwear market is poised for growth and rapid change. In the UK, spending is forecast to increase to £5.2 million by ; and the US Men&#;s underwear market is projected to be up to $7 billion by . Consumers are seeking authenticity from underwear brands, looking for them to showcase what real people look like and leave behind unattainable body standards. As brands look toward inclusive sizing, innovative materials, and new use cases, the future for underwear is bright. Consumers are embracing items for both inner and outerwear occasions, showing off their style, personality, and confidence. 

But budgets are being crunched by rising prices, forcing consumers to consider what they really want to spend their money on. Brands need to provide value to shoppers during this difficult economic period, both monetarily (e.g. sales, bundle options) and non-monetarily (e.g. durable items, good customer service.) And, brands can also stand out by making underwear fun.

Fun Piques Interest

While comfort and fit are still priorities, brands can stand out by making underwear fun. Function is still key for Gen Z and Millennials, and Gen Z are an increasingly important target audience for brands. Fun aspects of underwear items are of greater importance to these generations compared to the general population. Younger consumers are seeking more from their underwear: comfort and fit are necessary, but so are style and colour. To infuse fun into underwear purchases, brands could offer more colours and styles, as well as lean into customisation. Nearly a quarter of consumers are purchasing based on the fun aspects of an item, demonstrating that those aspects shouldn&#;t be ignored.

Brands can look to offer customisation options, particularly for different occasions, like bachelorette festivities or weddings. They can encourage consumers to leave feedback on social media or run different polls to see what consumers are interested in next. Getting consumers involved in the development process makes them feel heard and provides them with options that they actually want to see.

Underwear Brands Can Benefit From Impulse Purchases

While the majority of consumers purchase underwear based on need, there is ample opportunity to drive impulse purchases. Nearly 40% of consumers purchase underwear even if they don&#;t need to replace items. 

Underwear brands can look to partner with other clothing brands to offer complete outfit suggestions. Knowing that underwear can influence a consumer&#;s mood, brands can suggest &#;power outfits&#; for occasions such as interviews, or the first day of a new job. These suggestions could also take place at checkout (especially online) when consumers are purchasing other clothing items. Empowerment can flow from the whole outfit itself, and underwear can be part of these outfit suggestions.

Taking the lead from MeUndies, brands could also lean into seasonality offerings. Seasonal underwear drives exclusivity for the time and brings a little more joy to the season. It also creates impulse purchases, as consumers might want the item because of its limited availability, even if they don&#;t need underwear at the moment.

Younger Consumers Are Open to Brand Discovery

Generation Z and Millenials, are less likely to be as brand loyal as older generations, making them a prime target for underwear brands. They are conscious of the brands they are shopping for, looking into what the brand stands for and how their values align (or not) with the brand.

Younger consumers also desire a well-rounded experience from brands and retailers. Brands can offer personalisation options and can include post-purchase follow-ups to check in with consumers. Follow-ups would enable brands to see if customers need anything adjusted or corrected, and encourage them to leave reviews. It&#;s also a way to build a relationship with the consumer, and potentially earn their loyalty, communicating with them from the start of their purchase journey through to their next discovery.

What We Think

When deciding what underwear to purchase, consumers prioritise comfort and fit. The pandemic accelerated comfort as a priority but even as they enter back into offices and social activities, consumers want to feel comfortable all day long. Style and colour will be important factors, but comfort will remain the priority for consumers purchasing underwear.

Additionally, since consumers have been pulling back on spending, underwear brands will need to give consumers a reason to make purchases. Brands can invest in fun colours and styles to perk up at-home living, and also remind consumers that underwear is a necessity, even if the rest of their wardrobe is otherwise sufficient. To learn more about our research on retail trends, check out the Mintel store to buy a report today. For access to our free content and insights, subscribe to become a member of the Mintel Spotlight community.

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