Guys: Got some flab to hide? Why go through the effort of dieting and exercising when you can encase yourself in "shapewear"? Man-Spanx have been available for months now, and along with competing products like Equmen's compression T-shirts and Ript Fusion undershirts, are "a huge retail hit" and selling like hotcakes.
Men’s torso-enhancing T-shirts are part of a revolution in men’s underwear that has been taking place over the last decade, [Michael Kleinmann, the president of underwear-maker Freshpair] said. Another popular but hush-hush product is profile-enhancing underwear, which he called “the equivalent of a push-up bra” for men.Like porn and Viagra aficionados, however, "bashful shoppers are going online."
“We’ve noticed, as good as in-store sales are — and they are good — the online sales are better,” said David Witman, the men’s general merchandise manager for Nordstrom. Men “might be embarrassed to ask for it, but they want it,” he said.Some claim they need to don these high-tech sausage casings because "they’re 'self-conscious about their nipples' and buy Equmen tops for camouflage." Others claim they need Spanx to alleviate back pain. But come on: It's clear that men are just as interested in girdling their guts as women.
Still, underwear makers say that their products aren't "aimed at men with beer bellies and women with muffin tops. Stars as lean as Gwyneth Paltrow wear Spanx, said [company founder Sara] Blakely, who says she was a Size 2 when she invented it. The brand was never for 'the hugely overweight,' she said." Plus:
[U]ndergarment trickery has its pitfalls, especially on dates. Men have been known to express surprise when a Spanx-compressed woman disrobes in the bedroom only to reveal a less svelte figure. Now women can complain, too.(Source: The New York Times)
“Spanx for Men is all good, until you meet a chick,” one skeptic warned on Twitter. “You gain 45 lbs when you get naked.”
