How MeUndies built a $32M company | Hacker News Reader

How MeUndies built a $32M company

jilt.com

70 pointspmp30165 comments

Pretty sure all their success is due to this Bill Burr ad https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEtD0p6BIic

I started singing this as soon as I saw the headline on the front page, to be fair. I wonder just how much Burr's reads have put Meundies into the public consciousness..

hahaha at the very least I won't be surprised if podcast ads were a good chunk of their marketing budget. I only know about them because of the several different podcasts that do MeUndies ads.

They targeted the podcast space pretty significantly, i’ve heard about them for years on Harmontown.

They target the podcasts with pretty big audiences too!! I've heard ads from Rogan and Ferriss too!!

What does it mean to be a $32M company? Based on whose valuation? I don't get why this number is such a prominent feature, and then is never explained. And is $32M a big number? Compared to who? This all seems strange to me.

Inc.com lists 2016 revenue as $32.6. Also interested in more information as to where that puts them though.

Hanes Brands does $6.4 billion in sales for example (obviously including all of their business).

$32.6 million in sales is a small company in the underwear business. Men's underwear (boxers, boxer briefs, briefs) in just the US + Canada is a $5.x billion annual business at retail.

There's also this amusement:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men%27s_underwear_index

Hanes has been around since ~1900 in some form or another. Meundies is like 7-8 years old I believe.

Sometimes some of these industries, not hyped like every tech companies and don't get much media attention from Business magazine, are just mind blogging big. And that is just Man! Which I assume spend comparatively VERY little money as compared to woman underwear.

P.S - From wiki "The premise is that men's underwear are a necessity in normal economic times and sales remain stable. " Am I the only one who don't think of it as necessity? Or is this a US thing?

Sometimes it feels like I'm the only one who prefers cotton boxers to synthetic boxer briefs.

Pros of the cotton boxer:

* More breathable

* Less scratchy

* Less "death grip on your junk"-y

* A lot less expensive

Cons:

* I guess they dry slower, so if you need to hang dry your underwear and have them be dry by the next morning, you'd have to use synthetic? But that's about it

I've tried synthetic boxer briefs from ex oficio, duluth trading trading, meundies, calvin klein, saxx... They are all categorically worse than plain cotton boxers.

I'm 100% the same, and I find it weird too. I got chatting with my friends recently who are big fans of Meundies and I mentioned cotton boxers and they looked at me funny because briefs were so much more popular.

> prefers cotton boxers to synthetic boxer briefs.

Modal is beech tree fibre and cotton. It doesn't seem super synthetic to me, although some argue chemical treatment of the tree fibres make it that way: https://www.thespruce.com/how-to-wash-modal-clothes-2145794

I don't subscribe to MU by the way, I collected t shirts and one point and used to date a girl with a textiles degree. I had one t-shirt that felt magical, she told me it was modal and I learnt what it was. Now I buy cheap modal t shirts and underwear from Amazon.

Ooo I should try this. I got modal sheets and a modal comforter a few months ago, so silky smooth.

Modal is just Rayon no? I had the same misconception about "hemp fabric", turns out these exotic "natural fabrics" are just Rayon made using a novel source of cellulose.

I agree with you. But after age 35 or so, I suggest you'll actively seek out undies that grip your junk firmly.

Far preferable to accidentally sitting on your testicles.

Gravity + time.

Dropshipping underwears from Blackspade @ Turkey and charging customers with x5 price?

Haha, ding ding ding we have a winner.

Is this actually what they do, or is it a joke that went over my head?

A ton of these new D2C brands are just OEM wrappers - don't know if meundies is one of them but I would not be surprised

Reminds me of dollar shave club which has flashy marketing but basically just resells another companies razers that you can buy directly from Amazon (dorco razers)

Their main selling point is that you get them each month on an interval, but I’ve never understood that. I can order the same razers from amazon whenever I want and they’re here in a few days.

Former employee from there, that's exactly what they do. Shipments come private labeled from turkey.

wow, so much for disrupting the underwears space

Sure it wasn't just good marketing? I can't get any content without hearing an ad from them.

I started getting MeUndies with my partner, who’d been subscribing since they opened in LA just down the street from where she worked. They make a great product, chose to ally themselves with good causes, artistic collaborations, and the one-design-a-month made it a fun way to rotate new matching underwear with one’s partner.

As someone who’s been a customer of theirs for a long time, I think they’re valuable because of the service they provide.

I subscribed for a while, but their quality control hasn't been good. Too many pairs fell apart or came apart after a couple months. It's possible I just got unlucky.

I'd reevaluate that statement. Their founder is a convicted felon for knowingly exposing people to asbestos.

I hadn't heard this. Can you provide a reference for me?

Edit: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndtx/pr/regional-director-calif...

It's in the headline: selling an "experience" IS marketing.

Maybe it's cause they charge $24 for a pair of underwear? I don't necessarily doubt their quality, but the most I'd be willing to pay is half that.

Surely charging more than their customers are willing to pay isn't a great strategy for building a $32M company.

Its only $16 if you're a member which is a core part of their business model.

Wonder how successful their subscription model is. Clothing doesn't have a natural fit with recurring purchases as it doesn't solve a problem for the consumer.

Depends what kind of clothing. Imo socks and regular underwear (had to differentiate "regular", because it doesn't include specialty/novelty stuff) are semi-disposable kind of clothing that isn't meant to last a long long time. I would never get a subscription service for normal clothing, because I take care of it and it usually lasts a while. Underwear and socks (especially) is the perfect fit for a subscription model imo.

I haven't bought new underwear in about four years and my oldest pair just ticked over a decade.

Duluth boxer briefs, and before that, when they were good, Ex Officio. I highly recommend them for their long life and comfort.

I use Darn Tough socks, which have a lifetime warranty and seem to be doing pretty well after a year and a half. I also haven't purchased underwear in years, and I honestly can't remember when that was.

I usually have 5-10 sets of underwear and socks, and then I don't need any more. A subscription service just isn't useful at all. In fact, when I buy new socks/underwear, I typically do so in bulk (getting lots of the same kind don't matter at all), so a subscription model makes even less sense.

This is not true for underwear and socks, which are replaced pretty regularly.

They both last for a couple of years.

Quality underwear (unless you only have one pair of it) lasts years just fine.

Personally, I wouldn't understand why would anyone chose underwear based on designs on it, though.

I'm a subscriber. Its not like you're getting a pack of new underwear with every shipment, it is one new piece every time. It may be strange but I love the feeling of fresh new underwear. As someone single in my 20's it can be a real confidence boost! Also, in a previous relationship it was quite fun when we got our matching set!

Meanwhile: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18600250

I'm an absolute sucker for any Keith Haring artwork and they had a pair available only to subscribers of the product. I wound up enjoying the comfort of the product as much as the art and have been a satisfied customer since.

Automatic upvote for that beautiful man Keith Haring but... he's dead? How could they have artwork only available to their customers?

It was his artwork as a print and proceeds went to the Keith Haring Foundation, which receives royalties from its licensees and is a major funder of HIV-AIDS organizations.

Why was that Facebook advert banned? It's literally someone just wearing the product isn't it? It isn't explicit even for an underwear advert. Or am I missing some cultural context or implication in the image?

I came here to ask the exact same thing.

Maybe zuckerberg really hates spots?

Facebook's ad policies disallow “sexually suggestive content”. Their definition is pretty broad (“excessive visible skin”): https://www.facebook.com/policies/ads/prohibited_content/adu...

MeUndies has a page of others that Facebook banned, some of which are perhaps more suggestive than the ad featured above, but barely: https://www.meundies.com/too-hot-for-facebook

Likely they have some anorexia/thinspo guidelines that this ad didn't adhere to. Search google for "thigh gap thinspo"

Reads like a paid article. A 7-8 year old company that heavily advertises builds a $32million company. Profit anywhere?

Sure, it may seem obvious - but as someone who is looking at starting a subscription service, this is valuable information to me because even when I posted questions on HN regarding how to build out a subscription business, I got crickets.

Also, as someone who abhors facebook and dont use it - I have actually never even heard of this company prior to today.

Do you listen to podcasts? Because MeUndies ads are on every NPR podcast out there.

Sadly I dont listen to many...

I should listen to more - but I find that I read a lot, and when I am reading I cant listen to anything and retain it... so it limits my ability to listen to podcasts.

My mind wanders too much when I only listen to a podcast and am not really doing anything else so I get distracted. I find that I can listen to someone speak and retain what they are saying when I can see them speak - but just hearing them seems to go in one ear out the other. I hate it - but its just how I function.

I've had to listen to Carolla talk about them for years now.

Off the top of my head they've been on:

- Rogan

- Stuff You Should Know

- Several Adam Carolla podcasts

- Art of Charm

- Nerdist at some point (pretty sure)

- Harmontown

They're as bad as DollarShaveClub and Casper when it comes to popping up on podcasts.

RIP The Herman Miller Aeron Chair, now available in True Black.

They claim they've been profitable for the last three years, although they do so without providing any actual numbers.[1]

[1]: https://www.adweek.com/digital/meundies-pivots-its-membershi...

I really like their concept. I can see why people would sign up for this. I just didn't like their small selection of designs. The impression I got from their website was that they only have a handful of fabrics that they use for both male and female. I was expecting more rainbows and unicorns, but the one rainbow unicorn male boxer design didn't grab my attention like I thought it would.

Still beats paying $5 a pair for generic boxers at walmart. If I had the extra cash, I'd say why not and sign up.

>> I just didn't like their small selection of designs.

They may only have a small-ish selection of designs at any one time, but they cycle very quickly; if you subscribe you get a new/unique design each month.

Seems so odd to me. How often do people need new underwear?

Right? I've been wearing, and training in, the same 8 pairs of ExOfficio for 5 years now and they still look fine.

"but the one rainbow unicorn male boxer design didn't grab my attention like I thought it would."

Cant tell if serious or trolling ?!

I heard of them through some twitch streamers and it looked pretty good. I bought some of their lounge pants and they are really nice, easily one of the most comfortable items of clothing I own.

>> easily one of the most comfortable items of clothing I own

Isn't this the sole responsibility of lounge wear? What else does it do?

I feel like I should downvote for the sarcasm but it was so funny I was compelled to upvote. Sorry, PP.

ah yes, an excellent "tech" post about how to get rich by marketing something pedestrian. lol at everyone here who doesn't see how transparently their "tech" interest is actually just an interest in getting rich quick.

Reminds me of when a snack company (I think it was Naturebox?) insisted in their advertising that they used sophisticated machine learning to match you with the perfect snack. Or how MIT graduates are using machine learning to disrupt the wine-a-month club industry.

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