Countryside La Vie Magazine

When John Gault wanted to replace his unsightly threadbare pants with some new designer underwear for his holiday
and couldn’t find anywhere to buy it he vowed to do something about it.

The IT consultant decided there and then to set up the first menonly underwear store in the region.

And just six months’ later the 37 year old achieved his goal and he is now seeing sales rocket as hundreds of men and women have flocked to the new Northampton store.

Quake For Men is just one of a handful of stores of its kind in the UK and looks set to put Northampton on a par with the likes of London and Brighton in finally offering a wide range of lads’ branded pants.

Only a year ago the father-of-two was busy overseeing new computer systems but he has now become an expert in the
world’s top male underwear labels and has sourced a wide range of undies from as far afield as America, Australia and the Middle East.

Brands on offer at the new Wellingborough Road store include Calvin Klein and Ginch Gonch as well as a collection designed by Australian Olympic swimmer Ian Thorpe.

The shop boasts nearly 700 different designs and styles from gymwear to night wear and from star-studded briefs to bright yellow Y-fronts.

It also stocks the latest innovations in men’s undies – from vacuum-packed pants to boxers with handy iPod pockets. And men can even pick up the latest hidden-lift underwear, such as 2(x)ist and C-in2, which has been hailed as the ‘push-up for men’.

John, who runs the business with wife Donna, believes the arrival of the new store could help men close the big gap with women when it comes to their smalls. It is estimated that nearly one million men in the UK own just four pairs of pants while women are likely to have at least four times that number.

He said: “The top seller in the store so far is boxer shorts, which outsell briefs three-to-one, while vacuum packed dts are also proving a great success.

“The reaction to the store has been great and customers have been really bowled over by the range and variety of men’s underwear now available.”

And John has not been surprised by the large number of men coming in to buy underwear for themselves despite the fact that it is still a femaledominated activity. Figures from the store show that more than half of customers are women who are predominantly buying for their husbands, and in some cases for their sons or brothers, but hundreds of men have also visited the shop.

John said: “The phenomenon of men taking an interest in their appearance is not a new one but the emergence of so-called ‘metrosexuals’, the rise of interest in grooming and how men now appear in advertising has led to a situation where self-image is more important and men pay more attention to what they wear.

“Yet the situation for buying underwear has not yet caught up with this trend as there are very few men’s underwear stores in the UK. Men are often left with little choice but to buy over the Internet which gives them no chance to see, feel or even try on what they are buying in advance.”

He added: “We hope our new store will mean men can find better fitting, more comfortable and more individual underwear. Our aim is to make men look good with or without their clothes on!”