PREMIUMISATION IS DRIVING MEN TO HIGH-TECH INNERWARE

High-tech men’s underwear at $70 disrupts sleepy $8 billion categories.

• The office of Tommy John in lower Manhattan is here to disrupt a ubiquitous product- ‘the underwear’.

• It is part of a growing drive by fledgling brands to get men to rethink underwear and pay more for it.

• Undergarments ranging from $25 to $70 a pair are ‘game-changing’ products.

• With moisture control, cool zones, and stealth waistbands, they can be Swiss-made, breathable, anti-microbial, and anti-odour

• Tommy John even reconfigured the front flap and developed a ‘Quick Draw’ fly for easier access.

• This has boosted spending- in the past three years, the average the average price of underwear in the US has risen by a third.

The disruption is a testament to the power of ‘premiumisation’, a strategy that over the past decade has swept through this once-mundane category.

It’s about resetting expectations with additional choices and benefits and tapping into ‘customer’s black box’.

Source: ET Panache, Page 3 dated 23 February 2017