Andrew Christian

Andrew Christian - International
Private
Industry Fashion
Founded 2001
Founder Andrew Christian, Jeff White
Headquarters Hollywood, California, United States
Area served
 Worldwide
Products Men's swimwear, sportswear, underwear, and clothing
Website AndrewChristian.com
Designer and company founder Andrew Christian

Andrew Christian is an American men's underwear, swimwear, and sportswear manufacturer named after its founder and head-fashion designer Andrew Christian.[1][2][3][4][5] The brand is arguably best known for its underwear, which include street, sport and fashion lines.[6][7] Notable products include Flashback, Almost Naked and Show It.[8]

The company heavily targets the gay community, with the brand operating gay-themed websites, and hosting club events.[9][10][11][12] Its advertising campaigns are known to be provocative.[1][13][14][15][16][17] They do club events almost every weekend and throughout the world, "[they] definitely work well. People get to actually see the products in person, and they get a feel for the brand."[8] In 2013 they started promoting safer-sex in conjunction with National Condom Day.[1]

The underwear contains eco-friendly features, including bamboo fiber and organic cotton. Their products use "more than 80 percent of U.S. raw materials and manufactures all of its fashionable and durable men's garments in the states."[18][19]

The company's namesake, Andrew Christian, has also helped raise the company's profile through reality show appearances and tie-ins. He has been a guest star on Bravo's The Fashion Show,[20][21] on seasons three and four of Oxygen's The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency doing model casting,[1][22] in 2013 on Millionaire Matchmaker,[23][24] the 2013 movie I'm A Porn Star,[25] and both he and the products were a featured part of Logo's RuPaul's Drag Race, as official "Pit Crew" sponsors.[26]

History

Andrew Christian grew up "with nothing…our family was kind of poor," so he became creative to have his own aesthetic, and try to keep up with the designer clothes the other kids were wearing to school.[27] He was about fifteen when he realized he wanted to be a fashion designer for a living.[28] He had been creating new outfits weekly for himself and friends to go to the underground clubs.[28] One of the club promoters he knew owned his own store so he started selling through the site while still in high school.[22][27][29] He left Fresno, California with $500, and moved to Los Angeles, California to go to fashion school at age nineteen.[8] He quickly found work with other designers and then started the clothing line soon after in 1997.[8][30] He supported himself in fashion school by selling his work in local boutiques.[31] He chose a generic cross icon for his logo as he wanted to avoid religious connotations.[22] The regular fashions were followed, over the years, by sportswear, swimwear, and then underwear, "and that's when things really took off."[32] In 2006, with the addition of the underwear lines, sales grew exponentially.[28][33] In the 2007/2008 season they did an Obama underwear, donating $1 from every sale to the 2008 Barack Obama Presidential Campaign.[8][34] In 2008 Christian released Black Line, "a higher end dressy line of men’s wear," inspired by the clothes he made for himself, and features ready-to-wear tailored pants and vests.[35] In the 2008/2009 season the company started making clothes for women as well as men.[8] In 2013 Christian worked to expand his sportswear lines, as they were mostly sold out in 2012, as soon as they came into stock.[28]

Products

The Flashback/FlashLIFT is the top selling Andrew Christian product.[31][36] There is an invisible support seam built into the structure of the underpants that when a man puts it on, it lifts and rounds out the buttock.[36] Christian was inspired to create the product by noticing how hard athletes would work out to improve their rear ends, "wouldn’t it be great if you could just put a pair of underwear that automatically gave you that perfect butt?"[37] In Spring 2009, Andrew Christian introduced Show-It Technology underpants that lifts and supports the genitalia area, generally making it look larger.[31][38] The Show-It Technology line features 'a cup that lifts and supports your assets' according to their website. The Almost Naked line, which is made from eco-friendly bamboo consist not only of underpants but will expanded into shirts and tanks.[29][32] The Almost Naked line features underwear that is marketed as "anatomically correct", claiming to prevent kinks or uncomfortable positions, according to the company.[39] The stretchy, 93% bamboo, fiber mix keeps moisture off the body.[40]

They also have a Shock Jock line that has a jock cup with "authentic looking male features" paralleling the female equivalent of the wonderbra.[36][41][42] The Shock Jock joined, as of 2011, Andrew Christian's bestselling product line, the Flashback which enhances the appearance in the rear but without any padding.[36] They now have products that add extra padding for either the front or rear.[43]

Another product they feature is a performance-wear brief, Dry and Naked, the New York Times noted it rode low on the hips but had a snug fit keeping everything in place for running.[44]

For swimwear they work in two seasons; spring/summer, and resort wear.[33] As of 2007 they had about 20 swimwear designs compared to 40 underwear designs.[33]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Andrew Christian Embarks on 'New Sexual Revolution'
  2. ↑ Materia: The arrival of new brands
  3. ↑ "Retail Revolution: Apparel" Los Angeles Magazine.
  4. ↑ Knipp, Michael A. "Andrew Christian: From rags to britches," Gay & Lesbian Times, No. 1043, December 20, 2007.
  5. ↑ The Story of Men's Underwear, Shaun Cole, Parkstone International, May 8, 2012.
  6. ↑ ‘The Fashion Show’ Exit Interview: Andrew’s Not A Copycat, And Janice Dickinson Loves His Underwear! | XFINITY TV Blog by Comcast
  7. ↑ Second annual El Paso Fashion Week showcases local designers - El Paso Times
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Gay Fresno - Interview With Andrew Christian
  9. ↑ Andrew Christian Underwear Party
  10. ↑ Primal Instinct: Andrew Christian Boys "Twerk Off" In Their Underwear!, Instinct Magazine, September 15, 2013.
  11. ↑ Andrew Christian Underwear Dance-Off
  12. ↑ "Quinn Jaxon: A Case for 'Boy-Next-Door' Underwear Models"
  13. ↑ "Andrew Christian's S&M Fantasy"
  14. ↑ Men's underwear, Alan Greenspan and Sexy Santa, St, Louis Post-Dispatch.
  15. ↑ "Buon Natale 2013 con i modelli di Andrew Christian!"
  16. ↑ "The Hottest, Most Erotic Andrew Christian Moments Of 2013"
  17. ↑ "Cher Mashes Up “Take It Like A Man” With Sexy Andrew Christian Underwear Videos"
  18. ↑ "Made in America," ABC News with Dianne Sawyer, screen shot Archived April 19, 2014, at the Wayback Machine., July 2011.
  19. ↑ Supporting Our City by Buying Fashion Brands Made in LA
  20. ↑ Exclusive Interview: Andrew Christian of 'The Fashion Show'
  21. ↑ Exclusive Interview with Andrew Christian of The Fashion Show : RealityWanted.com: Reality TV, Game Show, Talk Show, News - All Things Unscripted Social Network Casting Commun...
  22. 1 2 3 "Interview: Andrew Christian, Fashion Design Demi-God" Archived July 29, 2014, at the Wayback Machine.
  23. ↑ "TV best bets: Thursday, Dec. 26"
  24. ↑ "'The Millionaire Matchmaker' Season 7 Episode 5 Spoilers: Patti Hooks Up Two Gay Millionaires, Admits to Regretting Abortion"
  25. ↑ http://lifeontheglittertrail.com/tag/im-a-porn-star/
  26. ↑ Christian Bio
  27. 1 2 Andrew Christian - Nunn on the Run
  28. 1 2 3 4 Andrew Christian - Men's Underwear About.com Fashion Designers, Justin Howard
  29. 1 2 Andrew Christian | The Fenuxe Interview | Fenuxe Magazine | Gay Atlanta | LGBT Atlanta | News, Gay Entertainment, Events and Nightlife Archived December 31, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.
  30. ↑ "Beyond The Boys & Briefs: Andrew Christian Answers Fan Questions"
  31. 1 2 3 Raannt.com » Andrew Christian…The Saint of Sexy! The Interview
  32. 1 2 "ANDREW CHRISTIAN OPENT WINKEL IN AMSTERDAM" RTL BOULEVARD 13 jun. 2011.
  33. 1 2 3 ChicagoPride.com interview with Andrew Christian Archived December 30, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.
  34. ↑ Barack Obama's tight-fitting underwear - Telegraph
  35. ↑ CU Interviews: Andrew Christian | Celebutopia
  36. 1 2 3 4 The male wonderbra: Pants that add inches to a man's 'frontal measurement', DailyMail January 14, 2011.
  37. ↑ Sequins and Sparkle: Andrew Christian - The Interview
  38. ↑ "Underwear, the Next Generation: Underwear has changed. Have you?", Men's Health. March 21, 2011.
  39. ↑ Almost Naked Product Description on wearitout.com.au Archived December 10, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.
  40. ↑ "Style," Dallas Morning News, June 5, 2009.
  41. ↑ This Underwear Comes with a Penis In It Archived December 30, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.
  42. ↑ "New Padded Manties Make Men Look Better Endowed", New York Magazine, January 6, 2011.
  43. ↑ "Unusual Underwear," The Doctors,, September 2011.
  44. ↑ Tester’s choice: Andrew Christian Dry AND Naked Brief $27, New York Times, March 29, 2010.

External links

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