Does my tum look big in this?
Elasticated shapewear designed to discipline your wobbly bits is the latest ‘must-have’ for men, finds Robbie Hodges
Party season is upon us. And, as man lurches from one festive knees-up to the next, finding time to smuggle a breather between canapés, let alone a quick lunchtime jog, is impossible. Keeping in shape is a challenge.
For an increasing few, the solution is faster than dieting, less testing than a personal trainer and promises instant results. Shapewear, bodywear, control pants: call them what you will, elasticated sheaths designed to discipline your wobblies, normally marketed to women, are now becoming a fixture in many men’s wardrobes – or so say the marketeers, who are increasingly adopting more creative ways of promoting them.
It took Spanx a decade since its founding in 2000 to release a line for Rubenesque men, thus triggering waves of high street imitations: Marks & Spencer’s Bodymax collection soon followed and, at Asos, cummerbundlike waistbands were appended to tighty-whities shortly after. Smaller, niche companies like Zerobodys have been streamlining beer bellies since 2001.
Whether it’s an elbowlength zip-through top or a skimpier girdle (some wearers prefer to compound “male girdle”: mirdle), Zerobodys strives to “help men feel great about themselves,” says founder, Shaheen Mirza, who always notes a spike in sales as Christmas edges closer.
His bestseller? “Our incredible bodies vest” – a finely woven tank top with mercilessly taut focus on the abdomen and serious chest support. “We’re most popular among men aged 30-55,” says Mirza, “especially those who have a wedding or big occasion coming up.”
Perhaps you, dear reader, consider yourself above such foppery? Think again. Specialist underwear store Bang+strike relays that it’s not just torsos being tamed, but that the scaffold holding everything together down there is subtly changing, too.
Emporio Armani’s Magnum brief is one of its bestsellers, offering a concealed jockstrap and a U-shaped variation on the Y-front design akin to a medieval codpiece. The flattering result is such that, subject to consumer demand, Calvin Klein is reportedly releasing a similarly repackaged version of its iconic brief next year. And, as more of us are encouraged to spend an increasing amount of time sculpting “gym bods”, the marketing tactics used to flog sportswear and shapewear have become conflated. “Compression technology” – a phrase first used on Spanx labels – is now on countless athletic brands, which suggest that tightly binding the body during exercise can facilitate muscle growth. Seemingly simple though they are, the underlying vests belie a patchwork of considerately positioned panels, which, according to sportswear brand Atak, at least, are “scientifically proven to increase muscular strength”.
While a 2013 study from the British
Journal of Sports Medicine suggests compression wear is “effective in enhancing recovery from muscle damage” and can, consequently, bolster hypertrophy, Harri Cizmic, from the University of Bath’s Department of Sports Development, believes that the research is inconclusive. “You’re improving blood-flow to certain areas,” Cizmic says, “but it’s going to have a very marginal effect.” Regardless of their efficacy, brands are vacuum-wrapping men the world over. Spanx and Asos may have since wound down their collections, but the growing compression-wear industry – estimated to reach $6.5billion by 2024 – looks set to fill the pant-shaped market void, with many men opting to don the garments outside of the gym, too. “A lot of guys are wearing them under their day-to-day clothes,” says Cizmic, who thinks the flattering definition instantly offered by compression tops is a driving factor in the sector’s expansion.
As a flagellant approach to fitness becomes increasingly normalised and brands begin to weave soft sculpture into underwear, it’s worth asking to what extent men are prepared to embrace this trend, or not. After all, the only way to get in shape is hard work and if the party season is about anything, it is about letting loose, not sucking in. Best to eat and drink like a hopeless glutton.
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