We want to congratulate Sweat Under Gear for having such an incredible first year. They have really done an incredible job this year and we had the opportunity to talk to Tal and Ron about the first year and what plans they have for the future. We hope you enjoy this interview and we look forward to many more years of new and innovative designs of Sweat!

What has your first year been like?

The first year of Sweat Under Gear has been a whirlwind of activity. As many people know, launching a new company is exciting, fun, nerve racking, and heck of allot of work. Having said that, we enjoy this so much it has hardly felt like work to us.

A few months before our official launch we sent out our first group of teaser ads featuring our now iconic Sweat model Yannick Desautels. We had no idea the buzz those photographs were about to receive. The emails came pouring in from around the globe asking when the product was going to be available.
Since that time it has not stopped for us.

We are now in several stores all over the world, we will be in an upcoming movie, we have had celebrities auction off Sweat for charity, we are in numerous calendars, fitness instructors are endorsing our product, we have been part of several model searches, been seen on several run-ways, and we have made numerous friendships with the greatest people who all care and are excited by what we are doing.

Our first year is chronicled on our blog; sweatundergear.blogspot.com/
We update date it regularly and it is a great place to learn what we have been up to and to look at models in Sweat Under Gear <grin>.

What has been the most exciting thing to happen last year?

We have been asked to be in so many events and be a part of so many interesting and outstanding ventures that is hard to pick. However, if we had to choose, there is one that we would like to point out.

Sweat Under Gear was contacted by actor Chad Allen who yearly bikes in the AIDS/LifeCycle (ALC) to support HIV and AIDS services at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. Chad asked us to donate underwear in which he would sign and auction off as part of his fund raising.

We are very supportive of charity work and jumped at the chance to help.  Chad is an amazing person who really gives himself for causes he believes in. It was an inspiration to us and we thank him for letting us be a small part of it.

What has been the biggest challenge of this past year?

Being the new kid on theblock in the world of men’s underwear, we really had to prove ourselves to the many wonderful stores that now carry our brand.

We are continuing to pickup stores across the USA, throughout the UK and elsewhere in the world.  Many of these stores have been hit by the big ‘R’ (I don’t want to say it out loud) and we are thankful that they saw something in us that made them excited to carry our brand.

Once the brand was out there, the quality spoke for itself and the walls of that challenge started to crumble.

Of course there were a few growing pains and we learned a few lessons along the way.  The Sweat poured off our brows on more than one occasion.

How is the work outline coming?

We are still in the initial stages of the Sweat Work Out line. We released the Sweat – T this past April as a little teaser of the gym wear that is to come. The response to the Sweat – T has been phenomenal and that fuels our fire to get the work out line out to you guys. We can’t make any promises but we hope it will be available in late 2010. We wear the prototypes extensively ourselves to ensure they are exactly as we want them. If not, we send them back for revisions. As you can imagine this process can take months but is well worth it in the end.

We are also concurrently working on the second line of under gear. I don’t want to give too much awayabout this, but drop by our website after August 01 for a little hint. Lets just say it will be big.

Are you doing anything special for your anniversary?

We are offering free Sweat- T’s. From now until Saturday July 18th, every order from our website only (www.sweatundergear.com) will also receive one free Sweat -T. We know our customers will be proud to wear the Sweat label on their chests. It is our way of thanking everyone for the support we have received.

Are you guys planning to do another calendar for this next year?

We are knocking about some other ideas in lieu of a calendar. We know, we know a collective sigh can be heard from you all. The Sweat Under Gear Club Calendar was a huge success, but now that we have done that we want to move on to something else. You know us; we don’t want to do what everyone else is doing. It seems that everyone has a calendar and we think we can come up with something even better that you will all love. So stay tuned.

Who has been your Wall of Fame Additions this year?

We are proud to have added Chad Allen to the wall. Next month we will also be adding adult film star Matthew Rush whom we will be meeting during Global Pride Vancouver.  Soon we will need more wall space and that is a good thing.
Not to digress, but that reminds us to give a shout out to Big Roger Events (There is that word ‘big’again, hmmm) as we are sponsoring their Global Pride events, Vancouver, Canada, July 31 – Aug 2nd. Check it all out at www.bigrogerevents.com.

What is the future plans for Sweat?

We are continuing to work with retailers to get the brand out to the all of you that are asking for it.  That is our number one priority as our customers are why we are doing this.

We are also in talks with a modeling/photography company to help produce an area of our website in which our Sweat Men describe their health and nutrition routines. Almost like an online fitness magazine but based upon or Sweat Under Gear Club. It will be updated regularly so that users can return and keep learning and viewing the latest and greatest in fitness. Of course, all the models will be wearing Sweat as they show you how they keep fit. We will keep you informed as this progresses and when we expect to launch.  Fitness and Sweat go hand in hand making this a natural progression to our web presence.
There is also that other ‘big’ thing that we mentioned above, but sorry guys you just have to wait for more information on that.

We wish to thank everyone for this year. The friendships that have come out of this business are a bonus we did not expect. There are so many kind and wonderful people out there who have leant their hand in Sweat for no reason other than to help us succeed. We are eternally grateful. Also, we want to thank all the customers that have purchased Sweat Under Gear. Many of you have even taken the time to write us about our product and we appreciate your time and effort.

Play Hard and Sweat!
Tal and Ron
Owners