Fetishwear is a growing market in men’s underwear/gear. I think we are going to see this across sexual orientation lines and go full on mainstream. Personally, I think we are on that verge. It’s not odd to see a harness or jock anymore. Plus, I think more guys want to get in touch with their kink side they may have hidden.

I discovered Breedwell on Instagram. They are a fetish brand that mixes in LED technology to their gear. Which is super cool to me. It’s taking gear to the next technological level. I just thought they were amazingly cool. I reached out to the owner Mike and got to find out more about Breedwell Gear and why he made it! I hope you guys take the time to check out the gear and have fun with it!

For our readers who aren’t familiar can you quickly tell about your brand? 

Breedwell is a clubwear and lifestyle brand that is focused on combining LED technology into sexy fetish fashions we create products that are best worn out when hitting the town at night. We have in development a T-shirt line that will have edgy graphics that will be sure to get attention when wearing to a bar or club.  We love taking traditional fetish silhouettes, applying our patented light system and fetish gear that glows. What separates Breedwell from all the other fetish brands on the market is that when you walk into a club or bar wearing our product people immediately see you and recognize the confidence needed to light the night. Our gear is designed to be durable and still be functional and fun. As the owner, I wanted to create LED fetish gear that didn’t just look good but also felt substantial and had a chunkier construction. I  wanted to make sure that everything we make with LED, could be USB rechargeable and cleanable. It took 6 months of development to bring the first LED jockstrap and get the production started. We had to experiment with many different ways to make the item fit on different body types. After months of development, we are so proud to bring this item to our customers and have loved hearing the feedback from our customers on how hot and sexy they feel wearing our light up glow gear.

What do you currently offer? 

Our current collection features our signature classic shoulder harness in 5 color options. We also offer LED armbands that match our harnesses and look amazing together when worn as a set. Our quality construction is what helps separate our product from others as our products are still fully functional fetish gear. Just released has been our LED jock strap system which features a light up front pouch and leg straps. This is our newest item and the initial response has been incredible with many of our customers ordering their jock straps on presale to be one of the first to wear the first commercially available LED jock strap in the world. In edition, we also have our traditional jock straps that can be bought with snaps that allow our customer to attach our LED pouch and turn our jocks into a LED jock strap. We have a lot of new products being released over the course of the next 2 months and want to surprise people with our new offerings.

How did the idea of putting put LED’s in jocks and other gear come about? 

I got the idea last year when I was looking for a unique harness to buy to wear at a leather themed fetish party. I started searching online for light up fetish gear and nothing was coming up in my search. I have been working the past 15 years as a mass market commercial fashion designer so I just decided why not just make and design one for myself and husband. I ended up getting 2 made and when we wore them out we got approached by several guys asking me where I got it from and if I sell them. From there I decided to make a very small production of the harnesses and see if I could sell them. I ended up bringing them to Mid Atlantic Leather in Washington DC and wore them into the event and literally got stopped in front of the escalator with people wanting to purchase them. Since I had them in my Bag at the hotel I kept running back to my room and sold all 100 in less than two hours. I was so shocked as I did not know if I could even sell one let alone my entire production so quickly. While also there we caught the attention of the Fort Troff buying team who became our first buyer of the harnesses. They were really amazing with supporting us and believing in our product and remain today as a huge Breedwell supporter and carrying our brand. From there I have just been working hard to develop a variety of new styles and I am super excited to roll out the new items over the course of the next few months. We are the first Fetish brand to specialize in LED fetish fashions and we really want to Pioneer this new area and innovate new technology and looks into the fetish world.

Is the gear charged by battery or USB? 

One of my biggest pet peeves is batteries, I hate regular batteries. They always die and I never end up going to the store to replace them so the item goes unused. When I started designing the Breedwell line I knew I wanted to make all the items we offer USB rechargeable with integrated batteries.  I find it super convenient to be able to wear your gear out and to be able to recharge it as needed using a USB cable. It makes it so easy and worry free. It just ends up saving a lot of time and stress

How long does a charge usually last? 

So the Charging takes about 2 hours to fully charge our gear and depending on the light mode it can be 6-7 hours on solid or up to 21 on flashing mode. Our jock straps last longer with 7-8 hours on solid or up to 25 hours on flashing. We use Lithium Ion batteries that are pretty strong and give a bright vibrant glow. Charging goes fast and as long as you charge all your gear before starting to get ready you should be all set by the time you leave your house.

What has been the reaction to your gear in the market? 

So far the response has been overwhelming and we are really just trying to keep up with all the requests we are getting to keep developing new items.  It’s a lot of work but after 15 years of designing mass market clothing for others is exciting and rewarding to be designing the items I love to wear out. We have been getting the attention of a number of stores and are looking forward to seeing how much we can grow the brand and expand into new categories of business. Hopefully, by next year you will see a full line of apparel and gear designed and sold by us on our website Breedwellgear.com

Which pairs/harnesses are you best selling items? 

Right now anything that uses our red LED technology is popular. Our Rainbow harness has been a huge hit as well. Our LED jock straps that just launched are doing incredible and after the first week in we are already re ordering more to be made. It really is amazing to see how many guys are really loving the product and coming back and buying multiple colors and items from our store. Being an Independent brand it can be hard to figure out where your market is and trying to reach them has been an organic process of a lot of word of mouth and traveling to a lot of events and trying to talk with as many guys as possible. I am a pretty social person who loves to travel so I find this to be one of my favorite parts about Breedwell is getting the chance to meet so many guys from all over the country.

I love that you created light up gear. More guys are getting into harnesses and jocks. Have you noticed a trend in guys outside the leather world buying your gear? 

I think that there is a difference in the younger generation that is growing up today and wanting to get involved in the leather and fetish community. 10 Years ago the community was more closed off than it is today and you were not seeing as many of the younger generation getting involved in the leather and fetish scene. I think that as the scene has expanded you have an older generation that feels like brands like Breedwell or others are making the scene more commercial. I don’t feel that way at all and look at us as a new train of thought to what fetish gear can be. Every scene changes over time and think we are in the midst of big evolution as nightlife and leather meet in the middle and become larger, more accessible and inclusive to a younger generation that just discovering what it’s all about. What I love is the guys running these companies are like me living the lifestyles of the brands they create. It’s not fake and manufactured in focus group or board rooms. This is our actual lives and we live it. Our brand moto is “ dirty by choice “. I got called dirty, dirty minded for years because I  own my sexuality , enjoy being a sexual person, not shy to speak my mind. I choose to live my life open minded, not- pretentious in every aspect including sexuality. If that makes me dirty then I’m dirty by choice . (and its unrelated to another gay hot topic, being asked if clean or not clean ) Our brand is geared towards others who want to feel confident and take ownership of their sexual choices and live their lives open honest and proud. I choose to be dirty, filthy (minded) and piggy because that’s who I am and I made that choice.

What has been the reaction from your customers about the collection? 

We currently ship free worldwide with orders over 200.00 Since we started doing this we have seen customers buying our product from all over the world. We have received a lot of support from all of our customers who love wearing out our product at night. A lot of guys have some specific requests for products so we are  listening to our customers and have some really cool items  coming in over the next 2 months. I would love to tell you  what those are but I’m keeping it under wrap until we launch the new items

Where can our readers find your gear? 

Our gear can be found on our website Breedwellgear.com and can also be found on Forttroff.com. We also are carried in Leatherman and Vibe 212 in NYC, Ball in P town and Wilton  Manors and  by the time this publishes at Rough Trade in LA.  Keep checking out our facebook and Instagram account @breedwellgear to checking in occasionally and look for our new items coming out over the course of the next few months. I can’t wait to show the world what’s in my dirty little head that I can dream up and make a reality.

We hope you enjoyed this interview and will check out Breedwell Gear!