It’s that time of year again. We’ve now been running for seven years and it only feels like a couple! What started as a bit of fun is continuing to develop into a business with lovely garments and great customers.
From our early garments such as the Lollipop and Whisper bras we established the style of underwear we intended to produce. Lingerie for men that looks like lingerie and is designed to fit guys. Top it off with the best customer service possible and the result is HommeMystere.
Whisper bra
The Whisper bra was made locally and established the early trend we have of manufacturing each style once and not restocking again. Once they’re gone, they’re gone!
Lollipop Bra
Lollipop was certainly a great seller at the time with hot pink being a very popular color for guys.
To reach seven years in a business selling lingerie to guys is something that most people would not have thought possible. And it doesn’t come easily. There’s a lot of hard work in building the business and relationships to ensure we can continue providing great lingerie to guys.
But at the end of the day, if we can continue manufacturing quality lingerie that our current and new customers want to purchase, then HommeMystere and lingerie for men in general has a very strong future.
To celebrate our birthday and to reduce the amount of stock we have to count at the end of the month, we’re offering a discount until June 30, 2016.
Just use the coupon code word stocktake16 when going through the checkout to receive 25% off everything across the store. No minimum spend, no conditions. Just a great opportunity to try HommeMystere lingerie.
We have now received the last of our 2015/16 collection of garments with the arrival of the Taylor set. Taylor is made up of a panty, bra and teddy and is a great final release. She is incredibly comfortable in all respects and the teddy is undoubtedly the best we have made.
Awesome Teddy with everything!
Taylor teddy has super soft micro fibre at the front, Soft bra cups with no underwire, detachable garter and shoulder straps, frills on the hips, sheer back and is a sensational sleepwear piece.
Wear Taylor under your everyday clothes!
The Taylor bra and panty set is comfortable, silky smooth and will be a favorite in your lingerie draw.! For more info, please read the products descriptions on the Panty, Bra and Teddy in our store.
Want to pick up Taylor at a discount? Until May 21st, 2016 just enter the coupon code Taylor16 to receive 20% off the retail price!
I was fortunate enough to visit our manufacturer in China last month and begin planning our range for release over the second half of 2016 and first half of 2017.
I’ve gone a little more ambitious for the next range and included a swimwear set and a piece of sleepwear as well. Plus there will be a range of bra/panty/lingerie as well. If all the samples are successful, you should be in for some lovely lingerie over the next 18 months!
Below is a pic of one of the sample rooms in China during a break in planning.
It was great to get back to China again and catch up with the people that work in the business there. The hospitality is second to none and it’s interesting to see a culture with such a long history. Except for the taxi drivers. I think taxi drivers are the same all over the world.
We still have a couple of releases from the 2015/16 year to go and I expect the Sandra set to be available by April 11th or 12th at the latest. I did add a thong to the set very late and after the model pics had been taken so just static pics for that.
I also discovered an issue with the bra and despite the fact that I love it, the band doesn’t offer as much stretch as I anticipated. So I’ll be releasing it with an extender so it will fit correctly and sending one out with every Sandra bra sold.
If you’re a Newsletter subscriber, you will receive a notice and a substantial discount as soon as it becomes available. I’ll also be having a bra sale at the same time so if you’re into bras, get onto our Newsletter to receive the offer.
We’ve been having a bit of a look at the past 12 months to see what we’ve achieved in the world of men’s lingerie.
Designs
It’s been a great year with a few new designs. Genevieve was certainly a big winner with everyone and many will notice we’ve already sold out of the Large and XL bras. Genevieve took the mantle of our fastest seller. For a while.
Monique was the next release and she has been the quiet one with subdued sales despite being one of the most comfortable bras in the range.
Our next release was Rachel and she could easily be confused as Genevieve’s sister. They have the same lines, same look although the Rachel bra is slightly larger in sizing. Rachel Teddy proved to be a winner with guys loving the thong back!
Anneve arrived and has taken over the title of fastest seller from Genevieve, but fortunately we made a few more of her so she will likely remain part of the family a little longer than the Genevieve bras. Anneve also marked our first attempt at a babydoll style and that has also been popular.
Vanessa proved to be a bit temperamental and arrived later than expected. The Vanessa skirt turned out to be a big winner with everyone, though the teddy was a bit of a failure! We gave away about 500 of the teddies due to a button fail in the manufacturing process.
Tiffany is our most recent arrival and she is gaining in popularity. The bra is the stand out winner here and it’s a style we may do again at some stage.
Store Update
In other news we updated the store at the beginning of the year and added bigger pics and improved usability for visitors. The old store was a bit clunky and despite a few minor issues, the transition has been surprisingly smooth.
China Visit
I was also fortunate enough to travel to Guangzhou and tour the factory where our garments are made and also meet with the technicians that put up with my constant pattern changes and adjustments! The meetings seemed to go well, although they may have been cursing me without my knowledge. It was a great experience and I’m hoping to head back over in 2016 for a few days to confirm release plans for 2016/17.
USB Pen Giveaway
We had a giveaway a few months ago after I got a little carried away and purchased a heap of branded USB pens for customers. They were loaded with a personal message, some pics of our early releases and a copy of our latest video. Which reminds me, I must upload that video onto YouTube soon too!
Cyber Monday
Cyber Monday this year proved to be pretty big too! The cyber Monday and our stocktake/birthday sale in May/June each year are our biggest sale periods. It’s a great time for current customers to grab and extras of your favorite garments and also for new customers to grab a bargain.
Display Area
Possibly the biggest news for HommeMystere as a business was that we moved into bigger premises this year. It was a pretty big leap from our previous place and so far it’s proven to be a great move. We’re also cleaning up some space for a display area and fitting room for customers that want a more private and personal experience.
We will plan an open day and then trial clients via appointment to see if the experiment is a success. If you live in Australia and genuinely think you will take advantage of the opportunity to have a personal appointment, I’m happy to hear from you now. We’re located on the southside of Brisbane and appointments will be weekends only.
Peek at our Showroom wallpaper!
With all of this happening in 2015, I can’t wait to see what will happen in 2016!
We can’t always receive our new lingerie as fast as we’d like so to fill in the waiting time we often pick up new products now and again.
One of those products is a branded USB pen. We wanted to provide our customers with some info on a USB and decided this was about the most practical method. So we’re giving away this pen with each order over USD $50 until they’re all gone – which we expect will take us through to Cyber Monday.
USB Pen loaded with pics, video and a note from the designer!
Each USB is 4GB and we’ve loaded some info on each pen. You’ll find some of our current products, promotional pics, long and short versions of our first video and also a copy of our next video that we’ll be uploading onto YouTube some time in November.
There are also pics of a few of our garments that didn’t make it past the sample stage and of course, some pics of our past favorites too.
How do you get one? Place an order and we’ll send a pen with your lingerie!
Interested in lingerie for me? Help us help you and take our survey!
Sometimes, regardless of how well you think you’ve planned something, it can all turn to utter crap.
We’ve had that happen this week when we received a few less than favorable reviews on the Vanessa Teddy that we just released. This teddy is without a doubt one of the most comfortable garments we’ve made. Unfortunately, we decided to try a snap crotch instead of the full crotch and some of the buttons are less robust than we had hoped.
This isn’t affecting all the teddies and we are getting some positive feedback from many customers. However if you have purchased a Vanessa Teddy and you are not happy with the snap crotch (or any other part), get in touch with us so we can make amends!
Vanessa Teddy with a Snap Crotch
For the foreseeable future we have removed the Vanessa Teddy from sale in the store and will work out what to do with the ones we have remaining. We may do a promo with them in the next month or two!
Any guy that’s into lingerie has no doubt wrestled with the guilt associated with wearing something ‘they’re not supposed to’.? What drives that guilt?? Probably the same thing that drives the urge to wear the lingerie in the first place.? The first time is pretty exciting, but so very wrong! So you avoid it for a while until the temptation becomes too great and then BANG!? You’re wearing panties again.
You don’t understand why you are compelled to do it over and over again, but the feeling is divine.? Sound familiar?? You’re not alone.? This is pretty much what we all go through at the beginning of our cycle of guilt.? Eventually you come to an uneasy truce with your conscience regarding your lingerie wearing ways.? Like a smoker that can ‘give up any time’ after a 30 year habit, you tell yourself you’re not really addicted.
You decide to just let yourself go for a while.? Just wear the odd pair that you find appealing.? Then you’re out shopping ? sweating bullets while you peruse the aisles in search of the perfect panty.? Wide crotch, no centre seam, stretch both ways.? You spy something that looks great and is possibly in your size and go for it. ?Nonchalantly strutting around the lingerie section, you’re gaining confidence now.? Might as well take advantage of the situation eh?? No point buying one pair.? May as well go hard and be embarrassed once instead of having to come back next week!
But you don’t have much cash and cash is King right?? Can’t have the wife finding out you’re buying lingerie and not giving it to her!? If only she was the same size.? Ugh!? Oh well, this will have to do.? You slide over to the checkout with your head held high.? You don’t give a damn what the lady there thinks.? Even though you think she knows you’re buying for yourself.? Just tell her your wife is ‘about the same size as you’.? Bet she’s never heard that one before.
She tells you to ‘have a nice day’ which is cute because you know you’re going to have an effing AWESOME day as soon as you get home.? But you just smile and say ‘thanks, you too’ and try not to run out of the store.
It’s done now.? You have the lingerie in the bag and you’re out the door.? You wish you could just teleport yourself home and try these suckers on right?? But you can’t so you resign yourself to getting in the car, and opening up the parcel, ripping off the paper and feeling the fabric.
Goddam, it’s like being high!? Just the anticipation of getting home and trying on this lingerie is getting you worked up!? And you get home. You try them on.? They’re perfect.? You love it.
Then the guilt sets in.
You place the lingerie in the box under the spanner set in the back shed where no one else ever goes. You realise just how much of a collection you have and begin to question whether you really can give up as easily as you thought. ?Wow, it’s quite a collection.? You can recall every purchase from every store.? Out of town shopping trips.? That time you were away on business and went crazy in the lingerie section.? Blew more money on panties than food and accommodation!? Man that was fun. ?But give it all up? Of course you can!? Throw them out.? Who needs lingerie?? What the hell have you been doing spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on women’s underwear!
Garbage bag.? Big one.? Lingerie in, then out in the garbage.? Phew! Thank God that’s over.? It was getting out of hand and it was time to purge.? Just boy undies for me from now on.? Woo hoo, I’m gonna man up and stick to boxers. To hell with the frilly stuff, I’M BAAACK and I’m gonna be just like everybody else!!!
One week later
You’re out shopping at the mall.? A hot pink, white lace, black highlight color combination catches your eye.? You walk into the lingerie store ‘just to look’.
You spend $200 on new lingerie.? You can’t wait to get it home.? The cycle begins again…
You know what it’s like. ?You walk past the lingerie section in a department store casually eyeing off the women’s briefs in every colour imaginable. ?You know, instantly, in a split second glance, what you like. ?And more importantly, what will fit.
You check the brief and think ‘they look nice’ then notice the centre seam and think ‘no good to me, move on’ until you see something without the seam. ?You realize the crotch width on the next one you like is too narrow, without even getting close to the hanger.
So you move on. ?Until you see something that grabs your attention. ?It’s ten paces away but you already know it’s the right style, it has no centre seam, frontal width is ok, colour is not your favourite but it’s close – and maybe there’s more choice on the other side of the rack. ?All you need now is to find them in your size – which of course you know. ?Because you can convert almost every women’s brand sizing to your own without even thinking about it.
Then as you get close, you realize the fabric hasn’t got enough stretch, you got all excited for nothing because these are just not going to work. ?But you note the brand because they might have something else suitable and you can hunt them down later.
Does this sound familiar? ?It’s annoying after a while isn’t it. ?Because it’s bad enough trying to find something you like, let alone being stalked by shop assistants that have no interest in serving you. ?And you thought to yourself, ‘if only I could just make what I want it would be so much easier’.
Well it’s not much easier but designing is far more satisfying. ?Not just because we get to design what we like – but because we get to design what you like.
And the best thing about designing lingerie for men? ?Plenty of samples and experimenting with different designs. ?If you’re a guy that’s seriously into lingerie, you would be extremely envious….
