Swimwear and underwear targeting gay men gets boost in Asia as newcomers enter the niche industry
- Brands such as Tight Tams and U-Touch are catering to gay men looking for something more daring and colourful
- Tight Tams specifically uses male models of colour for fashion shoots in response to the widespread use of white models by Asia-based swimwear brands
There isn’t much choice for something different when it comes to men’s swimwear, with options usually on the safe side and coming mostly in conservative colours like navy blue and black. But a lot of gay men are looking for something more daring or colourful. Luckily for them, there are now some designers who are filling this niche market with panache.
Hongkonger Arthur Tam Ho-yim recently launched his swimwear brand Tight Tams, which offers low-hung swimwear featuring rustic Chinese Dongbei flower print – brilliant pink and red peonies – with colourful phoenixes flying against a red, green, blue or black background.
You have to be very confident to pull this look off.
“I wanted to make swimwear and I didn’t see much choice for men’s swimwear,” explains Tam, 34. “It’s either streamlined solid colours or fit, or technical fabric. There isn’t much in terms of patterns. A print is usually worn by women and I’m making them gay-accessible.”
Tam has always liked the Dongbei flower print, describing it as an “auntie print” that he wanted to turn on its head and make for men. He didn’t know how to manufacture clothes and turned to local fashion designers he met through working for lifestyle publications like Time Out Hong Kong and Dazed and Confused based in the UK, who helped him find a swimwear manufacturer.
The process took two years, US$12,000 and a lot of trial and error to produce a few hundred swimwear pieces.
