Pants & Socks targets £200,000 funding for expansion

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Jul 5, 2021

Pants & Socks wants to raise £200,000. So the UK men’s intimates and hosiery online retailer has launched a campaign through crowdfund specialists Seedrs. The investment will go towards building its product offer and beefing up its marketing effort.

Early demand from private investors saw the company raise over 60% of its target before its public launch.

The retail business currently stocks 18 underwear brands including Calvin Klein, Hugo Boss, Polo Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger, plus specialist labels including, Hom, Falke and Saxx.

Customers can make one-off purchases or sign up for a subscription service, which saves 20% on all purchases and includes free delivery. The subscription can be monthly, bimonthly, quarterly or yearly. 

Subscription services are seeing a boom at present and their value for basics, as well as luxuries, is proving to be appealing for consumers at a variety of price levels.

Richard Clews, founder of independent retailer Ashworth & Bird, started the online operation only last year, becoming one of the many indie entrepreneurs to dive deep into internet retail during the pandemic-hit period. He said that given the size of the men’s intimates market in the UK alone, he believes there's a real opportunity to be a specialist in the sector.

Clews said: “We registered the company name a couple of years ago and had conversations with a couple of key suppliers. But we were too focused on our high street business to give it our full attention. Lockdown last year gave us the time and the impetus”. 

Pants & Socks will also launch its own intimates line later this year and it has a host of other brands lined-up to join its roster. This includes Scandinavian brand Panos Emporio and Hugo, from Hugo Boss, which are due to go live on the site later this month.