Aussiebum men’s underwear and swimwear styles are a perennial favourite in the global marketplace. Born on the beaches of Bondi and famed for its strong classic styling the brand has gone from one man’s fledgling idea, to an instantly recognisable international industry icon since 2001. Sexy, rugged and “Aussie as”.
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The core styling of the Aussiebum ranges are unchanged. Based around strong classic lines, the men’s underwear lines feature wide elastic waistbands, strong primary colours, and a sense of vibrant optimism.
Aussiebum men’s swimwear still features those nylon swim shorts that were the start of the brand’s success story. Clean cut, strong colours, athletic styling. Classic cut swim trunks featuring the same strong styling are also a huge part of the core lines.
Aussiebum founder Sean Ashby came up with the idea for the product lines that the brand is now so famous for in frustration at the decreasing availability of traditional nylon swim shorts as fashion trends flowed towards Lycra. The Aussiebum success story is one that got off to a less than stratospheric start, and is a testament to the sheer determination and unrelenting determination that is synonymous with true blue Australian grit.
Disillusioned with his own successful yet unfulfilling marketing career, Sean had left his job and was stuck in a bit of a rut. Having saved up a bit of cash for a house deposit, he went all in and designed and launched his own nylon swimwear range. He was selling swim shorts to his friends and fellow Bondi Beach bums, and decided the next logical step was to pitch Aussie retailers and surf shops. He got universally laughed out of town.
Somewhat fittingly, the global explosion in popularity of the Aussiebum men’s swimwear lines began with a bit of Kylie, and what great event doesn’t?
Stung by the reaction of the Australian surf retailers, Sean set out to prove them wrong. Using his marketing skills, he hit the beach with his mates and created a media pack which he sent alongside samples of his distinctive swim short and trunk (budgie smugglers to be accurate) ranges to as many publications as possible. That initial spark of interest became an explosion when Kylie Minogue’s stylist William Baker asked for the entire Aussiebum collection to be supplied for an upcoming video shoot for “slow”.
The exposure provided by the very successful song and video meant the Aussiebum ranges came to the attention of David Walker Smith. He was the head of menswear at Selfridges in London and was very taken by the unique styling of the Aussiebum ranges. The shelves of Selfridges, Harrods, Harvey Nichols, and many more were soon featuring proper Aussie budgie smugglers and shorts. The global success story had well and truly began.
And those Australian retailers who had laughed Sean out of the room during his pitches? They ended up stocking his swimwear too. Hopefully he charged them a little extra for the privilege!
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