PACT underwear is made from a blend of organic cotton and elastane for just the right amount of stretch.
PACT makes fashion conscious underwear with a social conscience. If you didn’t think the two went hand-in-hand, you haven’t met Jeff Denby, founder and chief creative officer of the California-based underwear label.
What’s the philosophy behind PACT underwear?
PACT is an underwear brand that blends design and sustainability with support for powerful social and environmental causes, featuring premium organic cotton underwear collections for men and women. PACT believes that everyday essentials can communicate personal values. Buying PACT underwear is more than a transaction; it’s commerce as a social movement embodying the motto: Change Starts With Your Underwear.
At the core of PACT are deep partnerships with nonprofit organizations that work to create social and environmental change. Each underwear collection is aligned with a nonprofit. Internationally recognized artists and designers create graphic visualizations of each organization’s mission with underwear as their canvas. PACT then gives 10 percent of each sale to support these organizations. So far PACT has worked with nonprofit partners are 826 National, ForestEthics, Oceana, and Global Green with designs by designer Yves Behar and artists Sage Vaughn and Tucker Nichols
From how it’s made, shipped and shopped, the PACT brand is conceived in partnership with Yves Behar and his San Francisco-based studio, fuseproject, the industrial design and brand strategy firm behind iconic products like the Jawbone headset, Herman Miller LEAF Lamp and One Laptop per Child XO laptop.
PACT underwear is manufactured in Turkey with all processes – from growing the cotton to producing the finished product – occurring within a 100-mile radius. Every part of the supply chain is certified to or exceeds the highest possible environmental and social standards. Underwear is shipped to customers in bright green compostable shipping bags, with each pair packaged in a reusable cloth bag made from scraps. No big cardboard boxes. No filler.
With each new collection, PACT will continue to connect consumers and the world’s most creative artists with the global community of organizations and people who are effecting meaningful social and environmental change. Underwear is a necessity. So why not wear the most stylish, best-fitting and sustainable pair possible and give back to organizations dedicated to positive change?
All styles are available at www.wearPACT.com
What do men look for in underwear today?
Our market research shows that men are increasingly thinking of underwear as an integral part of their wardrobe. About 2 years ago non-white underwear started to outsell white underwear. It went mainstream as straight guys were told by the trusted brand that it was cool to wear brightly colored briefs. And with so many options for buying underwear online, guys can get a little adventurous without having to shop in a department store. Men are embracing their vanity and that’s ok; looking good, feeling good, and doing good is part the new New. Comfort will always reign as the number one factor and some men still stock up when there is a sale, but more and more men are putting some serious consideration into the purchase.
PACT Underwear was well represented at the 2010 No Pants Subway Ride.
Tell me about the latest in sustainable materials used in men’s underwear today.
PACT uses organic cotton for a very specific reason – we want PACT to be your everyday underwear and we want to attract the mainstream guy. Most underwear sold in the US is cotton and that’s what guys like and feel comfortable in. Our cuts are democratic and easy fitting and the materials are familiar. Materials like modal are beautiful and soft but a lot of guys get freaked out by them. Bamboo is not a sustainable textile, despite the great marketing. It is a sustainable crop, but many chemicals are required in the processing to make it a fabric. In fact, the FTC just mandated that fabric made from bamboo be called “bamboo rayon.” I’ve seen some brands use soy but I just don’t like it as a fabric – it pills and stretches. I think the really exciting future of textiles for underwear will be innovations in stretch. Right now its elastane (aka spandex or lycra). What’s around the corner is pretty exciting…
Tell me about the models you use for PACT underwear.
We must have the smartest models in the underwear biz – both of the two models we used in our launch campaign were PhD students at Berkeley. In our latest campaigns we’ve used Mike Zuckerman who works on issues of sustainability in the nightclub & event industry and Natalie Spilger who plays professional soccer for the Chicago Red Stars and is the founder of Green Laces which is an organization that gets athletes to use the power or sport to promote sustainability.
Is there such a thing as lucky underwear? What’s been your experience with this?
Underwear for me has always been an integral part of an outfit. And what I wear totally depends on my mood… and the likelihood that I’ll be seen in it. I wear a lot of black and neutrals and accessorize with a scarf or awesome shoes. I think of underwear as an accessory too. For instance, when I was in New York for the opening of the Wired pop-up store, I wore black raw denim, a black shirt, a black blazer, black boots, and a grey scarf – so of course my underwear was bright orange with butterflies on it. And you never know when you’re gonna end up in your underwear… and with who! Even though now I have a boyfriend I still think about the underwear I wear when I go see him… it’s a fun and sexy party of fashion.
If you could have any male celebrity spokesmodel for PACT, who would it be?
Right now, I’d take the cast of Twilight. All of them… in PACT underwear… for an amazing photoshoot. If I can have just one, I’ll take Robert Pattinson… Actually – scratch that – I’ll take the cast of Glee! There is something so real and earnest about all those actors – they’d really fit the PACT brand. If I could have one male model for the rest of my life: Neil Patrick Harris… but that’s purely selfish.
Boxers or briefs? Which do you prefer and why?
I am constantly test-driving different underwear styles. You could put me in the boxer brief category though I think: if I’m wearing tight jeans I’ll usually wear briefs but most of the time I prefer trunks which are sort of the hybrid between boxer briefs and briefs.
Jeff Denby is offering a special discount for boxers-or-briefs readers. Just enter the coupon code underscore25 for 25% off at www.wearPACT.com.