Revealed, the magazine published for the Curve New York intimate apparel show, ran a feature on Esteem Apparel under the headline “Esteem is Shaping Men.” Trade coverage of men’s shapewear is rare, since most of the attention in the category still goes to women’s brands. That is part of why the piece mattered to us. The full feature is below, followed by a bit more of the story behind it.
The feature, as it ran in Revealed
By Curve staff
Whether fine, fit or fleshy, when it comes to shapewear, Esteem Apparel knows how to shape men up.
The Canadian men’s shapewear and compression brand creates form-fitting tanks and tees that help men achieve a slim and toned appearance.
Esteem has been in business since 2016 when owner James Grandy settled on men’s shapewear as a category ripe with opportunity. “At the time, not much was available,” he tells Revealed.
And even though companies like Spanx were making strides in the compression category, they were focused on women, opening the door for Grandy.
“We tested a couple of styles on Amazon and got good traction and reviews,” he says. “We realized there was a need for a product designed in North America, is comfortable to wear and couldn’t be seen under clothing.”
Since launching, Esteem has seen increasing demand for its products, especially for special occasions such as weddings and important business meetings. But its customer base is quite varied.
“It’s not just one type of customer,” Grandy says. Some men may be overweight and looking for a secret weapon to help them look better in clothes. Esteem has also received feedback from parents whose sons are being bullied in school for their weight and the compression shirts help them gain confidence.
The body-shaping chest binders and compression shirts also address gynecomastia, a medical condition that causes breast tissue to enlarge in men. The shirts provide chest and stomach compression, are discreet, maintain their shape, smooth body contours, are seamless and essentially hidden under any type of clothing. The undershirts also improve posture.
Esteem is currently direct-to-consumer, but Grandy is ready to start testing the wholesale waters. “We sell on Amazon and online all over the world, but we don’t see many retail stores carrying men’s shapewear,” he says. “Many men may not even know it exists, so I think there’s huge potential there.”
He sees an opportunity for Esteem in stores that carry men’s special-occasion apparel or even lingerie stores, where women may be open to buying something for the men in their lives.
The gap that started it in 2016
The short version in the feature leaves out how ordinary the starting point was. Women’s shapewear was a mature category with real design behind it. Men’s shapewear was mostly thin nylon vests sold on price, cut from patterns that were never drafted for a man’s chest and shoulders. A shirt like that either does nothing or digs in, and either way it does not stay in the drawer for long.
So the brief was narrow on purpose. The shirt had to be comfortable enough to wear all day, it had to hold its shape after washing, and it had to be invisible under a dress shirt. Everything else came second. That brief still describes the gynecomastia compression shirt we sell most of today.
“It is not just one type of customer”
This is the line from the feature that holds up best, and the one that surprises people. The men who buy Esteem shirts have very little in common with each other.
- Men with gynecomastia or puffy nipples. The largest group, and the reason the brand exists. Our guide to gynecomastia covers what the condition is and why clothing is often the first thing men try.
- Grooms, groomsmen and men with a big meeting. A one-off event, one clean silhouette under a suit. That is the use case behind our shapewear for weddings and workwear.
- Men who have lost a lot of weight. Loose skin does not follow the weight down. Compression holds it flat under clothing while the rest catches up, which we cover in our loose skin compression guide.
- Teenagers. The parents in the feature were real. Adolescent gynecomastia is common and usually resolves on its own, and a shirt does not change that. What it changes is whether a boy will take his hoodie off in a warm classroom. Our article on teenage gynecomastia goes into it.
What a compression shirt does, and what it does not
Since the feature is a trade piece, it describes the product the way a buyer would read it. For customers, we would rather be plainer than that.
A compression shirt changes how your chest and torso read under clothing. It flattens, it smooths, and a good one disappears. It is not a treatment. It does not shrink glandular tissue, it does not burn fat, and nothing you wear will make gynecomastia go away. We wrote a full answer to that question in do compression shirts work for gynecomastia.
The posture point in the feature deserves the same treatment. Support panels across the back and shoulders make slouching more noticeable and standing straight easier, which most men feel immediately. That is a useful cue, not a correction, and we set out the difference in compression shirts and posture.
The wholesale point, revisited
In the feature, wholesale was still an idea being tested. It is open now. Pharmacies, clinics and surgical practices order Esteem shirts for patients, and independent menswear retailers stock them for the special-occasion customer the feature describes.
If you are a retailer or a clinic, start with our wholesale ordering page or the pharmacy and clinic compression wear page. Grandy’s read in the feature has not changed. Most men still do not know men’s shapewear exists, and the shops that carry suits, tuxedos and formalwear are where they would find it.
Where to start if the feature brought you here
- The Original, the firmest chest compression we make, and the shirt the feature is describing.
- The Max tank top, the same shaping without the warmth of full sleeves.
- EliteSlim, our everyday undershirt with a premium, tag-free finish.
- UltraSlim, a medium-tight everyday option for a cleaner torso line.
- The Posture shirt, with back and shoulder support panels.
Not sure which compression level or size to order? Read the wearing, washing and sizing guide first, or compare the four styles in our best gynecomastia compression shirt guide. If you are between sizes, take the larger one. Sizing down to get more compression is the single most common mistake, and it is the reason most men give up on a shirt within a week.
