AussieBum

Infobox Company
company_name = aussieBum - International
company_
company_type = Private
foundation = 2001
founder = Sean Ashby, Guyon Holland
location_city = Sydney
location_country = Australia
location = flagicon|AUS
area_served = Worldwide
industry = Fashion
products = Men's swimwear, underwear, and clothing
company_slogan = If you doubt yourself, wear something else
homepage = [http://www.aussiebum.com/ aussiebum.com]
footnotes =

aussieBum is an Australian men's swimwear manufacturer. In recent years aussieBum has also increased its product line to other clothing include underwear, leisurewear, sportswear and loungewear. The company is seen as having a large following among fashion-influential metrosexual and gay consumers.

In 2001, director Sean Ashby started aussieBum when he couldn’t find the style of swimwear he grew up with. The company had an inauspicious launch in the middle of the dot-com bust, and at the time the original website ran from a suburban lounge room, created by Ashby. Joined by co-director Guyon Holland, they created a new market by bringing back the classic speedo-style "Aussie cossie" and introducing digital prints and other vibrant designs. Since starting out with only AU$20,000, aussieBum is now a multi-million dollar global enterprise, employing over 30 people, manufacturing over 150 different styles of products.

The company is known for its highly creative products, such as Essence underwear; which contains vitamins locked in the fibre which releases through the skin, [cite web|author=Fox News|title=FOXNews.com - Energize Your Underpants|url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,183374,00.html|date=2006-02-20|accessdate=2007-03-13] and the Wonderjock; underwear designed to enhance the appearance of men's assets, causing quite a stir from news broadcasters around the world. [cite web|author=10 News|title=New Wonderjock Launches|url=http://www.auslife.tv/auslife_article.php?page=3&id=404|date=2006-10-25|accessdate=2007-03-13]

All aussieBum products are manufactured in Australia with the business run completely out of the company's headquarters in the Sydney suburb of Leichhardt.

Marketing

The company has no sales representatives overseas but relies on the strength of the company website. Australian sales make up only 10% of its business, and is on its way to AU$20 million in annual sales. [cite web|author=Newman, Geoffrey|title=Australian IT: Internet can overcome the name|url=http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,21642296%5E15841%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html|date=2007-04-30|accessdate=2007-05-18] The company has a broad reach for a business run entirely via Web, with no shop front and minimal packing staff. The online store warehouse, has a very advanced in-house technology, to pick, pack, and ship over 1,000 unique orders a day requires only eight people. [cite web|author=International Herald Tribune |title=Aussiebum: Down Under designs in more ways than one |url=http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/21/style/raus.php|date=2008-01-21|accessdate=2008-05-23]

The brand is retails in some of the biggest department stores in the world such as Selfridges and Harvey Nichols in London, Printemps in Paris, KaDeWe in Berlin, and Harvey Nichols in Dubai, as well as in small boutiques in various cities aroung the globe. The brand also is distributed to more than 70 countries via their online e-store. [cite web|author=Daily Telegraph|title=News.com.au: Wonderbra for men 'enhances'|url=http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20693132-2,00.html|date=2006-11-03|accessdate=2007-04-18]

Advertising

aussieBum promote their products in non-traditional venues on the internet, such as blogs, social networking sites: Facebook, MySpace and the online game Second Life. Cultivating the image of a larrikin Australian has also helped the company in getting noticed in overseas markets where Australian culture is still a novelty.

According to a team of revenue-seeking Google advertising executives that aussieBum had become the 7th most popular search word in Australia. [cite web|author=International Herald Tribune |title=Aussiebum: Down Under designs in more ways than one |url=http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/21/style/raus.php|date=2008-01-21|accessdate=2008-05-23]

Celebrities including Ewan McGregor, Billy Connolly, and Daniel Radcliffe are fans of the cossies while Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue featured buff men wearing aussieBums in the video clip for "Slow". Soccer superstar and men's fashion trendsetter David Beckham has also appeared in the brand. [cite web|author=AAP|title=The Age: Bums rush|url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/fashion/bums-rush/2005/10/20/1129401354721.html|date=2005-10-20|accessdate=2007-03-13]

Advertising continues with the brand's distinct cheeky style in campaigns such as Shearing the Rams, which repainted a 100-year old iconic Australian painting with muscle-bound blokes shearing sheep in just their undies. [cite web|author=Byrnes, Holly|title=Daily Telegraph: Shear art attack|url=http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,20500041-5006009,00.html|date=2006-09-30|accessdate=2007-04-18]

Ausbum TV

The campaign site [http://ausbum.tv ausbum.tv] features videos of men, many of whom were plucked randomly off the streets of Ashby's home town of Sydney, modeling the products and giving consumer feedback of the underwear and swimwear.

Wonderjock

In November 2006, the Wonderjock was launched in the aussieBum underwear lines. Wonderjocks have been designed to "lift" and "enhance" a man's assets, through the use of a fabric cup used to protrude things out instead of just down. 50,000 pairs of the new underwear were sold in the first seven days of being released. [cite web|author=Daily Telegraph|title=Daily Telegraph: Market grows for under wonder|url=http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSSYD17865120061102|date=2006-11-01|accessdate=2007-04-18] The name was chosen as a pun on the popular Wonderbra line of push-up bras.

In May 2007, the company also introduced Wonderjock technology into their swimwear line. Currently in the Classic, Storm and Classic 1.5" varieties, a fabric pouch is used to enhance a man's package, particularly when getting out of cold water.

External links

* [http://www.aussiebum.com/ aussieBum official site]

ee also

*Speedo (suit style)

References