ManPacks.com - a different kind of startup

[chaosmachine]

I'm not sure what's "different" about this. Google "subscription socks" or "subscription underwear", you'll find about 10 startups doing the same thing. One of them was even featured in the WSJ last year.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=534330

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/03/19/socks-dont-match-how-...

[constantinople]

How often do you need to buy new underwear? The last time I did so was sometime in the mid 1990s. They don't look as good as they used to but they still do the job. When it becomes a necessity to do so, most underwear can be bought pretty cheaply locally without paying for shipping costs. This seems rather fussy to me.

[Qz]

"How often do you need to buy new underwear?"

If you're asking that question, the answer is yesterday!

[liquidcool]

From Dave Barry's Complete Guide to Guys:

When is it okay to throw away a set of veteran underwear?

a. When it has turned the color of a dead whale and developed new holes so large that you're not sure which ones were originally intended for your legs.

b. When it is down to eight loosely connected underwear molecules and has to be handled with tweezers.

c. It is never okay to throw away veteran underwear. A real guy checks the garbage regularly in case somebody -- and we are not naming names, but this would be his wife -- is quietly trying to discard his underwear, which she is frankly jealous of, because the guy seems to have a more intimate relationship with it than with her.

[antidaily]

I absolutely hate running out if I'm a little behind on laundry so I buy a 6-pack a year and maybe throw out 2-3 pair.

[bugs]

Your site is really slow for me and quite a few times has thrown up error pages for php though I didn't screenshot them.

edit: here you go http://imgur.com/fFQ4G.png

I might have given it a try if these were available as boxers: http://www.hanes.com/Hanes/Products/Men-Hanes/Men_ShopByCate...

some of us just prefer buttons

[tjmc]

I'm getting the same errors. Site doesn't load at all for me.

[coderdude]

I don't know about the owner of the site, but I would not have appreciated that screenshot. Then again, if you're letting your site spit out detailed errors, you're doing it wrong.

[sanswork]

I'm seeing all errors. One suggestion on a technical side is that one of the errors is a problem parsing the xml from a remote geoip service(http://ipinfodb.com). Maxmind offers their maxmind light products for free and will probably have equal or better quality to the service you're using. It will also most certain improve the performance of your site(I hope you're not doing the geoip look up on every request).

[mattblalock]

Yeah, looks like the geoip is happening every request.

[dzlobin]

This is a great idea, but they need to expand to american apparel gear as well. I really dislike Hanes undergarments

[Ennis]

I agree that they should not seem like a Hanes shop unless the goal is to get acquired by Hanes. If that were the case, I would instead focus on selling gillette manpacks and getting acquired by Proctor & Gamble (they have more money).

[madeby]

Hanes has a great wholesale program which made it the most logical choice for launching our business. The brand offers great value, but not for everyone -- we are looking to expand our offerings in the coming weeks.

[Groxx]

I'm thinking some Lightspeed Briefs would go over well too.

[vaksel]

this idea has been around for years there are a ton of sites doing this. Google around, I'm sure you'll find one selling the brands you want.

[jrnkntl]

I knew I've read about this on a site that was submitted here a couple of months ago: http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Subscription_20Underwear

[sumeeta]

Beautiful. The site really made me feel like this is something I need.

I’m also confused about whether it's `Manpack` or `ManPack`; I see both. I recommend you stick to one.

[anonymousDan]

The latter looks better imo.

[ojilles]

If it was truly "Girlfriend Approved" I (male) should be able to pick a subscription, pay for it and have someone else (female) pick the actual pieces of clothing ;-)

[timbonicus]

The Trunk Club uses a model in this vein: http://techcrunch.com/2009/06/03/the-trunk-club-for-men-neve...

[Qz]

Now that's an interesting possibility.

[Ras_]

There could be a market for monthly pack, including a pair of socks, t-shirt, toothbrush, underwear etc. in other customer segments.

I'm thinking of all of those over-protective moms, whose offspring leave home for good (or for extended periods). There's plenty of recurring occasions where this could apply. Summer job away...

This would be an alternative to usual "sending food & money". Mothers could be a sizeable market and since they often can't get to you, sending stuff is the only option. This could be easily outsourced (both options lead to mailing packages). The package can even include a personal note from mom, if that's needed to make it as good as DIY-option. For the user himself ordering mail-in packs instead of buying stuff locally is much more drastic choice. In this case the other option has nothing to do with mail packages.

[SwellJoe]

New socks are so cheap that I don't consider it a "very successful" kind of habit. It's cheaper than a smoking habit, for example, even if you really do want a new pair every day (which is stupid and wasteful, IMHO, though not money-wise; just in terms of resources, and labor, and pollutants and such; bleached white fabric is somewhat environmentally yucky).

So, I don't go overboard...I just buy a new pack of six pairs of socks every few months, which is enough to where my socks are never worn out, I can wear two or three clean pair per day (I change socks every time I put my shoes on, and I don't wear shoes around the house, so every time I go out, I wear a clean pair of socks), and not have to do laundry more than once every ~10 days or so. I throw them away at about the same rate, so I always have a drawer full of socks right after doing the wash. In short, I have about 25-30 pair of socks in good condition at any moment in time. I buy the same kind of socks so that sorting is simpler. Hanes changed their thread color a while back and pissed me off a bit, but things have stabilized again and I'm down to only one remaining pair with black thread.

The "return box for charity" idea is a good one...my biggest problem with buying new clothes is getting rid of the old ones.

[sdfx]

I understand that you'd pay a premium for convenience, but if you compare the prices to hanes.com I can't see the additional value. I've compared a sample "Manpack" (8 of each for 120$ per year) with similar items on Hanes (45$ + 10$ shipping, free above 50$). Why don't you buy 3 years worth of stuff in advance and open a new pack every few month? You still have to decide what items to throw away. I get the "stuff gets icky and you'll forget to change" argument for toothbrushes, maybe for razorblades, this one smells more like marketing spin.

[Groxx]

I like the "Free Your Mind" up-side. Time to see if I can finally jump to that other building!

An interesting idea, and the price isn't too bad... but I get out to department stores at least this frequently. Remembering isn't that hard, though I wish them good luck on the business. I know some people will go for it, and it'd make a great parents-to-college-students gift.

Having a functioning website is always a good thing, though. Getting YC'd?

[jdietrich]

I'd be more interested if the underwear on offer wasn't such lousy quality. I can see that they're looking for hefty markups, but it makes no sense to me to set up a service like this and then sell really crummy socks. From the link:

Hanes Classics Comfort Cool Ankle Fiber Content: Cotton/Polyester/Acrylic/Nylon/Spandex/Other Fiber

I don't know about you, but I have a general policy of not wearing anything made of "Other Fiber".

[Entlin]

Interesting. This reminds me of blacksocks.com, which have been doing nearly the same thing for over 10 years now.

[pufuwozu]

I think this is a great idea! I wonder if I can get them to ship to Australia...

[muxxa]

The underwear sizing chart link on this page: https://www.manpacks.com/order/manpack_24 incorrectly pops up the shirt sizing chart

[sheldonwt]

I think this is a brilliant. You know how many goofy girlfriends there are out there who would find this to be a unique, funny, yet functional gift for their boyfriends? Lots.

[Monkeyget]

Razwar has the same model for razor blades : http://www.razwar.com/products/blade-subscriptions

[Shamiq]

Interesting. Is it actually cheaper to get the single pack ($13 per unit) than it is to get the macho pack (13.33 per unit)?

[zaidf]

Seems like the site can't keep up with the HN traffic. Hope the guys are able to fix it(I've no idea who they are)!