UNDERWEAR FOR CHANGE: United Voice for the Underrepresented

At Stanley Burton, we have established a social activism initiative called UNDERWEAR FOR CHANGE with the aim to alter the perceptions of what is considered sexy in men’s underwear within the LGBTQI+ community in Australia.  We will explore topics in depth such as the lack of diversity in men’s underwear from advertising, marketing and social media with main focus on cultural representation, body image and ageism.  We will also look at ways to integrate diversity and inclusion into men’s underwear from fashion, branding and lifestyle. 

‘’Retailers and brands can make a huge impact with their influences on consumers and if their morals and impact are positive, the customers will support the brand.  The choice of words being used in their copy and the visuals in the ad campaigns is influenced by marketing strategies such as market research and persona building to gain the best perspective of a brand’s customer base. It is ridiculous that the LGBTQI+ retailers have continuously ignored the importance of diversity and inclusion by continuously pumping out the same type of ads featuring the same style and models in their campaigns.  one would wonder if these marketers have done their research or deliberately ignore their findings.”

Ed Chiu - Director for Underwear for Change / Co-owner for Stanley Burton Over 18 years working in ecommerce from creative content to digital producing across categories from homewares, furniture to fashion in Australia.

“A unique point of Australia is multiculturalism, a melting pot of various nationalities calling Australia home; yet the media promotes and markets to the 'white' Australian. We should strive for all nationalities to be represented in all aspects of the Australian lifestyle and by increasing the representation of all races in marketing and media we encourage self esteem in ethnicities who are less represented.   

Burton Yuen - Co-owner of Stanley Burton Over a decade building young brands towards recognition in Australia and an educator to influence students to drive growth and success in their career paths 

Stanley Burton is more than just another underwear online retailer in Australia, we are using this platform to proactively empower diversity and inclusion, unlike most businesses who tend to only display a statement in their company profiles as a tokenistic gesture in order to gain validation. 

As owners of Stanley Burton, we come from culturally diverse backgrounds and are in the best positions to take inclusion to the wider community through blogging, personalised customer service and meet & greet with the marginalised people to share their experiences and perspectives about men in underwear within the LGBTQI+ community.