| From This Week In Texas Interviews
That could be the motto for Just One L.A., Nir Zilberman’s hot new West Coast retail outpost specializing in men’s underwear and swimwear. Following his gut instinct and inspired by the success of Victoria’s Secret, Zilberman, an Israeli-born former celebrity hair stylist and salon owner, opened L.A.’s first emporium devoted exclusively to men’s intimates and activewear less than twelve months ago. Just last week, he celebrated the opening of a second store right in the heart of West Hollywood. Following a wildly successful initial response, the effervescently optimistic Mr. Zilberman is now hoping to create a revolution in men’s underwear by offering men, straight and gay, a place to buy the kind of sexy undergarments he feels they’ve secretly been longing for far too long. I caught up with Nir on the eve of the opening of his new ‘fun-derwear’ store in Boystown. Despite the madness of the day, which found him racing between stores, Zilberman was positively zen in the midst of it all. Here the fashion maverick talks about taking risks, giving back and why straight men love square cut swimsuits. GayWired.com: So Nir, you went from womenswear to underwear. I understand that before you re-branded, your West Hollywood store carried mostly women’s clothing… Nir Zilberman: Yes… it was women’s clothing with men’s clothing. Then, I decided no more women’s clothing… no more men’s clothing. It was only going to be about underwear and activewear for men. GW: What inspired the dramatic shift? NZ: About a year ago I decided that men’s underwear was becoming a big thing and I pulled all the fashion out [of my store] and became an activewear and swimwear store. I think more men and… most gay men… are beginning to get that. Usually gay men always style the new trends and then the straight guys follow them.
NZ: I grew up in a country where being gay is not something you walk down the street and tell people. I’m from Israel where you go into the military and it’s all about being straight and macho. I don’t ever fear that something isn’t going to work, because I don’t give a chance for anything to stop me from what I want to do in life. GW: So what’s been the response to your funderwear extravaganza since you made the change? NZ: Well people love it because we are the first ones that actually brought this concept to Los Angeles. And I’m very happy because we’ve tripled our business. GW: Well I’d say that’s a good response… NZ: It’s a very good response [Laughs] GW: Now you say that you want Just One to become the Victoria’s Secret for men… NZ: Of course. I mean if women can go to one store and find sexy stuff, why don’t we do it for men? People who wanted to buy sexy underwear in the past would buy everything online. Now we make the experience so safe for them that they can walk into a store and actually feel the fabric, try it on and then they know if they love it. Before, you would go buy underwear and if it didn’t fit, you just lost your money because [most places] don’t take underwear back. It’s important for people to feel safe about the experience because when it comes to underwear we can feel vulnerable, so you just want make sure that you give them a safe environment to purchase sexy underwear. GW: How does your clientele breakdown in terms of gay vs. straight? NZ: 80% gay. 20% straight. GW: And is the percentage of straight men frequenting your boutique increasing over time? NZ: Absolutely. When we started there was not one straight man walking in and now we’re up to 20%. GW: Just out of curiosity, what are the straight men buying? NZ: Most straight men will buy the sexy square cut. And the jockstrap and the g-string are huge for straight men right now. We sell a lot of g-strings to straight men.
GW: Interesting. Sort of supports the theory that gay men start the trends if porn is any indication. So tell me about the name Just One L.A. Where does it come from? NZ: I’m a little different from most people. If you knew me more you’d know that I wake up in the morning and I love life. I love America. I love everything I do in life. If I have a bad day, from something sour, I make it sweet. And I thought the concept of my place was so different from anywhere else in Los Angeles that I would call it Just One. GW: But shortly you’re going to have more than ‘Just One’ store, so to speak. You’re expanding right? NZ: We’re having the soft-opening of my second store tonight. Hopefully before Christmas I’ll add my third location and then before summer I should have my fourth location. GW: And where will you be taking the wonderful world of funderwear to next? NZ: Right now we’re looking into opening a store in New York and one in Miami. And then I think we will try to open stores in San Francisco and Hawaii. GW: You’ve been very involved with organizations like Being Alive for which you’ve hosted several events. Why is giving back so important to you? If every gay person who owned a business or a store would just do a little thing for the community, our community and people living with HIV and AIDS will have a much a better life out of us making a little difference. To me it’s important. I’m gay and I have a lot of friends who are HIV positive and I feel that I need to help people. This is my goal in life. For more on Just One L.A. go to www.justonela.com |
GW: Why take the gamble on this enterprise though?