Body Tech Part II

An homage to the previous Body Tech Album with gratitude to its prolific poster, Steve!

Body Tech® was a brand created by International Male® to appeal to an expanding base of body conscious, athletic men. It evolved from a loose department in the International Male catalog in 1980 made up some existing athletic gear and new Body Tech branded jock briefs and smaller items. At the same time, IM launched Foreign Legion as a brand and launched it with a collection of ruggedly colored jockstraps. Both Body Tech and Foreign Legion slowly added branded products and multi-page departments through the 1980s. When the Undergear® catalog was launched, Body Tech became a critical tool to market fitness gear in both IM and Undergear catalogs under a single name.

As the Undergear brand gained popularity, the parent company feared it might alienate some straight consumers seeking fitness apparel and tested Body Tech versions of the Undergear Catalog in 1989. The Body Tech catalog first appeared with an existing logo as a masthead and then under a new logo. It didn't stick.

They continued to work with the idea of creating a Body Tech brand while simultaneously developing a generic Tactics brand. They also developed an IM Sport catalog as the possible solution to fitness consumers. At one point, you could order identical merchandise that used to sell under the Brawn label under new 5 separate labels: Undergear, International Male, IM Sport and Body Tech and Tactics. 

With the closing of the IM Sport catalog and website, Body Tech was given a fresh chance at being an actual in-house brand. It was to be sold exclusively by Undergear and International Male. And maybe select retail boutiques. Brawn LLC did take the in-store brands to retail trade shows with some success. The Body Tech brand may have been underfunded and irregularly branded under some wildly different logos and circumstances, but its history as a sexy fitness brand and sexy models maintained a loyal following as a beloved, sexy brand.