Ever since the shelter in place order hit, people have had the opportunity to explore things they otherwise couldn’t find time for. Some are making their own sourdough starter; others are delving into hobbies they’ve always wanted to try. Like us, many are also catching up on their favorite shows or watching new ones. There is one show in particular that almost every news channel wrote about by now and funny memes are showing up left and right on our social feeds. Even celebrities, Kim Kardashian among them, tweeted about it. We got a whiff that Tiger King is the must-watch show on Netflix right now. And guess what – we were in for a surprise just after watching the first episode. Those pairs of Tiger King underwear featured looked so familiar, we had to take a second glance.
And yes, indeed, they are what we suspected, that Tiger King Underwear: was our Male Power underwear.
While we were excited to see our Male Power styles featured in such a prominent way, the people who worked with Joe Exotic to create the Tiger King Underwear packaging back in the day were even more intrigued. They would’ve never guessed his story and what became of him. It’s a show, so who knows how much fact is portrayed or what has been left out – but it made us wonder and left us with many questions (besides the obvious one we will never really know: did Carole kill her husband?).
So how did Male Power designs show up in the Tiger King show? When did Male Power collaborate with Joe Exotic? Who worked with him on this? We needed the details!
This was a private label production of many years ago and obviously we had no idea they would be featured in the documentary. Who would’ve thought that the Joe Exotic’s Tiger King underwear would become so popular years in the future? We were not even aware that a show such as this was in production. Most of the MP team are not involved with private label and never knew Joe Exotic. We spoke to the one who dealt with Joe directly; longtime sales rep Liz Healy. Liz has been with us for over 27 years and she’s been an integral part of the company. We are grateful for the opportunity to speak to her about what she knew.
1: How did you come to work with Joe?
Around 7 years ago, Joe contacted Male Power when he saw our products in a local store. He immediately fell in love with MP and I quote “had to have it in his shop”.
2. How did the custom box happen?
At the time, we offered the underwear in a compact, stylish packaging with an embossed animal skin background (pictured below). The metallic graphics and animal print appealed to Joe very much, so he contracted us to make this same box for him but with his Tiger King logo imprinted on it instead of ours.
3. What was it like working with him?
It was very easy to work with Joe. He left it mostly up to us to pick and send him styles. He had specifics in mind and focused on our animal prints which he thought was a great fit for his shop. I remember that Joe would frequently talk about his hopes and dreams, especially his country music. He was releasing a CD and getting his music to play on several social media platforms. He thought he’d be famous one day. He was very positive about his future.
There seemed to be no problems in his life, everything was looking rosy and going as planned. Again, he was very passionate about his music and often told me he’d be a superstar one day. In retrospect, a lot of our talks focused solely about his ambitions as a musician.
Unfortunately, after about a year or so he just seemed to disappear. I assumed he was off pursuing his dreams, his music. But we know, now, after watching the docuseries that it was way more than we knew or could have even imagined.
4. Have you seen the documentary; how did you feel about it?
I have seen it and I have to admit I was a bit shocked; I never would have expected his future to turn out like that. Tbh it’s not my cup of tea, but who am I to judge.
Thank you, Liz! After watching such a whirlwind show, it was wonderful getting to dive a little deeper into what it was like for an outsider to work with Joe Exotic.
We at Male Power of course do not condone animal cruelty, fraud, or indiscriminate actions of any sort. Love, acceptance, honor, consideration and inclusivity is what we are about and all we’d like to associate ourselves with.
We are intrigued, and although we stopped working with him a long time ago, it shows just again that things may never be what they appear on the surface.
With so many outlets, including Women’s Health and Bustle out there stating that the Joe Exotic underwear is no longer available, we do want to let you know that many of those original styles, even though not in the Tiger King Underwear box, are still available. You can find them here:
You may be here because you searched for the Tiger King Underwear, we hope that you stay a while and look around at our hundreds of styles of mens sexy underwear. Whether you’re looking for mens thong underwear, mens g strings, jockstraps for men, a mens harness, or a sheer bikini we have the style of sexy underwear for you or the man in your life.
