This is the company that wants to revolutionize the underwear industry

The office, in lower Manhattan, has all the makings of a tech startup. The ceilings are high with a cool warehouse vibe, craft beer on tap in the kitchen, and the place is packed with 20-somethings. But they're not trying to create the new hit mobile app. The big idea here is to change another ubiquitous product. "There are so many evolutions in technology, but underwear got stuck in, say, the early 1900s," said Tom Patterson, founder of Tommy John, which makes high-end boxer shorts. "It was a very sleepy category." Tommy John is part of a growing offensive of start-up brands aimed at leading men to rethink underwear and pay more for it. Is not easy. This $8 billion category has long been an afterthought. Many guys refueled only after being ridiculed by their partner, or when the disintegration was already impossible to deny. Thanks to fellow startups like Mack Weldon, men are taking more of this everyday item into account.

Briefs that range from $25 to $70 a pair now come with as long a list of features as lawnmowers or TV sets once had. They are "innovative products", with humidity control, cool zones, and invisible waists. They can be Swiss made, breathable, antimicrobial and anti-odour. Tommy John has even reconfigured the front flap and developed a "Quick Draw" fly for easier access. All of this added to the expense. In the past three years, the average price of a pair of briefs in the United States has risen a third, while prices for men's apparel overall have fallen by nearly the same amount, according to research by Fung Global & Retail Technology and First Insight. Global sales are forecast to rise from $8.4bn in 2015 to $11bn by 2020, according to Persistence Market Research. This disruption is testament to the power of "add value," a strategy that over the past decade it traversed many previously trivial categories. While many take it for granted, there was a time when markets didn't have a dozen kinds of coffee. When the only consideration for buying ground beef was price, not what the cows ate. Back when a gym top was a cheap staple, far from the innovative detail shoppers pay more for today. Before, nobody meant that they liked things like water bottles and mixers. Now, what is transforming is nothing less than men's underwear. Adding value means reconfiguring expectations with more options and benefits. Under Armor revolutionized gym equipment with polyester shirts that allowed for better perspiration evaporation than cotton. Starbucks became a powerhouse, introducing a host of flavors and styles for American coffee drinkers whose options had stopped at sugar, milk or cream. "Just because this has happened, doesn't mean it will change everything said Andrew Keating, co-founder of the KarpReilly hedge fund, which has a stake in Mack Weldon. How big the market is for this modernized undergarment remains to be seen, because a lot of guys are likely to back down on price. "But it probably means that everything can be altered," he said.