Tom Speight and Garrett Swann Launch Body-Conscious Men's Underwear Brand, ALPHX
Tom Speight and Garrett SwaNn
The duo met at an underwear event in 2017. Four years later, they’re transforming the category.
Photography, Tai Hirayama
Words, Cole Habersham In Conversation with Tom Speight and Garrett Swann
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No more than four minutes into a video call with ALPHX founders Tom Speight and Garrett Swann, I realized our discussion on the duo’s ambitions to create the world’s most inclusive men’s underwear brand would feel more like a catch up between very good friends.
With Speight calling in from Fairfield, Connecticut, and Swann seated comfortably, cross-legged on his apartment couch on the Upper East Side, the two could not have appeared to be more at home, while at home, with each other.
That easiness and comfort is not unlike the moment the two met in 2017 at a 2(X)IST event in New York. Swann recalls meeting Speight, the then-CEO of 2(X)IST, and Speight saying, “I know who you are. I follow you on Instagram.” The two enjoyed instant chemistry as friends—Swann told Speight “I can see us hanging together in the 80s”—which led to brunches and lunches and phone calls, one in particular, that would see Speight and Swann working together in the 2020s.
Our progress isn’t linear. It’s not about being perfect, but every day trying to be better.
ALPHX is the culmination of a few things. Speight’s menswear and intimates tenure—he’s held executive roles at 2(X)IST, Calvin Klein, Kate Spade, and Ralph Lauren—Swann’s marketing and creative sensibilities as an Influencer with an audience of more than 363,000 across platforms, and their combined passion for men’s underwear (and ambitions to disrupt the category). “I’ve always wanted to do underwear,” Swann recalls, describing the moment the ALPHX idea came to him and Speight in spring of 2019. “I was walking down the street, wondering if Tom would be open [to partner].” Coincidentally, not even 24 hours prior, Speight was thinking the same.
During what can now be considered the ALPHX kick-off lunch of 2019, Speight and Swann discussed why starting a men’s underwear was the right move; namely, the fundamental issues with the category and product in general: “Riding up, too tight, quality,” Speight begins, adding fit as one of ALPHX’s primary differentiators. “We went through the process of developing the product with the goal to fit as many men as possible.”
That process yielded more than 130 fits that ALPHX currently offers men online, including first-of-its category leg width options: modern, the standard fit, and athletic, a fit offering more room in the leg.
This consideration is reflected on ALPHX’s social media and web presence, both featuring a range of models with varying body types, skin color, and age. “There’s this movement that’s been happening in the women’s market about inclusiveness when it comes to sizing,” Swann says. “You don’t see that as much in men’s.”
He is largely referring to Rihanna’s lingerie brand Savage X Fenty, which is designed for all genders, sizes, and backgrounds. What the market is missing, however, is a brand focused on men—all men. Most men can recall the experience of browsing the underwear aisle in their local department store, or ordering underwear online. Both experiences often portray a single type of man with the same waist size, body type, and persona. This very intentional depiction of men excludes so many. “The average waist size in the US is 40 inches, but you would never know that looking at [what’s in] stores,” Speight adds. ALPHX challenges that image of perfection, offering a new definition of “alpha”— being vulnerable, transparent, and healthy—and making it directly available to men they hope will soon realize underwear can be better than what they’re used to.
We have a responsibility as men to start opening up
Beyond inclusive fit, sizing, and comfort, the ALPHX brand also caters to men by promoting wellness. As Speight is taking me through a list of features that separate the brand from others, Swann runs off camera to pull a pair of white ALPHX boxer briefs out. Even with poor video call quality, the pair has that brilliant white undies glow. “Not everything that is faced can be changed”—Swann is reading James Baldwin, printed on the brief’s tag—“but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” Each pair of ALPHX underwear comes with an inspirational message from Baldwin, Aristotle, and others, printed on the tag to inspire the wearer, helping them begin their day with the right frame of mind.
“I like to think of myself as a work-in-progress,” Speight mentions, in a quick aside on mental health. “Our progress isn’t linear. It’s not about being perfect, but every day trying to be better.” He jokes the two are each other’s supplementary counselors and how valuable that’s been in a business relationship and friendship. They openly share their personal mental health journeys with and hope for all men to be just committed to their own. To that end, Speight and Swann have committed to donating three percent of all ALPHX sales to support local men’s mental health organizations.
“We have a responsibility [as men] to start opening up,” Swann adds. Men’s underwear may not have the most obvious connection to men’s health, but the spirit of ALPHX is one of disruption and challenging what’s been done. Speight and Swann are doing just that by way of a revolutionary (and comfortable) product, brand positioning, and creative ushering in much-needed freshness to a category that’s in need of a reset.
