Can Kickstarter Fix Menswear?

Some ambitious entrepreneurial tailors and underwear manufacturers seem to think so.

Most Kickstarter projects — the successful ones at least — aim to solve problems we didn't know we had. Did you know the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn needed a seafood shack? Or that people would go wild for a watch that can send messages to an iPhone? Perhaps not — but projects like those convince people they're suffering without them.

Naturally, a whole crop of men have decided to try "fixing' menswear, having decided that all of it — pants, shirts, blazers, even underwear — are problematic.

Here are their solutions.

1. Krammer & Stoudt Menswear

Krammer & Stoudt wants to create a menswear line inspired by classic Hollywood. The glitz! The glamour! It's a nice idea, until you realize what they've interpreted that as...

...men in turtlenecks!!

s3.amazonaws.com

A cardinal no.

....and blazers like these!

Yikes.

2. Pants By Bluff Works

As you can see from the unbelievable funding numbers, guys are excited about these dress pants, which their creator boasts can get wet and rolled up in a ball, without showing any signs of wear. They never need a wash or an iron, etc. The creator says he was inspired by his travels in Asia, during which he loved travel pants which similarly could be worn for days on end without a wash or press. So: men hate doing laundry! Well I hate doing laundry too, but I also don't like wearing anything dirtier than a pair of jeans I wore yesterday.

Watch the Bluff Works creator run in the ocean with his cute kid, wearing the pants — which he also wears to work the next day — in this video:

3. Ministry Of Supply

Leave it to some MIT grads to envision the "future of dress shirts." These guys strongly believe men's dress shirts are a hugely flawed — and must be fixed. Apparently the average men's dress shirt doesn't respond well to sweating, which is indeed a thing that plagues many men. The shirt uses technology (MIT — hello!) to dry up sweat and muffle odor, leaving men pit stain- and stink-free. (Men around the BuzzFeed office agreed that a shirt like this would be a welcome addition to their closets.)

The shirt looks nice but WHAT is the deal with that tie?

4. Flint and Tinder Premium Men's Underwear

"Premium" men's underwear, made in America, sold by a cute guy in hipster glasses! They come in solid, run of the mill colors — they're pretty much your average cotton brief.

5. BR4SS Premium Men's Underwear

"Premium" men's underwear, made in America and sold by a cute good in a hoodie! These ones have some funky patterns.

6. Sir New York

The philosophy of men's line Sir New York is "athleticism with a hint of provocation." They "strategically use mesh" in a lot of their creations and their first collection was inspired by "archery and race car driving." If you fund Sir New York, you'll get a free coffee at Joe Coffee in New York.

7. Avid Ymer

Sadly, Avid Ymer's fashions, which included a ripped jean with black and white tablecloth underneath, did not make it to the runways. The $22,000 goal may have been a bit ambitious, but it was very nice of that one person to offer up $250.

8. NEXT NEW BIG LOOK IN MEN'S FORMAL WEAR IN 2012!

Unfortunately, donors were unkind to the "NEXT NEW BIG LOOK IN MEN'S FORMAL WEAR IN 2012!" — a kind of knitted vest meant to be worn with tuxedos.

The vests are really quite something.