Nasty Pig is many things. For starters, we're a trailblazing brand that makes hot clothes that get you laid. But we're also an art project, a love story, and an expression of the American (Wet) Dream. We're innovators who have created unique and trendsetting products for nearly 20 years. We're 100% a product of Downtown NYC, and we're worldwide. We're as influenced by hip-hop culture as we are by gay culture. We're two guys - Frederick Kearney and David Lauterstein - who founded a company and found a life together. And we're the team they built to realize their vision. We're about to enter our third decade of kicking ass, and while we're more popular than ever, very few people know our whole story. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.

1993

David Lauterstein and Fred Kearney meet at $1 Margarita Night at the Break on 8th Avenue. Sparks fly. The relationship at the heart of Nasty Pig begins.

1994

Nasty Pig is born on the floor of the original Sound Factory on West 27th Street in NYC. David and Fred make their first product, "re:vision goggles" with refractive lenses, which they sell to club kids. Mickey Boardman writes about them in Paper Magazine. They use the profits to buy fabric, which they then use to make clothes for their friends.

A notable fashion industry executive who appreciates Fred's designs approaches the couple at GMHC's Morning Party. David turns to Fred and says, "We are starting a clothing company."

1994

As our clothes gain in popularity, we decide to open our first retail space. Operating out of Fred & David's apartment just isn't cutting it. We locate a closet-sized store on West 22nd Street - ideal for our purposes at the time - but discover that to rent it, we need to officially incorporate as a business.

We name our new company Nasty Pig, after Fred and David's Jack Russell terrier, Piggy. We're officially incorporated on Halloween, and our first store - which we call Re:Vision, after the line of sportswear we're selling alongside Nasty Pig at the time - opens on December 24th.

1994

1995

Business immediately booms, and we quickly outgrow our closet/store. ReVision moves into a larger (slightly) space in the back of Rainbows & Triangles on 8th Avenue in Chelsea. (We keep our lease on our old space and turn it into a voodoo store, where we sell voodoo dolls. This is absolutely true.)

All the clothes we sell are still made in Fred and David's apartment - including vinyl pants, rubber superhero tanks, Nasty Pig tee shirts, and the first pair of chaps we ever sold.

Sound Factory closes its doors on January 12 and Nasty Pig mourns its birthplace. But David also meets DJ Chad Jack this year, and a musical partnership begins.

1995

1996

As our business continues to expand rapidly, we outgrow our modest digs in Rainbows & Triangles and need to find yet another new location. We have our hearts set on a space just around the corner, but it's currently occupied, by a toy store called I Won't Grow Up. Knowing the chances are slim, David nevertheless gets up his nerve and asks the boutique's manager if they might possibly be moving soon. As luck has it, they are - and we're suddenly first in line to take over the space of our dreams. Nasty Pig's retail headquarters has been located at 265A West 19th Street ever since.

Having moved our retail operation to a newer, much larger space, we transition the production of our line to the back of our store.

1996

1997

Having made our mark on the new school fetish scene in NYC, we decide to give International Mister Leather (IML) in Chicago a try. We rent a tiny booth in the vendor mart, and ship five styles to the event. Despite being in perhaps the most out-of-the-way location on the sales floor, we sell out of everything, basically, and only take home 4 pieces of unsold clothing.

We're immediately struck by the fact that the fetish community is full of free-thinkers and artists who live on their own terms, much like Fred and David - and that while there are plenty of clothing companies in the community, there aren't any strong lifestyle brands serving the market.

Thierry Mugler - one of our inspirations and heroes - becomes a customer. We gag. We are still gagging. We love you Mr, Mugler.

1997

1998

We introduce one of our most enduringly popular products, Nasty Pig Playsheets™. They're an immediate hit at IML, where we're on the main retail floor for the first time, thanks to Coordinator RJ Chaffin - who tells us that we're the "future of the community."

Our Playsheets™ become a breakout item and, we're informed, are the best thing you can possibly give as a gift at a gay wedding.

Building out the Nasty Pig offering, we also introduce a full range of branded tees and our first rubber Racing Pants.

While at IML, we have the opportunity to meet Richard Hunter, the owner of Mr. S - a connection that will prove invaluable to our growth.

1999

It's a big year. We hire our first full-time employee, and start selling the Nasty Pig brand to our first retail partners, Mr. S in San Francisco and the Leatherman in New York.

We introduce the NP Jean, our best-selling stretch denim style that we still produce today. Renowned photographer David Morgan shoots them for our product launch; in 2011 they'll be immortalized in the movie Shame.

We're the first sportswear company in our industry to sell branded jockstraps, which we introduce at IML. #BraggingRights

It is also worth noting that the world does not end, again, on December 31st.

2000

2001

As our wholesale business grows, we finally open our first fulfillment center and warehouse. Up until now, we've been servicing our wholesale customers from some odd places - such as David and Fred's apartment, or the back of our retail store. The warehouse at right is actually where all goods sold on NastyPig.com are shipped from - they work with other clients, too, so that's not all our stuff. But a lot of it is!

2001

2002

By 2002, the team we roll with to IML has become a significant part of the way that our brand is perceived. The Nasty Pig Crew, as they're affectionately identified, are a group of downtown NYC artists - dancers, DJs, voodoo priests - and they live what they sell. Knowing we have a good thing going, we decide to take the show on the road, and add Mid-Atlantic Leather in Washington DC to our tradeshow docket.

Working with a new set of bad-ass graphic designers - and establishing a strong tradition of impactful graphics - we relaunch our full line of tee shirts and basketball jerseys, cementing Nasty Pig's presentation as a lifestyle brand.

2002

2003

Seeing that our clients are personally identifying much more strongly with the Nasty Pig brand than they are with Re:Vision, we decide to focus our energies entirely on Nasty Pig. Henceforth, all our gear is produced and distributed under the NP label.

We launch our very first website and start selling Nasty Pig on the web for the first time.

We also launch the Fireman Pant, one of our most popular and iconic styles.

2004

As our visual style begins to coalesce, we mount our first full-scale editorial photo shoot, renting a boxing ring at Chelsea Piers and taking a series of smoking hot pictures of Nasty Pig Crewmembers at their pugilistic best.

We take the line international, and begin selling to accounts in Europe, the United Kingdom, and Australia.

In keeping with our new focus on the Nasty Pig label, we go back to the drawing table on our brand identity, and end up with the brandmark and visual iconography that we still use today - examples from our brand guidelines below. Our brandmark immediately becomes an identifier with which our customers flag each other, cementing our status as a lifestyle brand.

2004

2005

We begin working with celebrated NYC photographer Joe Oppedisano, an immensely talented artist who captures some of Nasty Pig's most iconic images. We reposition the Nasty Pig line to emphasize that our collections work for Day and for Play, and Joe shoots the campaign. We create our very first NP Shredder™ for the shoot. They become one of our very bestselling garments.

2005

2006

We relaunch our website, and create our blog Hogwash. Almost as soon as we start blogging, we start taking pictures of the hotties who roll through our store on a daily basis and posting them up on the Internet. It's the beginning of one of our best traditions - we learn how to turn customers into our models. The tradition continues today on our Facebook and Twitter accounts. Anyone who wants to be featured in their NP gear can send pictures to pics@nastypig.com. Who knows, you might even get cast in our next photoshoot.

We also partner with NYC nightlife impresario Daniel Nardicio and Folsom Street East to throw Bada Bang, the first - and last - gay stripper party at Scores - an infamous Manhattan stripclub. The New York Post's Page 6 covers the event. The champagne rooms are scandalous.

2006

2007

After many years selling our branded cotton and rubber jocks - and several phases of research and development - we launch a full line of Nasty Pig briefs, jocks and trunks. Almost immediately, we start hearing that they're the best underwear on the market. And the product innovation doesn't stop there - we introduce our bestselling and trend-setting store-exclusive line of Shredder™ tee shirts, as well as the first three-strap harness in the market, our Indicator Harness.

We take the last step to clarify our brand identity, closing our Re:Vision boutique, remodeling, and relaunching NPHQ as Nasty Pig's flagship boutique. We continue our partnership with Joe Oppedisano, who shoots our Primary campaign.

2007

2008

We keep the product innovation going by introducing our groundbreaking Leg Harness, a product that leads us to continue to believe that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

We join Facebook. Since our brand has always been about our long-term love affair with our customers, we're perfectly positioned to jump into social media. Our Facebook page becomes a gallery of our incredible clientele, as well as a place for them to gain instant popularity.

Our Schoolboy shoot, the first of many to be photographed by Fred Kearney in our new in-house photo studio, encapsulates the fully evolved Nasty Pig mindset - confident, sexual, and fun-loving, with a mischievous grin.

2008

2009

In one of those brand moments that are so incredible that we actually kind of still can't believe it, people start tattooing the Nasty Pig logo on themselves and sending us pictures. We're stunned and honored that some of our customers identify so profoundly and so permanently with Nasty Pig. We receive a call from a MAJOR player within the fashion industry who offers us a consulting gig to help his company foster a brand identity "as authentic as Nasty Pig." We respectfully decline.

We push the limits of our brand by creating Nasty Pig silk woven ties, with our logo intricately hidden within the weave of the material. Not only do they become the ties of choice for gay men tying the knot, but they also become a way for businessmen to flag each other within corporate America. We receive headless pics of customers wearing our ties in both the Pentagon and the White House.

2009

2010

We begin a partnership with photographer Carlos Arias, as well as stylist Polar Buranasatit, who becomes our visual merchandiser for NPHQ. Our store windows become one of the major spectacles of NYC retail culture.

2010

Inspired to respond to the wave of teen suicides and to the ongoing bullying problem, we coordinate a sale of special Shredders™ to benefit the Trevor Project. We make the Shredders entirely in-house, and shoulder all overhead costs ourselves, so we can pass on all the money - not just the profits - from the sale to charity. Ultimately we generate $1200 for the Trevor Project in a fundraiser we call "Shred of Hope." The shirts sell out in less than an hour.

2011

Our collaboration with Polar Buranasatit on our store window displays pays off handsomely when the nominees for the 2011 Racked Awards for New York City's Best Windows are Barneys, Bergdorf Goodman, Moschino, Paul Smith and Nasty Pig.

Working with Carlos Arias, we create a new editorial shoot and video to promote our line of Dominant Jeans; the video eventually generates over 50,000 views. A still from the video is at right.

We join Twitter. Follow us @nastypig.

2011

2011

2011

2012

Recognizing that our customers around the world are every bit as important as the customers who walk through the doors of our retail flagship, we plan and execute a complete modernization and relaunch of NastyPig.com, allowing our site to better communicate the Nasty Pig in-store experience.

With distribution of our product soaring we launch our Nasty Pig Choice Cuts program, a series of products made in New York and held to limited editions. Choice Cuts jackets, shirts and accessories become coveted pieces as well as an incredible new creative outlet for Fred to show off some of his best work.