Letters From The CEO

March 13, 2023: Letter from the CEO

The first version of this letter was about the launch of our new Spring/Summer 2023 collection - “ELEVATE” - but when I woke up to the news on March 3rd that Tennessee had passed the first anti-drag bill in the country, I scrapped that letter and wrote a new one urging you all to understand the gravity of this legislation and how it affects our whole queer community. Before we could send out that letter, news came out about a host from the Daily Wire calling for the “eradication of transgenderism”. I went to write a new letter, but I found myself unable to address each additional horrifying new development. So rather than attempt to speak on the ever-changing present state of attacks on LGBTQ+ rights, I want to share a very personal story from my past that impacted my identity as a gay man, and that is just as relevant today as it was forty years ago.

When I was eleven years old, my Jewish grandmother sat me down in our living room to explain something to me about my identity. Living in New York, she prayed I would never encounter the hatred that my ancestors experienced, but she made it clear that people around the world would hate me just for being Jewish. When I asked why this was so, she said it was because I was different, and that was enough of a reason for bigoted people to find hatred in their hearts. She then said to me “There is nothing you can do about it. This is how you were born. So never hide your truth- If people come to like you for who you pretend to be, they will hate you just the same when they find out who you actually are.”

No matter how you identify yourself as an individual, if you are part of the LGBTQ+ community, I urge you to stand with every single one of our queer siblings. You may not look like those under attack, but an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. Bigotry won’t stop until we all stand up against it together.

DAVID LAUTERSTEIN
CEO, Nasty Pig Incorporated.

February 1, 2023: Letter from the CEO

When the White House Mpox Response Team reached out to me and asked if Nasty Pig would help set up and sponsor a vaccination and information clinic at Mid-Atlantic Leather, I immediately said yes. When I shared this idea with my COO, he suggested having a meeting with the White House, CDC, and the DC Department of Health to make sure there was a real need for this clinic, as Mpox had faded from the headlines. We got the answers we needed, along with a huge wake up call.

For those of us who live in larger cities, getting vaccinated had its challenges, yet almost all of you showed up and got your first doses. It turns out, though, that the need for second doses remains pretty significant. But one thing we never realized was that for our queer siblings who live outside of major metropolitan areas, the act of simply asking for an Mpox vaccine was the equivalent of outing themselves. That is a risk that some in our community simply cannot take, even if their health depends upon it, and their circumstances forced them to remain unvaccinated.

We had heard enough- we were now both 100% on board. That being said, there was no real way to tell whether or not any of you would come through the clinic. But by the time we closed it down on day one, the DC Department of Health had to call in for back up to meet the demand that was coming on days two and three.

We attend these events to help our customers feel sexy and empowered, and while we had to give up our vendor booth to make this happen, it was so worth it. Even though we didn’t ring up a single sale, in our 20 years attending MAL this was by far the most successful one we’ve ever had. And I can’t lie- being recognized at the White House for 3 decades of championing queer sexual positivity was both incredibly humbling and pretty fucking stellar. Click here to view Instagram Reel. It is both my honor and my privilege to serve our community and I truly love you all so much.

DAVID LAUTERSTEIN
CEO, Nasty Pig Incorporated.

January 12, 2023: Letter from the CEO

When we arrived in Chicago for IML last May, I was just beginning to hear about the spread of this disease called monkeypox within the queer community. I have to admit, I was pretty terrified of what was coming. Having lived through the early nineties in New York City, I carry with me a lot of trauma that came with watching members of my chosen family get sick and pass away. I felt the ghost of AIDS haunting me all weekend—and for those of you who have been to the Congress Hotel, that place is plenty haunted on its own.

That being said, I watched our community step up to the plate and slow down the spread of this disease within a matter of months. You changed your behaviors, you shared information, you bravely told your stories for the benefit of others, and most importantly, you got vaccinated. I was SO FUCKING PROUD of my queer siblings for doing what was necessary to keep each other safe.

While we made a lot of progress on getting monkeypox—now Mpox—under control, we still have some work to do. So this weekend, Nasty Pig is heading to MAL in Washington DC, and we have teamed up with the White House Mpox Response Team, the DC Department of Health, and Centaur MC to bring you an on-site Mpox vaccination clinic where you can ask any questions you may have and get your first or second vaccine dose if you need it. Second doses give you the highest level of protection, and getting both shots should be part of your sexual health regimen. We are providing you with a safe space where you can show up dressed as you please, say hi and get some love from the NP Crew, and check in with the DC Department of Health if you need to. Even if you have both of your shots, come see us—we’ve got something going on you’re gonna want to be part of!

DAVID LAUTERSTEIN
CEO, Nasty Pig Incorporated.

November 22, 2022: Letter from the CEO

Queer clubs and bars are supposed to be our safe spaces, however, as you know, this has never been completely true. From the harassment experienced by our ancestors at Stonewall, to the Pulse nightclub shooting, to the shooting that happened this past weekend in Colorado Springs, it can feel like there is no place for us to truly let our collective guard down.

While there are no words that can truly console us at this time, I have this to offer - during the past three decades I have seen our community gain so much visibility, secure so many rights, and be celebrated for our differences. This scares the living shit out of people who think that we are “evil” or “sinners.” But their ranks are rapidly shrinking while ours are growing at what sometimes feels like an exponential rate. They are part of a long history of people who have tried to keep us marginalized and scared, but we come from a long history of fighters who never give up. Their collective fear doesn’t stand a chance when compared to the power of our collective love. We will not let the tragedies of this past weekend silence us. We will not go backwards. We march forward.

DAVID LAUTERSTEIN
CEO, Nasty Pig Incorporated.

October 31, 2022: Letter from the CEO

After not having a retail location since we had to close our flagship store in March of 2020, it felt so good to open our first Nasty Pig Pop Up Shop at our new design studios on West 28th Street this past weekend. We were blown away by the number of customers and fans who came through our doors. Getting to interact with you all, to feel the love, and to share our gratitude for your support made for an unforgettable experience.

When Nasty Pig was officially incorporated 28 years ago today, my husband and I shared a vision that one day we would open a space that would transcend the idea of a store. We wanted our headquarters to be a place where our customers could not only experience the clothing, but they could see elements of the process that goes into making it. We wanted the space to be a place where queer artists could display their art, or do readings of their books, or learn about starting their own businesses. We wanted Nasty Pig Headquarters to be a place that inspired our community to pursue their dreams. You see, back when we started we made a promise to our queer ancestors who had died of AIDS before us that we would pass down as much knowledge and energy as we could to younger queer generations in order to honor the contributions they couldn’t make to us.

This past weekend, on the weekend of our 28th anniversary, that dream was fully realized. I cannot thank you enough for your participation in making all of this a reality. Whether you have been a fan for 28 days or 28 years, whether you have purchased from us or not, your interest and support in what we do has allowed us to get to where we are today. Words cannot describe the gratitude I feel for your belief in what we do.

Yours in sodomy,
DAVID LAUTERSTEIN
CEO, Nasty Pig Incorporated.

September 12, 2022: Letter from the CEO – Fall/Winter 2022 EXPEDITION

When people find out that we design each collection fifteen months in advance of its release, they always ask the same question: “How the hell do you know what to make???” Our Creative Director (and my husband of twenty nine years) Frederick Kearney recently had this to say: “I get together with our Designer Mike V and we start off by going through thousands of images of clothing, architecture, nature, porn and whatever else catches our attention. We organize our favorites into top level themes for the season.”

Mike V added “I always look on Instagram and TikTok to see what our customers are wearing, what they are doing, where they are going. We see our customers being a lot more adventurous, and we wanted to reflect that back with our designs.”

That’s the philosophy behind “EXPEDITION,” our Fall/Winter 2022 Collection. From the eponymously named pieces in our first delivery that pull details from hiking gear, to the street inspired styles in our Trek and Atlas groups, to the Brawn Group that will have you living your best lumberjack fantasy, it is our hope that we don’t just deliver you clothing, we become part of your experience as you head out into the world. We look forward to the next six months of being on this EXPEDITION with you.

Yours in sodomy,
DAVID LAUTERSTEIN
CEO, Nasty Pig Incorporated.

June 16, 2022: Letter from the CEO – PRIDE OUT LOUD

You don’t need me to tell you there’s a lot of shit going on in the world today. It can be very overwhelming. We have all struggled with our mental health over the past couple of years, myself included, as we watch the news unfold in a 24/7 cycle.

One story that is being overshadowed by other headlines is the monkeypox outbreak, and what our community might be facing in the weeks and months ahead. When cases began appearing in the social and sexual circles of gay and bisexual men, I spoke to one of my close friends and Nasty Pig fan Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, who now leads HIV prevention at the CDC, about the need to inform our queer community in a way that speaks to us, not at us. He recently shared a document with me called “Social gatherings, Safer Sex, and Monkeypox” which focuses on education and harm reduction, proven tactics that really work. From blisters to bathhouses, the CDC really has it covered.

I’m sharing this document with you all so that you can make good, informed choices about your health and the health of your friends and family as we celebrate this June. I encourage you to read it, to share it, to be safe, and to have a fucking blast as we rejoice in being PROUD.

Yours in sodomy,
DAVID LAUTERSTEIN
CEO, Nasty Pig Incorporated.

May 27, 2022: Letter from the CEO – PRIDE OUT LOUD

When I came out of the closet in 1993, LGBTQ people could not legally get married. We could not openly serve in the military. There were even states where queer people were arrested and jailed for having consensual sex. However, over the past three decades I joyously celebrated as these and other bigoted and homophobic restrictions to our rights were erased…many by the US Supreme Court. It felt as if all of our protesting and marching in the streets had finally paid off—progress had been made, and there was no turning back.

I no longer feel that way.

Between the slew of anti-trans laws around the country, the “Don’t Say Gay” bills endangering the safety of our queer youth, and the Supreme Court threatening to overturn Roe v Wade, our rights are once again under attack. We are beginning to see hard won freedoms being reversed, and we can no longer count on progress being a one way street into the future.

Our house is under attack. We built this house brick by brick, starting with the first brick thrown by Marsha P. Johnson at Stonewall, and now we must fortify our house to make sure that it never gets knocked down. We at Nasty Pig stand with every member of our community, because together we are so much stronger than the sum of our parts.

We also know that it is up to us to protect the most vulnerable of our beautiful community. Nasty Pig is donating 10% of all sales of our 2022 Pride Collection to The Ali Forney Center, a charity that protects LGBTQ+ youths from the harms of homelessness and empowers them with the tools needed to live independently.

Thank you for supporting Nasty Pig and for believing in what we do. As a gay owned business since 1994, we will never stop representing you, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, fifty two weeks a year.

Yours in sodomy,
DAVID LAUTERSTEIN
CEO, Nasty Pig Incorporated.

March 7, 2022: Letter from the CEO – HEATED

Winters in New York City can feel very long and kind of brutal. The sunlight disappears in the mid afternoon as the skyscrapers filter out the light while creating wind tunnels that chill us to our bones. There’s only one thing that makes our winters truly bearable in my opinion and that’s the arrival of Spring—cuz when the temperatures start to climb, this city comes back to life and things get very HEATED. We took this as our inspiration for our Spring Summer 2022 HEATED Collection.

Each drop within this collection pays homage to the boys of New York City and the energy they spark as they emerge from their apartments and take to the streets. Our Hyper Speed Group feels bright and electrified, while the fabrications keep you cool and leave little to the imagination. Our Alpha Group is made of custom fabric that feels INCREDIBLE and the styles themselves will be the most comfortable, sexy pieces you own. We’re bringing back our best selling CORE line, and are restocking some of the hottest pieces that sold out last fall, including our Youtility Short, Collar Chain and Snout Strapback Flatbrim.

You’ll be able to check out HEATED on our new and improved nastypig.com, and we will be giving you a dose of behind the scenes NSFW content on our @nastypig twitter all season long. I hope you like what we have coming your way for the next few months. I think it’s the best work we’ve ever done!

Yours in sodomy,
DAVID LAUTERSTEIN
CEO, Nasty Pig Incorporated.

November 24, 2021: Letter from the CEO – ThanksLIVING

Halloween is often referred to as “Gay Christmas.” It’s a night when we queer people get to shed our realities and turn into any thing we want. Some of us flex our creativity by designing elaborate, fantastical looks, while others lean into meme culture and pair any mask with a harness and jock and call it a costume. We take to the streets and stir up all sorts of good natured trouble, transformed from mere mortals into the wild and powerful beings we know that nature intended us to be! In many ways, it’s a night when we get to be ourselves. Therefore, it came as no surprise to me, and it should come as no surprise to you, that Nasty Pig Inc was literally incorporated on October 31st, 1994. What an appropriate day for the Universe to have swayed the hands of the federalv government to officially birth our gay owned and operated baby. Some might call it a mere coincidence, but I definitely know better.

So I want to wish Nasty Pig a Happy 27th Anniversary, and I want to thank you for being part of this long term, very polyamorous relationship. When we started with fifty dollars almost three decades ago, there were just a handful of you, but twenty seven years later, there’s a world full of Nasty Pigs. Whether you’re in Hell’s Kitchen or Helsinki, Boise or Berlin, you can spot one another by wearing our logo, and know that you are part of this great big NP family that has spanned generations. I am humbled by our success, and I never, ever lose sight of the fact that it exists because of your belief in what we do. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Yours in sodomy,
DAVID LAUTERSTEIN
CEO, Nasty Pig Incorporated.

October 29, 2021: Letter from the CEO

Halloween is often referred to as “Gay Christmas.” It’s a night when we queer people get to shed our realities and turn into any thing we want. Some of us flex our creativity by designing elaborate, fantastical looks, while others lean into meme culture and pair any mask with a harness and jock and call it a costume. We take to the streets and stir up all sorts of good natured trouble, transformed from mere mortals into the wild and powerful beings we know that nature intended us to be! In many ways, it’s a night when we get to be ourselves. Therefore, it came as no surprise to me, and it should come as no surprise to you, that Nasty Pig Inc was literally incorporated on October 31st, 1994. What an appropriate day for the Universe to have swayed the hands of the federal government to officially birth our gay owned and operated baby. Some might call it a mere coincidence, but I definitely know better.

So I want to wish Nasty Pig a Happy 27th Anniversary, and I want to thank you for being part of this long term, very polyamorous relationship. When we started with fifty dollars almost three decades ago, there were just a handful of you, but twenty seven years later, there’s a world full of Nasty Pigs. Whether you’re in Hell’s Kitchen or Helsinki, Boise or Berlin, you can spot one another by wearing our logo, and know that you are part of this great big NP family that has spanned generations. I am humbled by our success, and I never, ever lose sight of the fact that it exists because of your belief in what we do. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Yours in sodomy,
DAVID LAUTERSTEIN
CEO, Nasty Pig Incorporated.

September 22, 2021: Letter from the CEO – Core Launch

I wear Nasty Pig head to toe pretty much every day. From our Core Jock to our NP Jeans to our Brandmark Tee to our Union Suit, the pieces I wear most tend to be our most iconic styles. We began to refer to these styles around NPHQ as CORE pieces, and after using this term internally for so long, we are pleased to present you with our first fully-realized CORE Collection.

These are the Nasty Pig styles that you will get the most use out of because they modernize the classics. Rooted in archetypal silhouettes, but re-envisioned through the queer lens that has been at the heart of everything we design, these pieces are basics that will make you feel anything but. The styles are timeless, the branding is subtle, and the fits are perfected. Our CORE collection will allow you to live your Nasty Pig life 24/7 no matter where you are.

Over the coming few days we are going to be emailing and posting video content where my husband (our Creative Director) and I talk about five of these CORE pieces and how they found their way into this collection. And don’t worry, there will be plenty of eye candy to drool over as well.

Yours in sodomy,
DAVID LAUTERSTEIN
CEO, Nasty Pig Incorporated.

September 10, 2021: Letter from the CEO

When we set out to design our Fall/Winter 2021 collection back in the summer of 2020, we had no idea what the future would hold. After being locked in our houses and glued to the news for months, watching one crisis engulf us after another, inspiration was in short supply. But in spite of every obstacle, we witnessed so many members of our incredibly resilient queer community do what we do best: we mobilize, we rise, and we revise things for the better.

With this energy in mind, you became the source of inspiration for our Fall/Winter 2021 collection - “RE:VISION”. You inspired us to revise how we design, putting your needs front and center in every design decision we made. We saw you spending more time indoors, so based on your favorite Nasty Pig Union Suit we created the “Union Group”, a capsule collection designed specifically for you to lounge around and feel sexy in (coming soon). We looked forward to a time when we could all safely celebrate again, so we designed the perfect all-purpose “Youtility Short” that will serve you well at any party. We’ve got you covered when you want to cruise the streets with our “Bristol Group,” and we’ve got you uncovered when you strip down to brand new color combos of our classic Snout Cap and Core Jock.

On a final note, our very first store was called “re:vision” and our original mission statement was “change the way you see the world.” Thank you guys for inspiring us to do just that. We hope you love wearing “RE:VISION” as much as we loved designing and making it.

Yours in sodomy,
DAVID LAUTERSTEIN
CEO, Nasty Pig Incorporated.

PS...Click to view a shot of me and Fred Kearney, our Creative Director and my husband of 28 years, putting up the “re:vision” sign outside our first seventy two square foot store in the Fall of 1994. Babies!

February 19, 2021: Letter from the CEO - Cruising

We start designing our collections well over a year in advance. I know that sounds crazy, but it takes a lot of planning and work to get everything right for you guys. So what was on our minds back in December of 2019 when we were conceptualizing this new collection? CRUISING. It gets cold here in NYC and we were totally dreaming about our favorite pastime as the temperature dropped. There is something so electric about checking guys out face to face, feeling that spark of attraction while the rest of the world goes about its business. So we decided to name our Spring/Summer 2021 Collection CRUISING, and we took inspiration from some of our favorite cruising spots. From locker rooms to the streets of Miami to the beaches of Fire Island, we wanted to get you guys hot and bothered.

Like all of you, however, we had no idea as we closed out 2019 that right around the corner a pandemic was coming to upend all of our lives. As we moved through 2020, the idea of releasing a collection that pays homage to cruising in the Spring of 2021 felt so off to all of us. But now that we are here releasing this collection, the idea of cruising feels aspirational in the best possible way. We hope the looks we put out for you this season get you excited for a return to some sense of normalcy, and that we will all be out and about cruising the fuck out of each other soon enough. Fingers crossed. Legs definitely open

Yours in sodomy,
DAVID LAUTERSTEIN
CEO, Nasty Pig Incorporated.

December 31, 2020: Letter from the CEO - End of Year

What can be said about the past year that hasn’t already been said? Not much really. Twenty twenty felt like a surreal uphill battle that left no one unscathed. I mean I never thought I’d find myself on the receiving end of a relentless pounding that I just couldn’t take anymore, but this bitch proved me so very, very wrong.

That being said, there was a relentless pounding that made me feel amazing this past year, and that was the outpouring of support and love we at Nasty Pig felt from you guys. There were moments when your emails and Insta DM’s literally brought me to tears. I honestly get a thrill everytime I see you guys wearing our stuff in your posts. Every. Single. Time. I mean it. In a year that was filled with so much anxiety, being able to search #nastypig and see your beautiful faces and bodies and asses and cocks wearing what we create, it just gave me all the strength I needed to stay focused and get through another day.

You are so amazing and I am truly blessed to be able to service you morning, noon and night. Thank you for believing in what we do.

Yours in sodomy,
DAVID LAUTERSTEIN
CEO, Nasty Pig Incorporated.

October 31, 2020: Letter from the CEO - Anniversary

Nasty Pig was officially incorporated twenty-six years ago on Halloween in 1994. We started this company as an act of defiance against a disease that was killing us and a government that wouldn’t fully acknowledge us. We had a passion to create something amazing that would reconnect our community with our sexuality and our humanity, and we weren’t about to let the darkness of the times hold us back. Quite the contrary, we saw the darkness as an opportunity to shine, so we went to work and against all odds we made our dream our reality.

These times can feel pretty dark too. I know that each of you is grappling with uncertainty as we head into what may well be one of the most consequential periods of our lives. But if there is one thing that I have learned from my twenty-six year Nasty Pig journey, it’s that you can create something out of nothing when the odds are stacked against you. You can take every ounce of fear and anxiety and channel it into doing something incredible. You can stare darkness in the face and tell it to fuck all the way off by igniting a fire within your soul to change anything and everything in your life that is holding you back or keeping you down.

Don’t let the times define you. YOU define them, in any way you choose, because if a poet like me can build a business like NP, then trust, you can do anything you dream of too.

Yours in sodomy,
DAVID LAUTERSTEIN
CEO, Nasty Pig Incorporated.

September 25, 2020: Letter from the CEO - VOTE

The equal rights you have today didn't always exist for you. When I came out of the closet we gay people were not allowed to marry each other. We were not allowed to serve openly in the military. In many states we were not even legally allowed to have sex (I kid you not). That was less than thirty years ago. These rights and freedoms you enjoy today are relatively new, and they are still fragile. Don't take them for granted for one minute.

We got these rights becuase we fought for them. We marched. We protested. We actively participated in our democracy, so I am urging you to register now and to vote on Election Day. Participate. Make your voice heard in the present to ensure it can never be silenced again in the future.

Our country is in your hands. VOTE

Click to view VOTE Video.

Yours in sodomy,
DAVID LAUTERSTEIN
CEO, Nasty Pig Incorporated.

June 20, 2020: Letter from the CEO - Hope On To Hope

As some of you may know, when I'm not busy running NP, I write and produce house music. I had a whole EP of new songs ready to release this past March, but as this pandemic descended upon us, as our communal mood changed and our dance floors went dark, the songs I had written needed to be postponed for future days. One morning in April I sat in the corner of my apartment, listening to these tracks one afer another, and had a quiet, honest cry over the fact that a year's work of musical creativity had to be shelved.

But in that moment I thougth back to the types of songs that got us through difficult times before. We didn't just write tracks, we wrote each other anthems, songs that made your entire spirit soar. So I ask my soul, "What are you feeling right now?" Just then, a melody and some lyrics came into my head. I recorded a demo in my closet in Manhattan and sent it to my producer Chad Jack in Vegas, who told me he loved it. We both knew we needed a female vocalist to do it justice, so we reached out to one of the great house artists of our time, Inaya Day, who lives out in Brooklyn, and she took on the project and brought to it her incredible voice to bring it to life and make it shine.

The song I wrote in April feels ten times more relevant today as just this past Monday we LGBTQ people scored a tremendous victory in the courts, and yesterday DACA was upheld. But out battle is not over. Our fight for the soul of America rages on. We must fight for ALL PEOPLE to be treated equally and to live with a sense of pride. I, for one, am "HOLDING ON TO HOPE" and I hope this song gives you the strength to do so with me.

Click to view Holding on to Hope Video.

Yours in sodomy,
DAVID LAUTERSTEIN
CEO, Nasty Pig Incorporated.

May 31, 2020: Letter from the CEO

Normally words come easily to me, but I have been trying to write this pride letter to you guys for days. Every time I feel like I get to a place where what I say feels right, things get worse, and the words I had put down in the evening don’t seem appropriate the following morning. So this time I’m just saying what I feel right now because my silence during this time of protest is the worst message I can send.

As LGBTQ people we must remember that Stonewall was a riot. Our predecessors got so enraged with how we were being treated by people in power that we took to the streets. We physically stood up for our right to be treated humanely. Our history is one not just of protest, but of anger and emotion as well. The Stonewall Riots gave rise to what we now call gay pride, and had it not been for the actions of those who came before us, we would not be where we are today.

There are oppressed people right now who are enraged, much as we were fifty one years ago. Stand with them. Expect of yourself the same thing you expect of others when it comes to embracing our experiences and uniquenesses. Institutionalized racism is insidious and in order to vanquish it from our shared consciousness we must see it as an enemy and fight against it until we, not they, can declare victory. This June let’s make sure we recognize that true gay pride stems from a belief that none of us can live in oppression.

Yours in sodomy,
DAVID LAUTERSTEIN
CEO, Nasty Pig Incorporated.

April 29, 2020: Letter from the CEO - Poem

Most of you guys know me as the Founder/CEO of Nasty Pig and some of you may also know me for the house tracks I produce, but what drives me to do these things is who I truly am in my soul. I’m a poet. I’ve written poetry since grade school, I was a poetry major in college, and I’ve counted on it my whole life to help me make sense of all the things that come my way. It’s intensely personal and I rarely open up about this part of me because the art that is closest to oneself is the most difficult to share. But I feel like if there was ever a time to be fearless and let my art lead me, it’s now, so I’m sharing a video of a poem I’ve written to find hope during these times. I hope it does the same for you.

Click here to watch the video.

Yours in sodomy,
DAVID LAUTERSTEIN
CEO, Nasty Pig Incorporated.

April 22, 2020: Letter from the CEO

Back when Fred and I started Nasty Pig in 1994 there was a very strong movement towards gay people supporting gay companies. I remember guys coming to our very first seventy-two square foot closet of a store and telling us they were happy to support a “gay owned and operated business.” At the time my very on-brand reply to them was “don’t buy our gear because I get fucked in the ass...buy it because it’s competitive.” As with everything else when I was 25, I thought I had all the answers, and over the years I stuck with my witty little saying anytime someone would mention they were buying NP to support a gay company. 

But recently something clicked in my head. When we started this business, AIDS was still claiming our brothers’ and sisters’ lives, and the gay people who had been out before me wanted to make sure that gay money stayed within the gay community because we had to rely on ourselves. No one was coming to our rescue but us. Even though I lost a dozen friends in as many months after we first opened our doors, my elders had literally gone to war and they knew that holding onto gay dollars meant holding onto gay power for our community. They were teaching me a lesson about our survival.

So on behalf of all of you guys who have supported us over the past two and a half decades, Nasty Pig has donated 5000 masks to the Ali Forney Center, an organization dedicated to protecting LGBTQ youths from the harms of homelessness and empowering them with the tools needed to live independently. These masks will protect the lives of their staff and the youth they serve for months to come as they find themselves caught on the front lines of battling COVID-19 with fewer resources and more need than ever.

I love you guys and I promise that from now on when someone tells me they bought Nasty Pig to support a gay owned and operated business, all I am going to say is “thank you.”

Yours in sodomy,
DAVID LAUTERSTEIN
CEO, Nasty Pig Incorporated.

March 27, 2020: Letter from the CEO

I hope this letter finds you as well as can be expected. While that’s certainly a blanket statement, I fully recognize that each of you needs a unique blanket with which to keep warm during these chilling times. Your unique set of circumstances make your situation yours alone and whatever you are going through, I’m here to let you know that it’s valid.

One thing I suspect a lot of you guys are grappling with is isolation. It’s a tough nut to swallow for anyone, but it’s especially tough when swallowing nuts is something that brings you so much joy. I mean let’s keep it real kids, anal is a really stellar way to pass the time! We are a very social bunch, and intimate contact plays a major role in what makes us feel happy.

That does not in any way mean things like job security, mortgage payments, health insurance, and the safety of those you love are not top of mind. But when you can’t blow off steam and the kettle is whistling so loudly that you can’t even hear yourself think, it’s not a cute look. At all.

I’m sure many of you find yourselves weighing the risks and rewards of hooking up right now. I am here to tell you that this is a very normal reaction. As someone who lived through the AIDS crisis, I was one of many people who experienced “condom fatigue.” Some of us got tired of not being able to connect with each other the way we truly wanted to, including me. Speaking out about it to friends was met with plenty of judgment, but their judgement didn’t make my feelings any less real, let alone make me feel any better.

So I promise I am not here to judge you, but I am here to urge you to read and follow the guidelines put out by the CDC about sexual contact right now. This is what the experts are saying. I am also letting you know that here in NYC, Covid-19 is impacting people of every age. Some people get sick for a few days, but other people go down for weeks and she doesn’t care if you’re 22 or 42. Trust me, you don’t want her. We at Nasty Pig always talk about wanting to make you guys feel sexy and empowered and I can promise you this ugly bitch will make you feel neither.

Please stay safe guys. I really love you. Being able to serve you guys is the greatest gift I could ever have hoped for and I want every one of you to come out the other side of this mess intact and ready to turn the party out.

Yours in sodomy,
DAVID LAUTERSTEIN
CEO, Nasty Pig Incorporated.

March 15, 2020: Letter from the CEO

I came up here to my office while the rest of my team is working remotely so that I could clear my head and write the obligatory email ensuring you that we are still shipping orders while following the Covid-19 guidelines from the CDC but I can’t in good conscious spit out some formulaic bullshit when we are all on edge.

I know each of you guys is reacting to this differently, but we all have a stake in the game here and none of the news has been good. I can’t imagine anyone not being nervous about some aspect of this crisis. So much has changed over just the past few days and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t in a much better headspace last weekend when everything was still open, including me. God I love quality sling time.

So yes...this is some scary shit we are dealing with, but I have to tell you with fifty years experience under my belt, scary shit has been here before. In my lifetime we’ve been through the cold war, the AIDS crisis, 9/11, the economic crash of 2008, and on a personal note, a cancer diagnosis in 2018. During each of these experiences I thought the world was ending. Each was terrifying. Each caused plenty of pain. In no way am I diminishing the losses each caused, but we ultimately got through each one and landed on our feet.

Now that I’m a Daddy in this community I feel it is my responsibility not to tell you to keep shopping, but to tell you that we will get through this. Humans are a resilient species, especially gay people. In fact we are the strongest motherfuckers I know. Centuries of overcoming persecution are fused into our collective DNA and we have a long history of surviving despite much greater challenges than this. TRUST!

In closing kids, I hate to say it but this ain’t the last time the shit is going to hit the fan. But good news, if anyone knows how to pick that fan up, clean her off and turn her fiercely once the dust settles...it’s you.

Be safe, take this situation seriously, and be gentle with each other.

Yours in sodomy,
DAVID LAUTERSTEIN
CEO, Nasty Pig Incorporated.

September 20, 2019: Letter from the CEO - The Original NASTYPIG

We know many of you guys refer to yourselves as pigs. Some of you even refer to yourselves as Nasty Pigs. It’s become such a widely used term that nowadays when guys use #nastypig on social media they often aren’t even wearing our product. They just use our brand name to convey an attitude with which they associate. It’s pretty fucking cool when you think about it.

But here’s something I should clear up...we didn’t name our company as a play on the use of the word “pig” in gay slang. When we were coming up with a name for our business in 1994, the term pig was nowhere to be found in queer lexicon. So I’m going to grab some bragging rights here…I am 99.9% sure we put it on the map.

So how did we come up with the name NASTYPIG? Well that’s a funny story. We didn’t have any idea what to call our corporation. However, I was obsessed with the “men are pigs” concept that was thrown around by straight women to describe straight men. I wanted to play off of that idea, but I wanted to flip it up and own it for my community. I wanted our brand to embrace the parts of me that were promiscuous and sexual, but at the same time publicly reject misogyny and being an asshole, two things that “men are pigs” evokes, but both of which I find incredibly UNSEXY.

As I was musing on this, our puppy, a cute little female jack russell terrier, began humping my leg. I looked down at her and said, “What are you doing you little nasty pig?!?!?” and in an instant I had found our name. I would call us NASTYPIG after our puppy Piggy Puff.

So I’d like to take this opportunity to pay homage to Piggy Puff, who launched our brand into existence and single pawdedly changed queer culture forever. We love and miss you Piggy and we hope you’re somewhere in doggy heaven humping as many legs as you can find.

Yours in sodomy,
DAVID LAUTERSTEIN
CEO, Nasty Pig Incorporated.

August 30, 2019: Letter from the CEO

This fall marks the 25th Anniversary of Nasty Pig. That’s a pretty impressive achievement for any business, let alone one started by a couple of artists who had no idea what they were doing. While we had a vision for what our brand would become, neither of us had any idea how we would make it happen, what it would look like, or how we would get here.

It’s funny that as we launch our 25th Anniversary collection there’s a new meme going around about Nasty Pig being Lululemon for bears. It’s hilarious and we will gladly take the free publicity. Believe me when I say being compared to a successful line of athleisure wear, albeit one worn by women who drink pumpkin spice lattes, is a sign of real progress for Nasty Pig! Back in 1997 we received a note under our door on 19th Street telling us “Shut your business down. Nasty Pig spreads AIDS!” This literally happened. Being a brand that stood up for queer sexuality in the mid nineties was a VERY VERY VERY unpopular idea. But we stuck to our guns anyway, just as we always have.

Over twenty five years we’ve often been misunderstood, and no one is to blame for this other than me. I’ve always been of the mindset not to worry about what other people think about me, or us. Our path to success was based in focusing our energies on making clothing for our customers and putting out our vision of positive queer sexuality to the world.

But maybe after twenty five years it’s time for me to talk about what Nasty Pig really is: a story of two young artists who fell in love in 1993, not just with each other, but with the very idea of being gay men. We are on a creative journey as the very first queer streetwear brand to empower LGBTQ people to own the things that make you unique. We are entrepreneurs who found success for one reason: we never quit. We think deeply about why we are here and we hope to inspire you to question your presence on this earth because biologically speaking you have purpose. Truth be told...Nasty Pig is a great big poem to you, our community, and we write it for you guys every single day.

So in honor of twenty five years of Nasty Pig we are going to unlock our past and talk about our present so that we as queer people can see our future. Fred and I love you guys so much. Thank you for believing in what we do.

Yours in sodomy,
DAVID LAUTERSTEIN
CEO, Nasty Pig Incorporated.

May 15, 2019: Letter from the CEO

Today marks Fred and my twenty sixth anniversary. We are fortunate enough to be celebrating this occasion in Vieques and the view I have right now as I write this letter is pretty spectacular. It’s times like these that I feel like maybe all of our hard work is paying off. My fingers are crossed. Actually everything is crossed...except my legs of course haha.

Yesterday at dinner when our waiter asked us what brought us to Vieques and we told him of our anniversary, he asked us what so many do: What’s the secret? Everyone wants to know what magical knowledge we possess in order to stay together for so long. So lean in close my dear reader and I will tell you…

There is no secret. Being in a relationship is hard work, and I’m not even talking about the relationship I have with my husband. Being in a relationship with oneself takes a lot of strength. Life just keeps coming at each of us and we wake up every day dodging, adjusting and optimizing to get through it. This goes for me and Fred too. Far from some fairy tale, we both expend a lot of effort keeping it together like everyone else.

Case in point...the reason I’m up so early writing this as opposed to my original plan of sleeping late and waking up in Fred’s arms in paradise is because the owner of this house didn’t mention that there was construction going on right next door, nor that it would commence at 6:45am. Not the type of drilling I was expecting this morning, but what can you do? Keep it together David. Be grateful for what you got and keep it together.

Thank you guys for believing in Nasty Pig. You definitely make keeping it together that much easier.

Yours in sodomy,
DAVID LAUTERSTEIN
CEO, Nasty Pig Incorporated.

December 4, 2018: Army of Lovers/Letter from the CEO

A year ago, as we were designing our current Fall 2018 New World Order collection and thinking about what the mood of the country would be as the midterm elections approached, we wanted to do a t-shirt that paid tribute to the strength of queer people when we act collectively. We were going to use the text “An Army Of Lovers Cannot Fail” but my husband Frederick and I struggled to find an image to convey this message. Then I had an idea…let’s use a picture of our dear friends Gary and Bobby kissing. You see Bobby had been diagnosed with cancer a few years ago,v and the two of them went to war together. They have had to fight that war twice and I am thrilled to report they are doing great. Bobby is cancer free. We reached out to them and pitched the idea and told them we wanted to donate all sales of this shirt to the charity of their choice. They loved it and we put it into work.

This past September, just as we were discussing how to release this shirt to the public, I found myself facing my own call to arms. After being sick for a few days, my bestie Jay, who happens to be a nurse, demanded I go to the ER. While what was making me sick turned out to be a bad case of parasites, the cat scan picked up a mass on my right kidney. A follow up biopsy determined it was cancer. Fortunately it was caught very early and could be cured surgically, so on October 9th I had that demon removed. I am happy to report that I’ve been back at work and lifting again. I’ll be keeping an eye on this situation for years to come but my prognosis is excellent.

Thank God I am alive. I dodged a bullet big time. Good thing because I’m not done with you guys yet. Halloween was the twenty fourth anniversary of the incorporation of Nasty Pig and I am the luckiest guy on earth because I get to spend my days serving my people. My best is yet to come. I’ve got so much more to give. I want to dress you guys up and make you feel sexy and inspire you to follow your dreams for at least another twenty four years.

All sales (every penny and not just the “proceeds”) go to the National LGBT Cancer Network. I’m not making a sales pitch. I’m pretty sure cancer has touched each of your lives, and this is a great way to do something to help fight it while proudly showing off that we queer people have endured centuries of persecution and we still fight and beat the odds every fucking day.

We are an Army of Lovers and we cannot fail. I love you guys and I thank you for allowing me to live this most authentic incredible life. You make it possible. I am humbled by your belief in Nasty Pig.

PS...Being a pig has never let me down. Rimming literally saved my life!

Yours in sodomy,
DAVID LAUTERSTEIN
CEO, Nasty Pig Incorporated.

December 4, 2018: Army of Lovers/Letter from the CEO

A year ago, as we were designing our current Fall 2018 New World Order collection and thinking about what the mood of the country would be as the midterm elections approached, we wanted to do a t-shirt that paid tribute to the strength of queer people when we act collectively. We were going to use the text “An Army Of Lovers Cannot Fail” but my husband Frederick and I struggled to find an image to convey this message. Then I had an idea…let’s use a picture of our dear friends Gary and Bobby kissing. You see Bobby had been diagnosed with cancer a few years ago, and the two of them went to war together. They have had to fight that war twice and I am thrilled to report they are doing great. Bobby is cancer free. We reached out to them and pitched the idea and told them we wanted to donate all sales of this shirt to the charity of their choice. They loved it and we put it into work.

This past September, just as we were discussing how to release this shirt to the public, I found myself facing my own call to arms. After being sick for a few days, my bestie Jay, who happens to be a nurse, demanded I go to the ER. While what was making me sick turned out to be a bad case of parasites, the cat scan picked up a mass on my right kidney. A follow up biopsy determined it was cancer. Fortunately it was caught very early and could be cured surgically, so on October 9th I had that demon removed. I am happy to report that I’ve been back at work and lifting again. I’ll be keeping an eye on this situation for years to come but my prognosis is excellent.

Thank God I am alive. I dodged a bullet big time. Good thing because I’m not done with you guys yet. Halloween was the twenty fourth anniversary of the incorporation of Nasty Pig and I am the luckiest guy on earth because I get to spend my days serving my people. My best is yet to come. I’ve got so much more to give. I want to dress you guys up and make you feel sexy and inspire you to follow your dreams for at least another twenty four years.

All sales (every penny and not just the “proceeds”) go to the National LGBT Cancer Network. I’m not making a sales pitch. I’m pretty sure cancer has touched each of your lives, and this is a great way to do something to help fight it while proudly showing off that we queer people have endured centuries of persecution and we still fight and beat the odds every fucking day.

We are an Army of Lovers and we cannot fail. I love you guys and I thank you for allowing me to live this most authentic incredible life. You make it possible. I am humbled by your belief in Nasty Pig.

PS...Being a pig has never let me down. Rimming literally saved my life!

Yours in sodomy,
DAVID LAUTERSTEIN
CEO, Nasty Pig Incorporated.

August 22, 2018: Letter from the CEO

Nasty Pig was this dream I had in 1994 to create something authentic for my community...something we would believe in and feel. I knew it would speak visually through clothing and verbally through "love letters" and poetry, and I also knew it would invovle house music. The fact that I coudln't sing or play any instruments didn't matter. I didn't know how to make clothing or run a business either but those were just messy details I'd somewhow figure out. I wrote songs in my head and I spent the next fifteen years trying everything I could do to get them out into the world. in 2009 I finally managed to record a few and they were fucking terrible. I mean really terrible!

That same year we were getting ready to go to IML and I asked my best friend Chad Jack, who had been selling mix tapes at Nasty Pig since 1995, to make a mix CD for us to sell there. He layered a voice message I had left him over the opening track to intro the set. It sounded really cool. I told him we should do it again so I went to his house and recorded some vocals specifically for the next CD. This time he laid them over original beats and it sounded great. We put it out and people noticed. They loved it.

In 2010 we released the first official Nasty Pig track and it was huge, climbing to number one on Beatport. Then we produced another, and another, and they were hits. If you love house music and going out to clubs I guarantee you've moved to the sounds of Nasty Pig. I never talked about it much because it was my private joy...to go out and see thousands of guys wearing our gear and dancing to our beats without even knowing it. But it's time to let you know.

Today is my 49th birthday and I am proud to release our latest track and our first music video "This Little Piggy." It took twenty five years to make this particular dream come true but that's the thing about dreams my friends...if you pursue them relentlessly and never put a time limit on making them come true I promise you they will.

Now grab you headphones and prepare to be tunred the fuck up!

Yours in sodomy,
DAVID LAUTERSTEIN
CEO, Nasty Pig Incorporated.

June 19, 2018: Letter from the CEO

I am a poet. It’s the one thing I have been doing since I was a child and it continues to be the means by which I express my life’s experiences. Despite what you may see or what you may think, Nasty Pig is a facet of a poem that I am writing for the world.

Like all poems it reveals itself to both the author and the reader through symbols more so than stories, and my first Gay Pride back in 1993 was a powerful and pivotal one. While dancing on the pier in New York City with my very first boyfriend, who with me started Nasty Pig and today is my husband, I looked around at the thousands of queer people and was overwhelmed by the joy and the energy I felt. It was magic.

Prior to that moment, my only view of gay men gathered en masse was as they marched and protested to save their lives. As a closeted teenager and young adult I had seen the broadcasts of ACT UP protests and AIDS marches and my view of gay men was that of a terrified angry lot, dying in the streets, and I did not want to admit that was my destiny.

But on that day in June I saw that despite facing death right in it’s gaunt and horrific face all the time, these gay men took this moment to fearlessly celebrate their unique identity. The entire world was telling them they were paying a price for their “lifestyle choices,” but not only did they refuse to pay that price, here they were unwilling to accept that judgment. I realized that gay men were actually the strongest, most resilient and vibrant people I had ever seen.

In that moment my poet’s mind wrote that being gay is a gift from God, and my poet’s soul told me that my life’s work was to open that presence. Over the coming months I began dreaming of a world in which queer people were not tolerated or accepted, I dreamt of a world in which we were celebrated as a necessary part of society, revered and cherished for our incredible power. I was going to create something to celebrate that gift not one day a year, but every fucking day of our very fucking lives. And at the heart of that dream was to exalt the one thing that unifies every single one of us, and that is how we fuck. I wouldn’t bury the lead. I wouldn’t blend in. I wouldn’t relegate my sex to a subject not to be discussed for fear of not being accepted, because fear is the stuff of nightmares, not dreams. My love of dick cannot be removed from who I am so my dream became a poem and that poem is Nasty Pig.

So be proud of what you do in bed. Embrace it and explore it and flaunt it all you can. It’s not who you are, but it is what makes you gay, and that, my sisters and brothers, can never be taken away.

Yours in sodomy,
DAVID LAUTERSTEIN
CEO, Nasty Pig Incorporated.

June 9, 2017: Letter from the CEO

We’ve been working on this giant art project called Nasty Pig for almost twenty four years now. People often ask me if I ever imagined when we started that we would achieve so much success and last for such a long time. Truth be told, the answer is yes. Did I have any idea what our company would actually look like? No. I didn’t have a road map to success and a business plan to guide us. I didn’t have financial goals and exit strategies. All we had was a dream. And dreams are never linear and nothing makes sense as they are happening. They are just ethereal and you float through them and the impossible becomes possible. Nasty Pig is literally our dream and we are still helplessly and thankfully drifting through it.

I’m definitely not the boy I was in 1994 when we made our first pair of goggles (yes goggles). I packed them into a pink Hello Kitty knapsack and went out into the nightclubs of New York City and sold them to the hedonists dancing the night into the morning. Each and every time I sold a pair I was overjoyed and I hung out with that stranger who bought them to watch his reaction as he stared through the lenses and the lights erupted in rainbows. I asked him if they made his eyes sweat, was the elastic too tight, was he loving the way the lenses turned up his experience? I wanted to know everything not because it was a means by which to develop our product. I wanted to know if our product was making him feel amazing because that was our dream. It still is. We want to make you guys feel amazing.

That’s a much taller order now that Nasty Pig has grown into a global brand. There are so many gorgeous people in our community and we truly just want to lift all of you guys up. I mean that. We get a lot of feedback, both good and bad, and I know that from the outside looking in we might appear to be this giant company out for profit in a capitalist society. But we were, and still are, two guys, Fred and David, who wake up every day in this Great American Wet Dream hoping to give you guys our best and hear everything you have to say back because we truly do give a fuck about you.

Over the past year we stopped just hearing you though. Over the past year we really started listening. We began to make some changes and improvements and I am happy to say that you will all start to see the hard work we have been putting into Nasty Pig to make it even better. There’s a new website about to launch, an incredible Fall 2017 collection that I feel is the purest vision Nasty Pig has ever achieved, and an ethos we call C2B that summarizes the guiding principle we’ve had since day one, that at the center of this incredible dream come true is you.

Thank you guys for believing in us enough to love us, and sometimes to hate us, but to always have something to say about this dream because your belief makes us come true. People said our company would only succeed when pigs fly. Boy don’t they look small from up here now :@)

Yours in sodomy,
DAVID LAUTERSTEIN
CEO, Nasty Pig Incorporated.

June 13, 2016: Letter from the CEO

This past weekend our LGBT community was the target of the worst mass shooting in US history. Three of the issues that plague the United States…terrorism, gun violence, and hatred towards gay people…all came to a head and we lost 49 people to a man who was ignited in his rage by the sight of two men kissing. All of us here at Nasty Pig wish to send our love and support to the family and friends of the victims of the shooting in Orlando.

Some people within our community have expressed to me that Nasty Pig’s portrayal of gay men in an unapologetic sexual manner damages our standing in society. They feel that at a time when we have won our battles for acceptance we should blend in and go unnoticed. But we can never blend in by removing our desire to love and be intimate with each other from the public eye. In fact, we will only truly blend in when expressions of our physical affection for each other go unnoticed because they are seen as normal. We are gay because we desire the same sex and society must love us for who we truly are or they will hate us for who we pretended to be.

We as LGBT people have a unique opportunity because we exist in every community. We thread together white, black, asian, latin, middle eastern, christian, muslim, jewish, rich, poor. If we can stand together and eliminate homophobia in each of these communities we can truly make the world a better place. At a time when many pride organizations are discussing rebranding themselves as music festivals to be more “relevant”, I feel it is more relevant than ever that we stand up and take pride in who we are and assume our rightful place within the fabric of society.

We matter. We count. We have purpose. We have won the legal right to blend in. Now we must join together and stand out.

Yours in sodomy,
DAVID LAUTERSTEIN
CEO, Nasty Pig Incorporated.

September 4, 2015: Letter from the CEO

I know for many of you this is your last taste of summer. Same here. We at Nasty Pig spent July and August finishing up Spring 2016 and Fall 2016 is now underway. Crazy! We work a year in advance but that’s what it takes to pull this lil company off. Definitely gave myself some downtime over the past couple of months though because running Nasty Pig is not nearly as much fun as being a Nasty Pig! So yeah…bye summer. It’s been cute. But for the past twelve months we have been hard at work creating F/W 2015 and I am happy we are almost ready to explode “Nasty Pig UNCENSORED” all over you. But for now you can click here to check out some of our hot models and get your first glimpses of what’s coming. Have a great Labor Day Weekend guys. And thank you for being the most kick ass customers on earth. For real for real for real.

Yours in sodomy,
DAVID LAUTERSTEIN
CEO, Nasty Pig Incorporated.