The men's innerwear and comfort wear space has seen the emergence of new-age D2C startups such as XYXX, DaMENSCH, and Bummer, competing on product innovation and brand-led growth.
While XYXX and DaMENSCH have achieved meaningful scale, Bummer continues to operate at a relatively smaller base and remains in an early growth phase.
XYXX outpaced DaMENSCH in scale as its operating revenue surged 46% to Rs 187 crore in FY25 from Rs 128 crore in FY24, while DaMENSCH grew 34% to Rs 118 crore. The gap in scale remains significant, with XYXX generating nearly 1.6X of DaMENSCH's revenue.
The expense breakup highlights contrasting cost structures between the two. XYXX incurred higher raw material costs at Rs 99 crore compared to Rs 69.5 crore for DaMENSCH, in line with its larger scale. It also spent Rs 50 crore on advertising, almost 2X of DaMENSCH's Rs 27.5 crore.
However, DaMENSCH reported higher employee benefit expenses at Rs 29 crore versus Rs 26 crore for XYXX, commission expenses for both remained in a similar range of Rs 14-18 crore.
Overall, XYXX's total cost stood at Rs 217 crore in FY25 while Damensch recorded a total expense of Rs 178 crore in the same period.
Both companies remained loss-making, though XYXX showed a sharper improvement. It reduced its net loss by 28% to Rs 25.5 crore in FY25 from Rs 35.5 crore in FY24, whereas DaMENSCH reported a marginal decline in losses to Rs 57 crore from Rs 60 crore.
XYXX's expense-to-operating revenue ratio stood at 1.16 in FY25, while DaMENSCH remained elevated at 1.51. XYXX reported current assets of Rs 161 crore, substantially higher than DaMENSCH's Rs 66 crore.
*pointer-events-auto scroll-mt-[calc(var(--header-height)+min(200px,max(70px,20svh)))]" data-scroll-anchor="true" data-testid="conversation-turn-8" data-turn="assistant" data-turn-id="request-WEB:3146383d-6b1f-4a6c-943b-9211d361d3d2-9" dir="auto"> .On the other hand, Bummer remains a smaller, early-stage player, with revenue growing 22% to Rs 11 crore in FY25, while losses doubled to Rs 4 crore. In contrast, Freecultr is scaling faster, on track to reach around Rs 50 crore ARR in FY26 with 2X YoY growth and maintaining EBITDA profitability.
The prognosis for these players remains a tough grind ahead, as larger incumbents, some of whom were slow to react, have got their own strategies in place now. While a leading player like Page Industries owned Jockey continues to offer minimal discounting to keep margins up, focusing instead on a wider portfolio, other players have been more willing to take the fight to the startups.
Profitability might seem close, but can only come with a moderating in growth. Make-or-break time might be closer than many imagine for the startup players in this segment, as they balance scale ambitions with the need to tighten unit economics and preserve capital.