“We never lose sight of the fact that sexy is always in.”

As the name suggests, Magic Silk is a brand born of the lingerie and silk fashion market. However, the collection has come to embrace a much larger selection of fabrics and products since its inception. In combination with twin brand Male Power, the company now has something for pretty much every taste. In our interview with Jeff Baker, CEO and son of the original founder of Male Power, we look back at the history of the company and pinpoint what makes these products special in today’s lingerie market.

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With over twenty-five years on the market, Magic Silk is one of the most seasoned companies in the lingerie market. Before we go into what the company has to offer today, could you tell us about the origins?
Jeff Baker: Magic Silk was formed at the end of 1992, after I had spent 10 years working in my family business, Male Power, which was started by my father, Sam Baker, in 1975. It was Male Power that paved the way for Magic Silk.

In the early days of Magic Silk, I was reselling silk boxer shorts and quickly branched out into men’s thongs and briefs and kimonos. From there, we expanded to women’s silk lingerie. Everything began in the basement of my home. We moved into our first commercial building in 1994.

How have the company and the market changed since then?
In the early years, we offered purely silk lingerie and loungewear. If it was not made of 100% silk, we did not sell it. In the 90s, there were many small lingerie boutiques scattered throughout the United States. Most of these stores did not carry any selection of adult products or extremely limited adult-related products. They were mostly traditional and boutique-style lingerie stores selling a broad range of lingerie and our silk lingerie fit in nicely.

As the adult segment of the market started to open up, these stores were transitioning from strictly hard goods to include soft goods. We recognised the market was shifting and demanding sexier product. Silk still had its place, but it was starting to shrink back. We began the process of evolving from our traditional silk line to more risqué fabrics and body styles. Exposed lingerie by Magic Silk filled the void. The adult stores were requiring packaging for all lingerie whereas in the past, most lingerie was sold on hangers. This packaging trend has become strong ever since. In recent years, there has been a trend to shift a little more back to hanging for a more upscale merchandised look, but box lingerie is still dominant.

The adult chain stores soon became the best outlet for our sexy lingerie. As the adult market was shifting’s towards lingerie, the small lingerie boutiques needed to innovate and start offering adult product in order to keep their businesses profitable. Those that didn’t follow this trend did not survive.

Which philosophies or guidelines are at the heart of Magic Silk and how do they shape the company and its products?
The keyword in the company is collaboration. It’s all about empowering the team to work harmoniously to conquer the challenges that exist day-to-day. We remind ourselves that we are and want to be different from the competition. It’s important that we stand out in an exceptional way. We service our customers like nobody else. Our customers’ needs and goals are constantly on our minds. The relationships we have are very strong and critical to our success.

Today, Magic Silk offers a whole range of collections. Could you give us a brief introduction to your portfolio?
All collections originate with the sourcing of soft and stretchy unique sexy fabrics. We offer many varieties of mesh and lace since those fabric types have always been a mainstay in our industry. Our Liquid Onyx collection is a wet look fetish type group that is very popular in our industry. Fishnet and seamless styles are also strong in our niche market. Fantasy dress-up plays an important role as well as our Lust fetish line from our sister company, Comme-Ci Comme-Ca. Male Power also falls under the Comme-Ci Comme-Ca umbrella, and it boasts the largest variety of sexy men’s underwear in the world.

How do you decide which lines of new lingerie to add to your portfolio?
It’s important to follow industry trends and anticipate others. Our close relationships with our customers yield valuable feedback and helps to steer us in the proper direction. Our antenna is always up looking for new ideas for our next round of development. We also allocate time for collaboration sharing the feedback we gather to formulate new plans for development.

Which design aspects are most important to you when creating new lingerie?
We are always influenced by what’s trending. We never lose sight of the fact that sexy is always in. Unique fabrics play an integral role in our development. We also embrace versatile styles that can be worn in different ways.

The Male Power brand, which was merged with Magic Silk in 2000, has an even longer company history. What does the brand stand for today?
Innovative and cutting-edge design while maintaining comfort through high-end sexy and soft touch fabrics. Male Power is known to have the largest selection of men’s underwear in the world. We have a very loyal following as result of our consistency of quality products.

Apart from the obvious differences in design and product range, is the men’s lingerie market very different from the female lingerie market for you?
The men’s and women’s market have a strong overlap, however Male Power has a very unique group of accounts, many of which are catering strictly to a gay clientele.

Where can Magic Silk and Male Power be bought in Europe? Are you working with distributors here?
Our brands/products can be purchased through Shots distribution out of the Netherlands and also Dildos assorted in Barcelona. Kevco from the UK also distributes our brands in Europe along with a few other smaller distributors.

Your company is based in Hauppauge, NY. Are American tastes different from those of Europeans when it comes to lingerie?
There’s a strong overlap with successful styles in the US and in Europe. However, there are also differences. Cupless and crotchless styles are very popular in the US across the board. Such styles sell well in Europe, however, that is not the main focus. Wet look is a category that sells all over the world. There are differences in taste when it comes to certain fashion colours. The US tends to embrace more flashy colours that are trending with shorter lifespans than European accounts do.

What can you tell us about your plans for the future of Magic Silk and Male Power?
We will continue to stick to our principles and never stray from the philosophical foundation that has brought us success; strong customer relations.

Brand recognition is an ongoing pursuit. We will be keeping our product lines affordable and maintaining our high-value standards.

More varieties of POP displays will be developed over the next two years.

We just relaunched a new Male Power site and are now developing a brand-new custom Magic Silk site that we expect to launch summer 2020.