About Us

Aqua Underwear is an online store, but based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Find our garments irl at local stockist Under The Umbrella Bookstore, or at the occasional queer pop up market around town.

AU offers an alternative to the typical gendered underwear and standard sizing that leaves many bodies and identities out—instead, we create fun, affirming, fully customizable undies and garments designed for all identities and bodies! All of our apparel is handmade by Mel Martinez (they/them), a queer Chicane sewist, in their tiny sewing studio.

We currently offer a wide variety of boxer briefs—including packing, harness, and pad-compatible versions. We make compression underwear -aka tucking underwear, crop tops and strapless binders as well. We hope to soon carry compression tops, bralettes and swim wear.

Most products are available off the rack -available and ready to ship now- in sizes XS-3X and as customizable garments in all adult sizes. Our goodies come in cozy bamboo and cotton fabrics, as well as mesh, lace, and spandex. We also offer a variety of accessibility features like enclosed seams, non-elastic waistbands, and pockets for ostomy bags.

Our Values

Aqua Underwear’s primary guiding value is inclusion. Most of the intimate apparel we see is designed according to rigid ideas about gender, size and ability, and we want to be part of a future world striving to make clothing for all of the amazingly diverse bodies we live in. That’s why we’re focused on undies that not only fit well and are fun to wear, but can be endlessly customized for each unique body for a truly gender-affirming and accessible fit. We also know that most mass-market underwear options don’t represent or celebrate the experiences or needs of BIPOC and 2SQTBIPOC folks, so we prioritize them wherever we can—whether that’s through our testing processes, the models and photographers we work with, or the discounts we offer.

What’s in a name?

Now, maybe it’s just us, but we think that aqua just feels like a perfectly queer color! Its association with water reminds us of fluidity, the ebb and flow of waves, adaptability, and the depths of the unknown. Our fellow astrology aficionados will be unsurprised to find that Aqua Underwear’s creator, Mel Martinez, is also a Pisces who has always been partial to blue and green palettes. (One more thing, we’re currently laying the groundwork to offer swimwear in the future!)

Our Story

Mel Martinez (they/them), the creative force behind Aqua Underwear, has familial roots in beautiful northern New Mexico. They’re of mixed Indigenous and Spanish background and usually identifies as Chicane/x, Latine/x, a reconnecting Indigenous person, or simply “brown.” 

As Mel began revisiting their longtime sewing hobby, amidst navigating their queerness, gender expression, and desire for clothing to fit and feel a certain way, a budding fascination with custom underwear grew. How could they use their skills to create new options that didn’t seem to exist in conventional men’s or women’s clothing? How could they help other people feel more confident in their underwear and clothing too? 

Seeing Mel’s new undie obsession, many of their friends—most of them queer, non-binary, and/or trans themselves—started sharing their undie frustrations, hopes and dreams, inspiring Mel to take their idea from a personal project into a business. They’re now considering non-profit status in hopes of being able to offer more accessible gender affirming garments to queer communities.

Mel hadn’t been to school since their days at the University of Utah studying Environmental Studies and Urban Planning in the 2000’s, but braved the academic waters at Salt Lake Community College—which hosts Utah’s only Fashion Design program—to hone their sewing skills and apparel design chops. 

A couple of years later, just a few months into the pandemic, Aqua Underwear launched its first made-to-measure, gender-inclusive collection of cotton and lace boxer briefs.