California Muscle, Inc., is a clothing company that sells men's underwear and swimwear. The company received some exposure in the media when its underwear was featured on the Showtime show, Queer as Folk, and when one of its models, Evan Marriott, was selected as Joe Millionaire

Joe Millionaire

Joe Millionaire is an American reality television show that was broadcast on Fox beginning in January 2003. It was broadcast in the UK that same year...

 on the Fox TV show of the same name.

History

Based in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, California Muscle, Inc., was started in 1985 and originally sold workout wear to bodybuilders at Venice Beach. Like International Male

International Male

International Male is or was a mail-order vendor of men's casual, office-casual and some gallant clothing which are or were at various price levels and which are and were generally geared to the dandy. The company is owned by New Jersey-based group Hanover Direct, and has existed since the late...

, their mail order catalog features large, muscular models

Model (person)

A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....

 and the company is quite popular with the gay

Gay

Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

 subculture

Subculture

In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong.- Definition :...

. Their shift in clientele pushed their clothing designs in the direction of fetish

Sexual fetishism

Sexual fetishism, or erotic fetishism, is the sexual arousal a person receives from a physical object, or from a specific situation. The object or situation of interest is called the fetish, the person a fetishist who has a fetish for that object/situation. Sexual fetishism may be regarded, e.g...

 wear with faux leather clothes and underwear and swimwear that include male enhancing features

Cock ring

A cock ring, or cockring, is a ring that is placed around a man's penis, usually at the base, primarily to slow the flow of blood from the erect penile tissue, thus maintaining erection for a much longer period of time....

.

External links

• California Muscle official site
• The Smoking Gun article that broke the story on Joe Millionaire modeling for California Muscle
• Entertainment Weekly article mentioning California Muscle and Joe Millionaire