Bar Refaeli Strips for New Underwear Enterprise

Supermodel Bar Refaeli has come out with an underwear line called Under Me, which she shows off in a tennis-themed ad campaign.

Image: Copyright: Under Me

Your secret is out, Victoria. The underwear business is taking off, with model Bar Refaeli being the latest celebrity entrepreneur to get into the game with a saucy tennis-themed ad campaign that shows off her, er…sweet spots.

Her new line, called simply Under Me, is meant to be more practical than sexy, but given that the Victoria’s Secret model is starring in the black-and-white photos that comprise her ad campaign, the line manages to be both, garnering news stories from here to the United Kingdom, where the Daily Mirror headline reads “Ace! Bar Refaeli plays tennis in her knickers.”

Described as “a new label of underwear for men and women, designed to simply fit,” the line includes men's underwear as well as women's, black-and-white cotton bras, “knickers,” and “vests” in soft cotton.

"The philosophy is that underwear should complement your body, not steal the show,” Refaeli says. "It was appealing to me to do a line of underwear from the fabric I like with the basic, comfy design I always look for, as well as underwear that can actually be delivered to your door.”

There’s been plenty of interest in underwear lately, with the launch of subscription services such as MeUndies and Manpacks delivering the goods to consumer's doors regularly.

Specialty lingerie, bridal, and swimwear represented $11.7 billion in sales in the United States for 2011 (still below the $11.8 billion it brought in back in pre-recession 2006), with lingerie making up about half of it, according to figures from IBIS World.

Victoria’s Secret dominates about 72 percent of the specialty market, and that apparently hasn't been lost on the women who have paraded down the runway and across the pages of catalogs in the retailer's intimates. Other celebrity underwear entrepreneurs include supermodel Elle MacPherson, who started her Elle MacPherson Intimates line in 1990 and found an enduring hit.

Then there’s the Brazilian Intimates lingerie line launched by Brazilian model Gisele Bündchen, who faced criticism for TV commercials that contained "discriminatory content against women." The ads urged women: "You're a Brazilian woman—use your charm" to get out of incidents such as crashing the car or maxing-out a husband's credit cards,” notes the Hollywood Reporter.

In men's underwear, the star players include TV host Mario Lopez, who showed off a six-pack and other assets in his own Rated M underwear line on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, and soccer star David Beckham, who is modeling for H&M underwear.