Culprit Underwear Approaches Sustainability With a Touch of Humor
By Andrew Asch
Using sustainable fabrics for jeans, T-shirts and underwear is usually serious business, but the Los Angeles–headquartered brand Culprit Underwear has developed a niche using humorous graphics to sell its ecologically sound, made–in–Los Angeles products.
Filmmakers Dylan Trussell and David Dinetz started working on the underwear brand in 2019 as a side hustle. They continued to develop Culprit, even as their scripted comedy project, “Florida Man,” was going into production. However, the project went into hiatus when the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered film and television productions. Trussell and Dinetz found that they suddenly had a lot of time for their hobby project, which they believe has some similarities to filmmaking.
Culprit is the first apparel venture for the duo, which they currently sell on their direct-to-consumer channel, culpritunderwear.com . “Underwear is the perfect canvas for creativity. You can shoot an action movie in your underwear,” Dinetz said. Trussell further described their creative process. “We ask, ‘Could this pattern be a TV show?
Does it tell a story?’” Humor is the main message they want to deliver. One graphic, called Get It Kraken, shows a woman scuba diver hunting a Kraken sea monster. Another, called Lizard King, shows a giant lizard fighting […]