{"id":32356,"date":"2022-12-15T18:16:52","date_gmt":"2022-12-15T23:16:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=32356"},"modified":"2022-12-15T18:16:54","modified_gmt":"2022-12-15T23:16:54","slug":"manley-underwear-aims-to-stop-the-pee-spot-and-start-a-conversation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/manley-underwear-aims-to-stop-the-pee-spot-and-start-a-conversation\/","title":{"rendered":"Manley Underwear aims to \u201cstop the Pee Spot\u201d and start a conversation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Peter Neal has worn many hats over his career, including entrepreneur and business owner. But, now that he\u2019s got a few new pairs of underwear under his belt, he has a new title on his resume: \u201cDirector of Pee-Spot Research.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not a technical term, but it\u2019s indicative of the tongue-in-cheek approach Peter, his brother Chris, and Paul Manley are taking with the launch of Manley Underwear, a new line of boxer-briefs that purports to eliminate the \u201cpee-spot\u201d for men who can\u2019t get a handle on that pesky last dribble leftover from a trip to the bathroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s also indicative of how humour helped both Peter and Paul on this unlikely journey that resulted in a novel, but most importantly useful, stocking stuffer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI guess it was in the fall of 2019 when I was out walking with Paul,\u201d says Peter Neal, co-founder of Neal Brothers Foods. \u201cHis wife six months previous to that had succumbed to mental illness and, as you can imagine, he was in a semi-depressed mood. That September I got hit with some mental illness and, as we walked and talked, we felt the support from one another. We just started using humour and one thing led to another and I remembered a skit I once wanted to submit to Saturday Night Live about men\u2019s underwear that would ensure you didn\u2019t have a pee spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe both looked to each other and said, \u2018Has this ever happened to you?\u2019 We both agreed, but nobody ever talks about it. Men don\u2019t talk about this stuff. They (also) don\u2019t talk about their mental health, so why don\u2019t we help? We though this underwear would serve not only as an essential pair of underwear that stops the pee spot, a really functional pair of underwear, but it\u2019s also a conversation starter for some of the conversations men don\u2019t like to have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, thus, Manley Barrier Apparel was born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe wanted incredibly comfortable underwear: the fabric mattered, as well as the material to be put in place. We tried three or four different iterations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The technology, they say, is \u201can invisible barrier two years in the making, that is impenetrable to drops, drips and dribbles. It acts as a shield and a safeguard from the dreaded post-shake pee spot so you can walk into any room, as proud and confident as a peacock. (See what we did there?)\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, it\u2019s hard to miss what they did there \u2013 and that\u2019s just the point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As jokey as the brand is, it\u2019s also frank and upfront, just as they feel important conversations about mental health should be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe overarching theme is vulnerability and not to be afraid to say, \u2018I\u2019m unwell.\u2019 It\u2019s an illness, not a weakness,\u201d says Peter. \u201c[This journey] has taught me a lot since I went through my depression and since I have been advocating my girls have all been affected.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When a family member received mental health treatment at the Pine River Institute near Shelburne, where the family has committed to building a new dining hall under the Neal family name, Peter says he \u201cgot a better understanding of what mental health can look like.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t need to be your badge,\u201d he says. \u201cI think some people are afraid that by talking about it they will be identified with that. It doesn\u2019t need to be that. I didn\u2019t want attention or help from the medical side of things. My family could only do so much. It is very difficult to understand it. I would say it is wonderful to get support, first and foremost. Communicate your feelings and where you\u2019re at. I would encourage the caregivers or yourself to reach out and make a phone call. I was fortunate to get proper diagnosis from one or two different psychiatrists and here I am.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of the things we want to do is create a support platform. Other platforms are out there, but one for us that will be for people to interact with circles and be a forum. This project has been a wonderful outlet for us. We all said that if this doesn\u2019t go anywhere, it\u2019s already gone far enough in terms of building friendship and support.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That being said, however, there are already plans afoot for what Peter describes as \u201cManley 2.0\u201d \u2013 no, despite the use of the word \u201cafoot\u201d socks aren\u2019t in the works (at least not yet) but rather t-shirts using the same technology that will combat pit sweat and stains. Who said variety isn\u2019t the Old Spice of life?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information on Manley Underwear, visit www.manleyunderwear.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Peter Neal has worn many hats over his career, including entrepreneur and business owner. But, now that he\u2019s got a few new pairs of underwear under his belt, he has a new title on his resume: \u201cDirector of Pee-Spot Research.\u201d It\u2019s not a technical term, but it\u2019s indicative of the tongue-in-cheek approach Peter, his brother […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":32357,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/2022-12-15-04.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-8pS","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-21 06:54:31","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}