Ask a Shop Clerk: Alexis Baternel

Photo: Danny Kim/New York Magazine

What’s the difference between French and American tastes in underthings?
In Europe, our most popular prints are strawberries and stars. In the U.S., we have a lot of food prints—cupcakes, doughnuts, bananas.

Is that your way of telling Americans we’re fat?
The prints play on American culture. There’s also a Brooklyn graffiti print and one with magazine cutouts for Fashion Week.

What sets Pull-Ins apart from standard bras and tighty whities?
It’s not plain cotton underwear; it’s fashion underwear.

Who buys fashion underwear?
Young people, mostly businessmen and -women. We’re not that cheap, so it’s usually someone who wants to splurge. A lot of women come in and say, “Wow, I want to see my man in this underwear.” It’s a good surprise gift.

Ask a Shop Clerk: Alexis Baternel