Hayley Besheer’s MADI Apparel is more than just great underwear
For Hayley Besheer, underwear is about more than just feeling sexy. The 26-year-old creator of MADI Apparel knows that an unrivaled pair of underpants can boost a woman’s confidence as much as a great haircut or a signature lipstick shade.
“Making women feel great about themselves is one of the main things we support,” Besheer said when I met with her and her intern, Joe Mercado, at MADI’s new West Side storefront, which opened with a First Friday celebration this month. “The MADI movement as a whole is about positivity and body awareness.”
Besheer exudes just that kind of calm self-assurance. On MADI’s opening night, she wore a poppy-colored skirt and matching lipstick, making the tall brunette easy to spot from across the room as she greeted her guests inside her clean, minimalist shop. Several varieties of black underwear were displayed on the glazed-wood table at the center of the room. Each style bore the name of an influential woman in Besheer’s life, and each made the case that MADI is the anti–Victoria’s Secret — no-frills, no-bullshit underwear that feels as good as it looks.
I first discovered MADI when I stopped by artful Crossroads lingerie shop Birdies March 5 for the brand’s retail release. (It had begun selling online last August.) An adorable, burrito-size dog surveyed the scene from an antique chair in the corner, and Besheer’s mom, Pam Besheer, thanked me for coming before I’d purchased anything. That easy warmth defines the MADI shopping experience.
With Birdies owner Peregrine Honig as my guide, I bought a pair of MADI’s basic, low-rise black briefs, as well as a sexier thong with a wide lace band. The U.S.-manufactured underwear is made from organic bamboo and floral lace fabrics, making it smooth, soft and ecofriendly. It’s also super-comfortable and stays where it’s told.
As someone who, many times, has wanted to give up on underwear altogether, I can attest that Besheer has accomplished no small feat. She has created sexy lingerie that is also totally wearable.
It’s what led Besheer to make lingerie in the first place, though, that makes her MADI — which stands for “make a difference intimate” — unique. After graduating from college, she learned the statistic that would help shape her career: At women’s shelters, underwear is the most-needed but least-donated item. Right away, Besheer, who told me that one of her family members was a victim of domestic violence, felt a personal connection and a desire to help.
“Underwear makes a woman feel confident,” she said. “No one knows it’s there, but she does. Not many people include underwear in their clothes drop-off.”
That’s why, for every pair of underwear purchased, the company donates a pair to a woman in need. This is accomplished through partnerships with several area domestic-violence shelters, including Safehome, Rose Brooks Center and Newhouse. Besheer typically donates MADI’s modest brief, but she also makes a point to give other styles, as well as excess items — pieces printed with the wrong kind of tag, for example. “We don’t want to make them [women at shelters] feel any different from the women buying it,” she said.
Going forward, Besheer plans to start donating to disaster-relief efforts and rape clinics, “hitting the sanitary need but also the intimate need,” she told me. “It’s a dream to start a company and feel passionate about it,” Besheer added. “We’re making a difference, and it’s exciting every day.”
It’s also exciting that I have a place to go when I need just the right thong to wear with my skinny jeans — and few things boost my confidence quite like that.
MADI Apparel, 1659 Summit, MADIapparel.com
