Loading...
Loading...
On-Air Promo Creative 115x175
|| Business ||
1 2 3 4 NEXT  Page 1 of 4

Forty Under 40: Business

David Lauterstein heads up an impressive list of out business professionals that includes Betty Young, Scott Gatz, and Chris Allen.



David Lauterstein | Fashion entrepreneur | 39 | New York City

Remember FUBU ("For Us By Us"), the African-American apparel company? Nasty Pig, purveyor of playful, hypermasculine gear, from jeans to harnesses, serves a similarly empowering purpose for a segment of gay consumers. In fact, the grassroots, DIY spirit of early hip-hop promotion hugely influenced CEO David Lauterstein when he cofounded Nasty Pig in 1994 with Fred Kearney, now creative director and his husband. As a music merchandiser, Lauterstein marketed Madonna's "MA1" bomber jackets for the Blond Ambition tour. He then began selling prism defraction goggles to clubbers at Limelight and used the proceeds to buy fabric to create the first Nasty Pig T-shirt. More naughty than raunchy, it featured four pigs in a pile on front. "It really struck a chord," Lauterstein says. He and Kearney quickly opened a storefront in Chelsea. Today, Nasty Pig is also available online and in about 40 retailers worldwide, with an ever-expanding product line, and the company had its best year ever in 2008 -- not a banner year for most. For a business with such a rough-and-ready image, Nasty Pig has a disarmingly touching backstory. Lauterstein always aspired to be an out businessman. "I wanted to be able to go to my parents' house in Boca West and chat with their friends about Nasty Pig and to have it be a real business." His most loyal customers also know of the love story at the heart of the brand. "None of this happens without me and my man," he says of Kearney, "my first boyfriend. He took my virginity! We're just two guys making it on our own. There may be rubber sheets on the bed, but that doesn't mean that there isn't a whole lot of love in the room."

Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Twitter. Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Facebook. 1 2 3 4 NEXT  Page 1 of 4



More Online Only
  • Music Thicke and Juicy

    Sexy soul singer Robin Thicke opens up about his Precious wife, homophobia in the music industry, and the gay men who’ve shaped his life and love since childhood. 

  • Internet Herman on Why He Wants to Stop H8

    Fitness trainer, Real World alum, and marriage equality advocate Scott Herman took some time between crunches to tell The Advocate that his concern for gay rights isn't manufactured, and he doesn't mind men checking him out.

  • News Celebration of Courage Not So Courageous

    Advocate contributor Michael Lucas says the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission needs to be doing more to stop violence against gays and lesbians in countries "oppressed by Islam."

  • Commentary The Truth Behind Her Name Was Steven

    Advocate contributor Eden Lane says CNN's Her Name Was Steven will help raise the visibility of trans people on TV, but the most compelling part of Susan Stanton's journey was left to a title card at the end of the film.

  • Television Laverne, Surely

    I Want to Work for Diddy alum Laverne Cox leads a trio of transgender ladies in VH1’s Transform Me, a new makeover show that flatters her hooker-heavy résumé.

  • Music Cherie’s Jubilee

    With The Runaways, the new film about her life with Joan Jett, pioneering rock star Cherie Currie is enjoying a renaissance ... with a little help from Dakota Fanning.

  • Activism Sex-Ed Student Turns Teen Activist

    When sex education classes at Danny Sparks's high school failed to address the issues important to him, he took matters into his own hands ... and became an activist in the process.

  • Photography Slideshow Flag Artist Spotlight: Ryan Colford

    From his "candy shoppe" line — sweet treats made oh-so sexy — to his black and white studies of the male form, photographer Ryan Colford exposes the beauty of the male body.

  • Commentary What Massa Could Learn From Ashburn

    COMMENTARY: Matthew S. Bajko says Republican California state senator Roy Ashburn deserves praise for coming out of the closet despite his antigay voting record. Now, if only former congressman Eric Massa would follow his lead.

  • Music The Truth About Tracy and Kim

    Don’t be tardy for this party! DJ Tracy Young comes clean — mostly — about her rumored lesbian relationship with Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kim Zolciak.

  • News Video Content Flag Kids Say the Darndest Things

    Micah Schraft and his boyfriend, John, were filming Micah's family at Thanksgiving when the 5-year-old son of a family friend wanted to know if the two were husbands. The result is a video you have to see. 

  • Commentary The Importance of Being Counted

    With benefits from boosting hate-crimes and marriage equality laws to simply letting legislators know gay Americans indeed exist, the 2010 Census is a chance to stand up and be counted.

1037 COVER X135 | ADVOCATE.COM