BLACKSBURG - Robert Clark was chagrined after buying boxers at Belk in the New River Valley Mall four years ago. The Virginia Tech senior wanted a less embarrassing, more anonymous method of purchasing his unmentionables.

Now, Clark, 27, is president of Skiviez, an online men's underwear company, and he owns more than 30 pairs of designer boxers and boxer-briefs. He talks unabashedly about the quality and comfort of his company's products: boxer-briefs, no-show briefs, thongs and anything else considered a male undergarment. Clark lost the initial woollies shame that gave him the notion for his online business - so much so that he is opening a store in Kent Square Aug. 6 that will exclusively sell men's high-end drawers, T-shirts, socks and sleepwear.

Racks of thongs, boxer-briefs, jockstraps and crewnecks will fill the racks and mannequins will sport the often-dainty undies in the 900-square-foot store.

The store, Clark said, will "offer one of the largest selections of men's underwear on the East Coast," and will have an "industrial look and feel."

Clark believes an increasing number of men who want high-quality clothing will give him a market for his first store.

"You really can't be dressed nicely without a nice base," Clark said. "Once you've felt the quality you can't go back to the cheap stuff. Some of my friends have thrown away all their underwear and just buy from me. It's a lot of money, but it's definitely worth it."

He estimates that his 2004 online sales will reach between $360,000 and $400,000. Sales have already passed last year's record of $150,000.

John Politis, director of the Business Technology Center at Virginia Tech, said Clark's transition from online to Kent Square will depend on the store's marketing strategy and ability to compete with stores offering cheaper underwear.

Even though some of his boxers go for $26 and T-shirts for $35, Clark is confident that the pricey nature of his product won't matter to his customers.

"The customers we are targeting are guys who know their bodies and really want good clothing," Clark said. "Our store will appeal to brand consumers."

Wholesalers such as Calvin Klein, Champion and Jocko control Skiviez's prices, and Clark is counting on his ability to provide a wide selection of men's designer underwear to get people to look past the price and give him the competitive edge he needs.

Over the next five years, Clark, a Blacksburg resident, hopes to launch stores in major markets along the East Coast, including Washington, D.C., and Baltimore.

But Skiviez did not start as smoothly as Clark expected. He sold about $500 worth of underwear in his first year, maxed out his credit card and was broke when he moved his company from his downtown Blacksburg apartment to his parents' basement in Roanoke.

"I didn't know anything about the industry," said Clark, who had written a 50-page business plan for an online men's underwear store during his senior year at Tech. "I thought, 'Clothing, how hard can that be?'"

Clark coerced friends into becoming his first customers, but his own brand of underwear, Skiviez, was not selling well.

He realized that selling popular designer brands was the way to make it, so he spent hours on the telephone, trying to become retailers for brands such as Hanes and Everlast.

Bobby Clark, Robert Clark's father, is Skiviez's bookkeeper. He initially did not like the Skiviez idea and wanted his son to use his management science and information technology degree in the corporate world.

"I knew it would be a tough row to hoe," Bobby Clark said. The son, Robert, likes to talk big, and dreams of having 500 Skiviez stores.

The father, Bobby, hopes the company turns a profit for the first time this year.

With all income going back into inventory and the new store, cash is scarce.

"But he should turn it around this year," Bobby Clark said. "I think it has potential to be a money-maker. I think if he can draw the Virginia Tech students in there, then it should be successful."

Robert Clark said his company is a "men's Victoria's Secret," and he sees himself opening stores in malls throughout America. He believes the market for high-priced, designer men's underwear is growing.

According to the NPD Group, a market research firm, men's underwear sales overall have been flat in 2004, generating $3.2 billion, up less than 1 percent from 2003.

Clark said he is just glad sales did not go down because sales of men's clothing across the board have been flat since the economy has been weak.

Clark is transitioning from online sales to a brick-and-mortar store because without a retail location, many of the top lines of underwear would not sell to him.

"Pretty much as soon as they heard 'store' and 'college students,' they signed up," Clark said.

Clark's online business runs out of the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center and employs seven people, including five Tech students and a high school student who help him package orders and maintain the inventory.

The laid-back office has a copy and mail business in the front room, but behind a partition, shelves of male undergarments wait to be shipped all over the world. A large portion of Skiviez's sales come from Europe, because of the weak American dollar compared to the euro, and Japan, where American products are difficult to find.

Clark's corner office looks out over the Virginia Tech-Montgomery Executive Airport.

He said he wistfully watches airplanes take off, imagining one will be his some day. But first, Clark needs to sell more underwear.