Hello, girls! Bodysculpting underwear has long been the preserve of women, but male vanity is catching up with a range of support clothing to give an extra lift to rears and torsos.

Sacked City bankers needing a helping hand to look young and fit at job interviews are among those rushing to buy what is delicately called bodysculpture underwear. It promises to give a man a derrière similar to Michelangelo’s David.

No one dares to call them girdles because men would run a mile. “Shapewear”, “support boxers” or “compression shorts” are among the names preferred. Long gone are the days when men’s underwear came in two styles and one of those was clean. Now it is not just Jeremy Paxman who believes that men deserve more from their pants.

The growth in sales of men’s pants is outstripping that of women’s lingerie in Britain’s £3.3 billion underwear market, even though women still spend three times as much as men each year. Advertisers are borrowing from the tactics they used so successfully with the Wonderbra advertisements featuring Eva Herzigova and the slogan, “Hello, boys”.

According to Mintel, the market research firm, there was a 15.6% increase in the number of men’s undergarments sold in Britain between 2003 and 2007. Last year the value of women’s lingerie sales rose 2.6%. In America, men’s underwear sales rose by 7.8% in 2005-7 and 2.3% for women. One firm, G-Storm, offers rear-padded boxers to put “more junk in your trunk”.

After doing a roaring trade in internet sales from America, the Flashback Butt Lifting Technology Boxer, the market leader in bodysculpting, will arrive here next month and will sell at a bottom line of £24 for a pair.

The stretchy bodyshaping brief has a built-in elastic sling to lift and perk up a sagging backside by up to an inch. It is the creation of Andrew Christian, one of America’s leading underwear designers.

“From the outside the Flashback looks like normal underwear,” said Christian, 30. “But on the inside it has hidden strapping that lifts and supports the buttocks. It is a bit like a push-up bra for women, but without the padding.

“Instead of a lot of work at the gym, it’s much easier to just buy a product that gives you the look of a bubble butt.”

Ricky Gervais, the comedian, is getting some of the credit for breaking the taboo in Britain over “mirdles” — men’s girdles — after his character wore one in a desperate attempt to get a part meant for someone 10 years younger in the last series of Extras, his television show.

The Core Precision undershirt, which will “visibly streamline and tone” the upper torso, goes on sale in Britain next month. It works like a boneless girdle, using high-tech soft fabrics rather than whalebones to flatten man boobs and beer bellies into “rock solid definition”. Some claim it can take inches off the waistline; others that it just takes your breath away.

Jeremy James, owner of I Want Pants in Neath, south Wales, will take delivery of the first Flashbacks in Britain after Christmas. “We have noticed a big increase in vanity underwear. Men are conscious of looking their best for job interviews and are investing in best quality underwear,” he said.

Additional reporting: John Harlow

Sorry, Dad, no present

Husbands, fathers and boyfriends are likely to be the biggest losers this Christmas as parents skimp on their own presents and splash out on their children.

Sainsbury’s said toy sales were 30% higher this Christmas than last year, while Verdict Research said it had noticed a 10% slowdown in typical presents for men, such as clothes, male toiletries, gadgets and electrical goods. Nat Wakely, a director at John Lewis, said sales of menswear this year were down by 7%, but only 3% down for womenswear.