Burly Bottom Designs Inside PV’s Most Unapologetic New Gay Business

Press Your Own Damn Shirt: Inside PV’s Most Unapologetic New Gay Business

Walk into most souvenir shops in Zona Romántica and you’ll find the usual suspects: tank tops with “Puerto Vallarta” splashed across the chest, generic Pride flags, maybe a cheeky magnet or two. Walk into Burly Bottom Designs when it opens this month in the Los Mercados shopping center on Aquiles Serdán, and you’ll be greeted by a bright neon sign that says “CUM RAGS.”

And that’s exactly the point. 

“I think people are going to be excited about the art that we provide,” says Jordan Lee, the artist and creative force behind Burly Bottom Designs. “I think some people will walk in and walk out. But I think that everyone that leaves will tell someone about it. Whether it’s positive, negative, shock, awe, whatever.”

Jordan and his husband Chris aren’t just opening another gay souvenir shop. They’re creating an experience: one that’s equal parts art gallery, workshop, and permission slip to be boldly, unapologetically yourself.

     

The Art of Being Seen

Jordan’s journey to becoming the artist behind Burly Bottom Designs wasn’t a straight line. Growing up in a Southern Baptist home where sex was whispered about behind closed doors, he spent decades navigating shame, secrecy, and what turned into a sex addiction. Through Sex Addicts Anonymous, he learned to reframe his relationship with sex. Moving, as the program puts it, “from shame to grace.”

Burly Bottom Designs became the unexpected outlet for that transformation.

“I don’t shame sex, I celebrate sex,” Jordan explains. “And that’s heavily influenced in my art. Even if I’m drawing something that may not be my kink, I’m celebrating someone else’s kink. I’m not doing so in the shadows. I’m unapologetic. I’m loud. I’m in your face.”

For Jordan, the art isn’t just about getting people turned on, though he hopes it does that too. It’s about giving people a way to express parts of themselves they might not have known they could show the world.

“I want them to feel maybe a little bit out of their comfort zone because that can be a good thing,” he says. “I want them to feel that somewhere, in some design, they are represented. I want them to feel that Burly Bottom Designs is a freedom of sexual expression without shame.”

The Business of Being Bold

While Jordan creates the art, Chris Lee makes the whole operation run. A marketing consultant and former real estate agent, Chris manages the catalog of nearly 2,000 items, handles logistics, and does what he calls the “gears in a clock” work — methodical, measured, always moving forward.

Chris also contributes his own creativity through text-based designs, playing with typography to make simple words into something people want to wear. But he’s discovered the brand has unlocked something deeper: a way to express himself he didn’t know he needed.

Press Your Own Damn Shirt

What sets Burly Bottom Designs apart from other gay shops in Puerto Vallarta isn’t just the art. It’s what customers get to do with it. The store offers a “Press Your Own” experience: customers browse the library of designs, select their blank tee, tank or cum rag, watch as the design is printed in real time, then prep and press it themselves.

“It’s not just a store, it’s an experience,” Jordan says. “We wanted to build something that’s memorable in Puerto Vallarta, not just get a shirt.”

About those cum rags: they’ve become something of a calling card for the brand. At their first Pride event in Houston in 2024, Jordan and Chris quickly became known as “the cum rag guys,” with people crossing the festival to find them. Unlike the thin tea towels some shops sell, Burly Bottom Designs’ cum rags are built to last: absorbent, colorful, and machine washable.

“Make a move, make a mess, make a statement,” Jordan says, describing the cum rag philosophy. “It gets noticed. It gets a laugh. It gets a comment. And sex shouldn’t always be so serious.”

The store will also carry beach towels, along with drawstring bags, gear pouches, and a selection of pre-printed grab-and-go items for customers who want something quick.

      

Finding Home in Zona Romántica

For Chris, Puerto Vallarta feels like a homecoming. He spent childhood vacations in nearby Bucerías and returned as an adult to discover the city’s vibrant queer scene. Coming from Houston, Texas, he was struck by how normalized queerness feels here, with gay businesses thriving throughout the city, not just in one neighborhood.

Jordan found his own connection to the city through art. One of his favorite pieces in the new Heatstroke collection is called “Zona Romántica,” drawn during his first visit to Puerto Vallarta while sitting at Mr. Flamingo’s. It depicts two men in an embrace, one with Jordan’s beloved tan line, with the neighborhood’s name incorporated into the design.

“To me, that’s what the embrace of the design gives off: you’re safe here. You’re welcome here. You’re loved here. You belong here.”

The Next Chapter

Opening a brick-and-mortar store in a foreign country has been both chaotic and joyful. Chris’s favorite moment so far was walking into their space for the first time after signing the lease, and realizing it was their canvas to create something entirely their own.

As they prepare to open their doors, Jordan and Chris hope to create more than just another place to shop. They want to offer something new to do, a space where people can explore their own sexual expression without apology. No matter how bold they want to be. 

“I’m excited to have Puerto Vallarta come and experience it,” Jordan says. “And I hope it helps people celebrate what makes them them. I hope it helps them find a new way to express what they love or like or want in a way that they may not have considered before.”

Because at Burly Bottom Designs, they’re not just selling cum rags and tank tops and beach towels. They’re selling permission to be seen, to be bold, to be unapologetically yourself through better fits, better art and better vibes.

Burly Bottom Designs is set to open in February 2026 at Los Mercados shopping center on Aquiles Serdán 265, Emiliano Zapata, Zona Romántica, Puerto Vallarta. The online store is currently open at www.BurlyBottomDesigns.com.

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