If you are anywhere in the States I swear it’s a freakin’ heatwave. From the West to the South East. Temperatures in Atlanta have been 90 degrees plus and with 80-90% humidity. It makes going outside miserable. Also, in the west such as AZ, NV and CA it’s been at or near record temperatures. It makes you want to wear the least amount of clothes possible.

However, many out there has a dress code for work. Meaning, it could be a uniform, suit or business casual. There is no way around it. You can wear underwear that will keep you cool throughout the day. There are several ways to choose the best underwear for a cool day!

The first is fabric. Unlike the old days, men’s underwear now comes in so many different fabrics. One of my all time favorites I love to wear in the summer is Modal. It’s lightweight, breathes and feels barely there. It is the “perfect” fabric for hot and humid weather. N2N Bodywear and Cocksox have created underwear out of the fabric and it’s in my summer underwear drawer. Unfortunately, the Cocksox Backstage isn’t made anymore but the briefs are ideal. I’m sure your favorite brand has modal in many pairs.

Another fabric to choose is mesh. I’m not talking the 100% see through but more of the sports mesh line. It’s a solid fabric with small holes in it. One current example is the Andrew Christian Blow Mesh Boxer. AC has always done mesh. While I know mesh is not for everyone but I think it’s something to consider!

The last way you can keep cool is by the cut of your underwear. Go with the dare to bare pairs. I”m talking thongs, jocks and anything skimpy. The less coverage the more airflow you will have down there. One thing I really hate is having to wear long boxer briefs on a hot day. It’s annoying AF. My wearing of jocks go up in the summer. One of my favorites is the Papi Premium Cotton Jock. It has a small waistband with matching leg straps.

We would love to hear some of your favorite summer underwear you wear. Leave a comment or let us know on social.

I”m running a bit behind on reporting the results. Coming down with Bronchitis for about two months made me not want to touch Excel to do the tabulations. There is still much more to do but here are the initial results. I hope you’re ready for an amazing slide show of graphs! Graphs are super exciting and sexy… NOT. But here is your peek in the other readers underwear drawers.

Most guys have 20-70 pairs in their collections. Which makes up about 50% of our readers. However, we have 21% who have 150 pairs or more. This number shows we have some underwear super fans!

How often do you guys buy underwear? The results are much of what I expected. It’s every few weeks to months almost ties every few months. Very few of you guys buy weekly.

How do you buy Underwear? Do you buy it on sale, at regular price? We are curious. Most of you buy a mix of on sale and at regular price. That’s the way I buy it. If it’s a pair or brand I really want or like. I will pay full price. Sales are important to you guys but not the only factor.

What is your favorite style to wear? This year we gave you a few options to choose from. Again the briefs and bikinis rank as the top two pairs. However, thongs have come up big this year and is a close third. If this keeps up they will overtake bikinis. Also, Jocks were high on the list. It surprised me it was so high.

What do you wear on a regular basis? This is what do you wear and what’s in your collection. It almost mirrors the one above. The boxer brief is higher in this than favorite styles. But Briefs still are the top style.

Do you wear more than one pair a day? 44% of you guys said you do. We will be talking more about this in a future post. We asked why you do or do not wear more than one pair a day.

Who Influences your buying decisions? I’m happy to see Underwear blogs. We try to expose you to new brands and styles. But Brands from emails and significant other rounds our the top 3. I’m a little surprised that reviews didn’t rank higher.

Has UNB influenced your buying decisions? This is something we have heard anecdotally but not directly from readers at large. It was great to see that 75% of you said we influence what you buy. We will go into more detail soon and hope to keep influencing you guys.

Where do you buy your underwear? We changed up this question this year. Instead of asking you on a scale we just wanted to know which you shop. Most of you shop online via an online store or brand site. They were by in large the two biggers. Also you guys like discount sites like Cheapundies. The department store number was higher than I remember. But you can get some good undies there.

Have you ever worn a swim brief? You guys really are taking the UNB Swim Brief Challenge. The number is going up. More of you say you wear them all the time. Also, more say you wear them at private pools. And coming in third were guys who want to wear them. We are going to continue this and share great swimwear with you.

What swimwear do you wear? Most of you wear trunks and shorts. While over 1/4 wear swim briefs. We are glad only 19% wear board shorts. We are accomplishing out goal. Also, more are wearing swim thongs.

What type of models do you want to see. Most want to see a mix of real, up and coming and professional odels. While a big group want to see real guys. We are working on that more and more. This has remained unchanged in the last few years.

What challenges do you face loving undies? This is changing more are reporting none. It seems slowly the world of men’s underewar is becoming something that is normal.

Lastly, what fetishwear do you guys like? Most like spandex and singlets, followed by leather and Lingerie or lace. We will cover these more this year. But we want to hear from you guys when we do!

Here are the overall results. We hope you enjoy this look at your fellow UNB’ers underwear drawer.

Before I get started with the post here is the info about this video:

At Broadway Bares 2017, a shirts-versus-skins lacrosse scrimmage heated up the stage when Anastasia‘s Kyle Brown coached a crew of sweaty, muscled men. Ericka Hunter and Katie Webber gave the game co-ed flair as they strutted and stripped their protective gear in the athletic number. “Scrimmage” was choreographed by Charlie Sutton.

Produced by and benefiting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Broadway Bares: Strip U raised $1,568,114 in two performances on June 18, 2017 at New York City’s Hammerstein Ballroom. Broadway Bares: Strip U was directed by Nick Kenkel, who also created the Strip U concept.

“Scrimmage”
Assistant Choreographers: Lindsay Janisse, Mayumi Miguel
Costume Designer: Jennifer Jacob
Assistant Costume Designer: Michael Johns
Hair Designer: Brian Strumwasser
Key Makeup Artist: Ashley Tindal
Projection Designers: Kristen Ferguson, Aaron Rhyne
Music Editor: Randy Bettis
Performers: Kyle Brown, Cameron Burke, Josh Cotham, Ericka Hunter, Ryan Jackson, Justin Mock, Jamie Patterson, Pedro Rangel, Paul Romero Jr., Demetrius Shields, Cameron Turner, Chris VanDenhende and Katie Webber

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS is one of the nation’s leading industry-based, nonprofit AIDS fundraising and grant-making organizations. By drawing upon the talents, resources, and generosity of the American theatre community, since 1988 BC/EFA has raised more than $285 million for essential services for people with AIDS and other critical illnesses across the United States.

I have been following Broadway Bares for a few years. BB for short, is a show where broadway actors/dancers put on to raise money for AIDS/HIV charities. As the name suggests the stars get naked by the end. But before they do they usually strip down to a jock or thong.

The reason I like it is, the show is just fun. It’s sexy and it shows how underwear in a good light. It shows that thongs and jocks are sexy and should be worn. I think if we had more shows that do this we would have greater acceptance in underwear in general across the general public. This is just my opinion. And great job this year to Broadway Bares!

If you like the video go to the Broadway Bares YouTube channel to see more videos from this year or previous years.

One style of underwear that is often overlooked is the bikini brief. Many would just wear briefs if they wanted that cut of underwear, and others would wear something like a thong if they’re going for the exoticness factor. I know some are hesitant to buy bikini briefs because the name implies they’re feminine in some way. But I believe you really can’t get much better than bikini briefs. I love them because they’re somehow exotic and unique, yet still comfortable and supportive.

For one, they make you feel and look sexy. They kind of remind me of what a bodybuilder would wear in a competition, which is very appealing to me. Like a good pair of briefs, they allow you to show off your thighs. Overall, it’s clear that when others see you in this pair, all eyes will be on you. If you don’t feel the above when wearing one, it could be used as a good motivator to get fit.

Usually the material used in bikini briefs is more of a polyester blend, which is something I personally like. This is also beneficial for hotter climates because it provides more ventilation. For this reason, they’re also an ideal underwear for working out. My ideal pair is underwear I can wear running errands, working out, and when I’m about to make love and it works perfectly for each. Bikini briefs definitely fit the bill because they’re very comfortable due to their cut and material, good for working out because of the breathability, and good for making love because it’s sexy and skimpy. Few other pairs could say the same thing.

I hope that more brands start making bikini briefs and more guys realize how great they are. Even cheaper brands like Fruit of the Loom make good bikini briefs, which says a lot about how comfortable and appealing they are.

I have a problem:

I have a problem shopping online for underwear, which perhaps puts me in the bottom 5% of underwear shoppers. I am very lucky to be living in a city that has a good little underwear store and I’m close enough to a (paradoxically) smaller big city with a bigger underwear store. So yes, I am spoiled and I know it. Actually, Seattle has two places that sell top quality brands and styles that one would not find in a Macy’s (if yours has not closed) or a Nordstroms.

So, given my ability to shop in person perhaps it is not too surprising that I have an issue shopping online. However, it persists. This week I visited both the bigger store in Portland (Under U 4 Men) and their smaller store in Seattle. The two combined have been getting a generous percentage of my paychecks for almost a decade now. The issue that I ran into: I couldn’t find any thongs.

Yes, thongs. They are not my everyday style and I only get in “moods” to wear them a few times a month but none the less, when I want one, I want one. I have some great Thongs from N2N, Cockstocks, even Male Power but I like variety and I wanted more of them. And neither store had very many and the selections were fairly uninspiring. And I get it, they aren’t the hottest selling men’s style so it makes sense not to spend much floor space or inventory on em.

Thus, to online, I turned. But where? Often when I shop online I go to specific brand’s websites like N2N, Baskit, Timoteo, Garcon Model, etc. and hit up their SALES sections. But even after bouncing from a few websites I couldn’t get anything to speak to me. So, I turned to the mega sites, the ones that have EVERYTHING for discounts. And there I had another issue, TOO MUCH! I was paralyzed by choice.

Even just when doing a search on Amazon there were issues. Either I couldn’t get a good feel for the pair and thus couldn’t pull the trigger OR the seller seemed less than quality. I like quality underwear and I want them to last so when someone is selling a pair for $4.25 I’m basically counting that as a “Two wear pair” and I don’t want that.

Indeed, I have a problem. I tweeted about this a couple times (@underloverwear) and got some helpful thoughts from people (Thanks, @underweardude!) but still, I haven’t been able to order anything. I want that instore experience, I want to see and be spoken to by a pair. And therefore, it is really hard for me to shop online for underwear.

I imagine I will eventually either take a chance and buy something online or just stumble upon something that really does grab my attention online but until that day I’m going to enjoy being spoiled by my stores and hope that a pair finds me.

Do you have a fool proof site that you love? Let us know in the comments!

BY BEAU BRIEFS

It’s the start of swimwear season. Memorial day is the “official” swimwear start of the summer. It’s time to make sure you have a few pairs of swimwear for the summer. Don’t rely just on one pair to last the entire summer. One pair that is for the more adventurous is the Cocksox Sheer Swim Brief in the Prism print.

I hear many of you going, wait a minute, you said sheer in swimwear? That’s right, this is a mesh pair of swimwear. It’s noted that Cocksox says the pair is more see through than the pictures show. We have shot this pair in our swimwear guide and I didn’t see anything I wasn’t supposed too.

This pair is a show off pair because of two things. The first we mentioned is the mesh fabric. Which you may show off quite a bit. The second is the pair has the original pouch. Over the last few years, Cocksox has made some more mainstream swim without the bulge. This one has the awesome pouch that will show off all you have!

Cocksox is becoming a brand that is really embracing prints in swimwear. They aren’t the typical tropical prints. They are geometric and fun prints. I really love them and think they are making statement pieces for the beach. It’s amazing to see what they come up with. Plus they are willing to take risks and do new and interesting things. They continually produce swim thongs and made swimwear out of neoprene.

If you are looking for something bright and fun, the Prism swim brief is definitely for you. I wouldn’t recommend this as your first pair unless you’re super confident in who you are and are willing to have everything on display. Also, we would recommend this for a private pool or nude beach. You could get into trouble on a public beach or lake. But, that’s up to you if you want to dare that. I hope you check this pair out.

The Prism swim brief is available for $42 at the Cocksox site. Made out of 75% Polyester 25% Elastane. Made in sizes small – X-Large

Where do you guys shop? I wanted to give a quick look at more of the UNB Reader Survey. The results are in line with previous years. More of you guys shop online than in person. There can be two reasons for that. The first is that you don’t have any good places to buy underwear. The second is you may not feel comfortable buying a thong in a regular store. But if you are the second, most people working the stores don’t care, they have seen it all.

Here are your favorite stores to shop!

1. Online stores – 78% of you guys shop at online stores
2. Official Brand sites – 66% shop brand sites
3. Online Discount sites – 36%
4. Department Stores – 35%
5. Underwear Specialty Stores – 32%
6. Closeout Stores – 23%
7. Discount stores – 14%

One thing that will be interesting to see is how many of you guys shop Amazon. That will be added next year. The official sites seemed higher to me than I thought you guys would shop, but it shows most of you guys prefer to shop online!

We will have more very soon from our survey. But these are like a sneak peek into your fellow readers underwear drawers!

Today is Jockstrap Wednesday. They day we celebrate jocks of all kinds and varieties. You can wear them to work, the gym or just around the house. For some time, I have been hearing fewer guys wearing jocks. In 2009 was the Year of the Jock on UNB. It was the first really big year of fashion jocks. That year EVERYONE had jocks. We were leaving behind the classic and entering a new phase.

Since 2009 more guys have turned to thongs. A few straight guys said their wives/girlfriends preferred them in a thong over a jock. This struck me as odd but not everything that some women won’t make sense to me. Other guys didn’t want the flashback to the middle school gym.

I think jocks are an acquired taste. Meaning they take some time to get used too. The first few pairs I had, drove me crazy. They would bind and there was no way I could wear them all day. The few times I did chance to wear them all day, I regretted it by noon. But over the years I became used to the design and fit. Now I don’t even pay attention to jocks when I wear them.

Now in 2017, I have been hearing guys wearing jocks. It’s not a large number of guys talking. However, it is in areas of guys who haven’t worn them before. Some of the younger guys and in the straight market. These two groups aren’t in the target market of most jocks. The younger guys are wearing them to work out. It’s like discovering something old is new again. While the straight guys are finding the fashion jocks. It’s another way to express themselves.

Will this be the next big thing in underwear? I’m not too sure it’s going to take off but I think there will be a new group that discovers jocks. It could grow or still remain a small number. Only time will tell.