Underwear shopping is one of life’s joys. I love to go to a store, look around, and see what’s out there and how it feels. I remember going to the department stores and sorting through all the CK and 2(X)ist’s in my 20s and the first time I saw a y-back thong in a mainstream store I about jumped for joy. However, not many guys out there have access to an underwear store. There was a second-best thing back in the day, the discount stores such as Ross, TJ Maxx, and Marshall’s.
In the late 90s and early 2000s, you could find serious deals and amazing undies at these stores. There were bikinis, thongs, and briefs galore. You could always dig through the pairs and find a jewel in the mix. I remember walking out of those stores so happy to find a pair of underwear. I could never afford being a student but snagged for $5.
After the mid-2000s, the underwear started to dry up. I don’t know if this was the rise of the boxer/boxer briefs or if the buyer didn’t see a market for the sexier side of undies. The underwear went super boring for anyone who reads this blog. It was all white briefs (sorry, white fans), boxer briefs (including trunks), and boxers. It’s rare I even go through the underwear section at these stores, but occasionally I’ll glance and leave let down.
There was one exception to this, and that was Century 21 in NYC. I went with an ex and spent probably 30 minutes in the underwear section. They had so many brands and styles. This was discount underwear heaven. I grabbed about $200 worth of underwear (which I couldn’t afford) and pared it down to the brands I didn’t have at home. I returned all the 2(X)IST, CK, and others. The sad thing is that they closed a few years ago.
Hope is not lost because I have seen guys posting some good things at these stores in the last month. One person posted a five-pack of Nike jocks. And another posted about some CK briefs. I still need to get my hopes up, but I want them to return to the old ways, offer different types of underwear, and let guys experience underwear they may not usually buy.
1 Comment
In the early 2000s you could buy jockstraps and thongs at H&M. But mainstream men’s underwear is now so boring. Even ‘the gays’, the Gen Z so much promoting self acceptance, diversity and breaking down rules wear so boring underwear.