ttheamazing

Review Clever Original Sin Boxer

April 24, 2016 No Comments

Hello folks, today I’m reviewing a new pair by one of my favorite companies, Clever. It was furnished by Candyman Fashion. One of their new designs coming out is the Original Sin Boxer (2255). I received the “Black” pair that has Teal as the Accent Front color with Black as the background. The other option available for the Original Sin is the “Red” pair with a Gunmetal as the Accent Front Color.

The main body of the boxer is a 94% cotton/6% elastane. Though the main body of the fabric is a cotton blend, which is usually not my favorite, this blend is nice and smooth. The front of the boxer is a synthetic mesh that isn’t see through. But definitely shows off details very nicely. The front pouch is contoured out and gives nice room for your kit. The background fabric meets the front at the side seams. Then travels almost to the front on the inner thigh. The thread color matches the front fabric, so on all front seams, it blends in. While the back seam goes down the middle of your butt and Y’s out down the legs as a contrast.

The two main things I really love about this boxer are the mesh fabric in front. The subtle design choice that really makes this boxer pop. The mesh in front is a really nice tiny hole mesh fabric. That is lightweight and definitely breathable (great for working out in). The design choice I love is that the contract back fabric wraps around towards the front by the pouch. This makes your pouch “hang” in front of a contrast backdrop. Which really amplifies the visual from the front (which is wear a lot of pouches read as flatter).

On a less happy note, the leg bands of this boxer don’t have a lot of structure to them. So it’s really easy for them to ride up your leg (which is the main reason I end wearing mostly briefs). But it’s not bad enough that I was constantly pulling it down, it was just something I noticed.

I really do like this boxer, and will add it to my drawer of boxers I actually will wear regularly.
PROS:

-Sexy pouch visual.

-Breathable mesh fabric.

-Attractive butt seams.

CONS:

-Legs ride up.

RATINGS:

Daily Fit – 7.5
Sizing – 9
Construction/Materials –8
Styling – 8
Daily Performance – 7
OVERALL – 7.9

This pair was furnished for review by Clever. It comes in Black/Teal, and Red/Gunmetal. It goes for $23 on the Candyman Fashion

In Fetish Friday

FETISH FRIDAY: Convenience Zippers

April 22, 2016 No Comments

Hey Kinksters,

Hope you are all having a little more relief with tax rush being over. I know I said I would do the second Army of Men post for this Fetish Friday. Derrick (owner of Army of Men) are cooking up something delicious. So you’re just gonna have to wait a little longer). Today, I am going to talk about a topic that was inspired by my most recent purchase from Cheapundies.com. I received my first Cellblock 13 garment, the Ambush Short. This is not just a post about that though, this post is about a feature that is found in the Ambush; CONVENIENCE ZIPPERS!

I only own one item with a convenience zipper (but I’m totally up for owning more). I’ve been seeing them in a variety of brands over the years. Zippers in front to release the package, zipper in back to reveal the booty. A lot of brands have caught on to the zipper fun. I know Slick It Up has been doing it for years with their bodysuits. Cellblock 13 has a few different lines out.

In my opinion, it can be totally sexy. Instead of just pulling them down for the big reveal, you can keep it on but open a window for the fun to happen. Front zippers are definitely great because no one wants to have the entire waistband and pouch just pulled down under your balls. Back zippers however I think CAN be great, but aren’t always. Now, back zippers and I have interacted quite a bit. I find the biggest issue of the back zipper is whether it unzips down low enough. There is a certain feature in the butt area (do I really need to say it?) that a zipper needs to go below for the convenience zipper to be truly convenient. If you’re wondering why the zipper not going down enough below the “zone” is needed. Go take a zipper, unzip it part way. Hold the two unzipped parts together. Place two fingers in the bottom of that zipper V and start sliding your fingers in and out of the zipper… YEAH. Not too fun. Now if it hurt your fingers, let’s not even test that out with your tongue or…other body parts that stick out. If the zipper goes low enough however, and it provides enough room to reach your goals. Then I heartily condone that convenience butt zipper.

So, you tell me, do you own undies with convenience zippers? Have you played with someone who had convenience zippers. I wanna know your thoughts. Hope you have a great week all you fancy people. See you next Friday with more fetish fantasticness.

In Fetish Friday

FETISH FRIDAY: Maskulo Jock

April 15, 2016 2 Comments

Hello Kinksters,

I hope you’re all doing ok, even though Tax season is spanking me quite hard this year (I tried to do it myself via Turbotax instead of hiring a tax person like I always do…I’ll be filing an extension and hiring a tax person…being a travelling circus artist makes taxes complicated). Even if taxes have you down in the doldrums, I have a great item to discuss today to cheer you up. Today, I am going to be talking about the Jock and Codpiece combo from Maskulo.

First I wanna talk a little about the company Maskulo. They seem to be a really awesome company. They were so enthusiastic when I wrote to them about how I was starting a weekly fetishwear column. They were happy to answer all my questions. When you think of gay fetish wear, you might not instantly think of Russia, because Russia isn’t the most outwardly gay friendly place to be. However, Maskulo stands proud, advertising that they are a “Russian human rights supportive company. A part of our profit is donated to democracy and human rights organizations in Russia.” That’s a pretty badass statement to make.

Back to the fetishwear, I got their jock in the mail, and the feel was dreamy. The jock itself is all elastic that fits like a glove, and the front is an open frame around your package with snaps triangulating from the top corners of the pouch frame to the bottom point underneath. The codpiece is a leather-like fabric filled with foam rubber to give it body. The pouch snaps onto the jock and there you have it. When you wanna keep the jock on, but do a little more frontal action, pouch snaps off completely, and you can get to business.

I tested this jock out for how much it can handle by wearing it to teach a ZUMBA class. Everything was great, the butt straps stayed right where I put them before class, the pouch held everything in. It was breathable, and felt like a cloud. My second test-run did involve the pouch being removed, and it was easy and comfortable (what’s worse than being in the middle of sexy time, and then all of a sudden you have to contort so oddly to unsnap/unzip something? Or your partner has to get out the ikea manual to figure it out…)

The jock comes in just the black straps with contrast white waistband, and has pouches in Black, Navy Blue, Red, Yellow and White. Note: the snap codpieces for the Jock is a different snap system from the Singlets and the Shorts (which use a double snap system). The jock sells for roughly 35 Euros, which is around 40 US Dollars on Maskulo.com or if you’re in the U.S., Jockstrap Central is the Exclusive U.S. Retailer. Another totally classy note of how awesome their are, apparently, with every purchase, they send a little baggy of replacement snaps hardware if you ever have an overenthusiastic undresser. That’s just awesome.

I got a few other things from Maskulo (thanks Maskulo!), so you’ll hear more about their products in the future. For now, keep it kinky, and comment below!

TtheAmazing, over and out.

In Fetish Friday

Fetish Friday – Army of Men Pt. 1

April 8, 2016 No Comments

Hello kinksters,

Today is a Part 1 of a two-part post. I hope your week has been going well, mine has been quite dandy. More things have arrived, and you will hear about them soon. This week, I am painfully excited to share this post. I’ll save you the tl;dr anxiety, and just tell you off the bat: Today’s post is part 1 of 2, reviewing leather gear by “Army of Men” from Australia. Specifically, the Bulldog Harness in Blue, and the Bulldog Cockstrap. We’ll get back to that in a second, but I want to give some context for the elation (if you just want the damn review, skip the next paragraph).

In the past year or so, I have been undergoing a sexual identity reconstruction. For most of my sexually active life. I was under the very wrong impression that anything beyond the world of vanilla was “other” and “weird”. Thankfully, I have encountered some incredible people who have helped me reexamine the boundaries of my sexuality and discover more about myself than I could have on my own. To a very special trio (whom I will humorously discreetly name the “Vermont Glitch-mob”), I want to give them my love and thanks. One of the things I wholeheartedly accept into my life now is my total kinked out feelings about leather. I am a professional seamster, and sew leather pretty regularly, because I make special boots for trapeze artists. I love the feel of leather, I love its texture, and shine. Now, I can also totally say, a stud in leather (including myself) gets me going. When I knew I was going to be re-structuring Fetish Friday into a weekly column, I started connecting with companies all over the world, and the owner of Army of Men responded very enthusiastically, and here we are.

Derrick, owner of Army of Men, responded to me when I began researching companies and products to discuss on my Fetish Fridays. He was super generous with info about his company, and products, and helped me with my selection. After bouncing back and forth with him, we selected the Bulldog Harness in Blue, the Bulldog Cockstrap, and the Leather Jock Base in Blue, with a Chevron Codpiece (you guessed it, in Blue). Everything is made to order, because Derrick makes each piece to fit your measurements. Today, I’m going to discuss the Harness and Cockstrap.

I have a X shaped harness in Neoprene, but this was going to be my first real leather harness, and I was really excited to get the Bulldog harness. As a pretty chesty guy (read: professional aerialist), the Bulldog harness draws focus to my broad shoulders, and chest. Derrick himself makes everything, and builds harnesses with a three snap amount of “ease” so you can snap the straps one step tighter or looser than your “baseline” (with the snaps being about an inch apart). When I opened my package from him, the first thing you notice right away, is the quality of leather being used. As I said, I work with leather all the time, and he is clearly choosing very top grade hides. This harness has a triple layer of leather: a doubled outer layer, with a single black leather layer lining the inside against your skin. His rings are quality metal and welded shut. Snaps are strong and sturdy (and custom colored to match the different leather colors and thread he uses).

Putting the harness on, this harness is magnificent, Blue straps over the shoulders and around the sides of the torso, with a black straps including centered D rings across the front and back. This D ring is for the second item I got which is the Bulldog Cockstrap. This strap snaps onto the D ring in the front of the harness, and reaches down to a ring which goes around your…read the product name again. It comes with two firm rubber rings, but the strap snaps around the D ring up top, and the ring down below, so you can switch it out to a ring of your choice. The Cockstrap also has an adjustable belt buckle to make it shorter or longer. The leather lining makes everything hug your body so sure and warm.

Being a professional seamster who was “raised” by a group of incredible impeccable seamstresses (thank you Jamie and the Temple University Costume Shop), I can tell you that Derrick puts a lot of love and dedication to his leather work. They are pristine, and bold, and strong. His design eye is also innovative, and not just sticking to the basics.

This is just part 1 of the two parter for all the stuff I got. Thanks for tuning in. I think next week, we’ll tackle some of what I received THIS week in the mail, and then we’ll do the 2nd part of Army of Men the week after. If you have a sec, I’d love it if you’d all comment below your own journey with leather, or if you haven’t and want to, let me know. It’d be great to hear from y’all.

Until next time, keep it kinky! TtheAmazing over and out.

In Fetish Friday

Fetish Friday – Low Cut Singlets!

April 1, 2016 No Comments

Hey all you fetish fantasticos! I hope you had a great week. Something really special to me arrived this week in the mail, but you will hear about that soon enough. This week, the hint (if you read last week’s post) was “WHISTLE”.

Did you guess correctly?

SINGLETS!!!!!!! (Whistle, like the way wrestling matches are cued…too vague?)

This week I wanna focus on a specific cut of singlet. The LOW cut racerback singlet. Essentially, what you get is a pair of booty shorts, with some pouch room up front, and then two suspender-like straps going up the chest, around the neck, meeting at the nape in a junction turning into one suspender strap leading to the back of the short.

As for wrestling, it’s a pretty dumb outfit, but when it comes to ticking the spandex sexytime box, and the sporty sexy time box, it wins. A subtle design aspect of the suspender straps, also ticks the box that “The Notebook” style shirtless hunk in suspenders fits in (come on, don’t tell me a shirtless hunk in suspenders doesn’t do it for ya).

I have a lot of singlets, but only a few of these, it seems like most companies make ONE of these, rather than a whole bunch of different styles. What I love about this style is the way it lifts up the shorts on either side of your pouch, so you get a very nice “weighty” effect to your bulge (no complaints here). The back being racerback also allows you to show a lot of skin, and give a very seductive lead down to your tush.

In my arsenal, i own 2 from N2N Bodywear (2 different kinds of the PX singlet), and one from ManView (a sexy mesh one with neon blue bindings around the edges). I am getting a new one from a different company but it’s still in the mail right now. You will be hearing more about that once it arrives. So many exciting things to share, but can’t do it all at once.

So tell me, do you prefer your singlets higher cut, or are you into the super low cut style?

Tune in next week for more Fetish Friday. As I said, something arrived in the mail this week that I’m very excited about. You will hear part 1 of my excitement next Friday.

Until next time,

TtheAmazing over and out.

In BodyAware Underwear for Men

Fetish Friday – BodyAware Invisible Shaper Brief

March 25, 2016 No Comments

Hello Fetish Friday readers, welcome to the second week of this glorious column. If you didn’t catch last week’s post about the Fort Troff Grunt Jock, it’s definitely worth a read. This week, we’re going in a very different direction (I want Fetish Friday to welcome all kinks and curiosities).

In my recent conversations with gentlemen callers. I have come across a fetish that I’m not that into, and a stimulation that I agree with. The first gentleman was really into women’s lingerie, “panties” was the term he used. While I can say that’s certainly not something I’m into, I’ve heard about it enough to be a presence. The latter gentleman told me what he was most into is seeing a wet bulge (i.e. speedos, showering in undies…etc). Now, this idea I can certainly get behind (or in front of). I was thinking about what would pair in my arsenal would make a good wet-bulge performance. I realized the pair I selected kind of felt like it could jive with the women’s lingerie guy a bit. That brought me to remember my order from BodyAware a few months ago. And here we have it, the pair for this week’s Fetish Friday: the BodyAware Invisible Shaper Brief.

BodyAware is not a frilly brand. They make sexy contouring shapes that hug the body. No crazy strap configurations, or metallic waistbands. They are sleek and sensual. Their fabric is very thin, but of high quality 90% polyamide/10% spandex blend. The Invisible Shaper Brief is a sexy brief, with a very nicely pushed out pouch. The fabric has a bit of sheerness to it (probably more for the lighter colors). When wet, the fabric doesn’t droop or sag, but all the details get a bit more visible.

While I don’t have anything that would truly satisfy the women’s panty gentleman. I think this would definitely fall into the genre of men’s lingerie. I can also guarantee it was a hit with the Wet Bulge Appreciation Society. It’s silky, it’s skimpy, it’s sheer, and it gives everything a little lift. This guy costs a mere $18.50 over on the BodyAware site.

Thank you for reading kinksters, I’m looking forward to seeing you all next Friday…I have a hint for the genre: whistle.

TtheAmazing over and out.

In Fetish Friday

Fetish Friday: Fort Troff Grunt Jock – Modular Chassis and Pouches.

March 18, 2016 No Comments

Hello Kinksters and Curious! Allow me to introduce you to the new and incredible weekly column,“FETISH FRIDAYS”! Each week, we will feature fetish-wear of all kinks and tastes from the best brands around. We will also occasionally have some provocative interviews with fantastic fetish-wear models, designers, celebrators. I have extremely high hopes for just how awesome this column will be. Please share your thoughts in the comments section; I will keep an eye out.

For the inaugural post and I wanted to share a personal favorite in my arsenal; surprise surprise, it’s from Fort Troff. If you don’t know Fort Troff, they are an amazing sex-positive kink-positive hardcore sex toy and gear store located in Atlanta. They don’t have a huge clothing selection, but what they do carry is phenomenal. Today, I’d like to discuss the Grunt Jock Modular Chassis and Pouch system.

What you buy is a jock that has no pouch on the front, with snaps at the top two corners of the pouch area, and one under the balls. Where the pouch would go is a very thrilling Jock Armour Cock Ring (also sold as it’s own cock ring). Then, separately, you have 5 different pouches to choose from that snap onto the front of the jock chassis:

Black Neoprene
Black Spandex
Blue Spandex
Yellow Spandex
Red Spandex

The built in Armour cock ring is made out of a blend of TPR and Silicone. It is a great size and stretchy-ness especially for the girthy guys out there (represent!). They have redesigned this ring, and I have both the old and new versions. The new version is the comfort equivalent of kinky lounge wear.

The pouches are all cut in the style of more a boxy leather type pouch with a centered vertical strip and curved side walls. The centered strip features the Fort Troff logo. For the neoprene pouch, the sides are textures with little bitty diamonds, which gives it a very hardcore look. The spandex has the same rubber center logo strip with spandex side panels.

I love this jock for many reasons. The first reason is the straps are nice and thick, so they feel firm and steady. The other big feature is the pouch is fully detachable. So when you are ready to reveal the present within, you don’t have an awkward pouch flap hanging between your legs (there should only be one focus between your legs). I personally own the black neoprene pouch and a blue spandex pouch. I like the spandex a little bit more than the neoprene pouch, but love them both for different occasions.

The jock chassis itself is $50, and the Neoprene Pouch and Spandex pouches are $26 and $16 respectively. To start combining your jock, go to Fort Troff

That’s my fav for the day, check back next Friday for another installment of FETISH FRIDAYS!

-TtheAmazing over and out!

In Men's Underwear

Why you should know Piado

March 3, 2016 No Comments

There is an underwear company I think way more people should know about. They don’t get a lot of attention because they aren’t making jockbriefs, or singlets, or even jockstraps. They’re not rolling out new innovative shapes of fabric to hold your junk in. They are a company offering a modern version of classics, and they are doing it so well.

I first met a pair of Piado underwear on Cheapundies.com. Most of the time, CheapUndies really delivers, picking quality brands. Sometimes however, they pick a quality brand that I’m just not into (and that’s ok). But this simple pair on sale caught my eye. I thought, what the heck, and ordered it. When it arrived, I put it on, and instantly just felt calm.

What Piado makes are briefs and trunks. That’s all. Two cuts. You get a nice choice of colors in a more unique palette (think: burnt umber, chartreuse…etc). The style harkens back to the classic y-front briefs with contrast trim. and basic trunk. The pairs are listed as $24, but I’ve always seen them marked down to around $12. But here’s where the magic comes in %94 Bamboo Rayon/6% Lycra… I’ll just leave these here for you to drool on.

And that, my friends, is why the magic of Piado needs to be more recognized. The company works exclusively in Bamboo Rayon fabrics for their undies. Yes, their designs aren’t necessarily meant for your nearest circuit party. But not everyone needs that at all times. This is a pair of underwear that you can LIVE in.

Since my first Piado purchase. I now own probably 10 different pairs, mostly the briefs (cause that’s more my thing) but a few trunks as well. I would definitely be interested in them expanding their line (lounge pants? shirts?). But I’m totally down with them keeping their visual designs basic. It’s clearly something they do well.

PHOTO by Armando Adajar.

In Men's Underwear

Go Fun with new PetitQ

March 1, 2016 No Comments

The ever skimpy, never wimpy PetitQ has released a new collection for 2016. I love PetitQ for their bold colors and embracing of asymmetrical design. They are really celebrating the power of the male bulge. The styles you’ll see in this collection are labelled: Trunk, Bikini, Thong, “Kini”, G String.

The trunk is kind of a boxer style, with the leg hem and bulge line level. The bikini and thong both have front pouches that extend around the back with a narrow strap to either a full seat (for the bikini) or a thong back. The “kini” and the G-string styles both extend around the back with thin string. The kini getting a narrow Brazilian style rear. While the G-string gets the token string right down the middle.

There’s a few different design themes, so I’ll break it down for ya.

Nautical Blue/White Stripes:

The first theme is this nautical thin royal blue/white horizontal stripes print. I did some cross-referencing (the whole site is in French, and I’m a bit rusty), but the fabric is a 95% modal/5% spandex blend, which is always a super luxurious feel to a pouch. This theme comes in a bikini, thong, and kini style.

PetitQ PQ150001 Bikini (left) $25.48
PetitQ PQ150003 Thong (center) $21.48
PetitQ PQ150002 Kini (left) $20.48

Yellow Background Hawaiian Flower Print:

This theme features a banana yellow background, with bright fuchsia flowers on it with deep leaves. A bright lime contrast trim goes around all the edges. This one just comes in the bikini and kini style.

PetitQ PQ150004 Bikini (left) – $24.48
PetitQ PQ150005 Kini (right) – $21.48

Monochrome Lace:

This theme leaves the prints behind, and changes from printed spandex to lace. More French cross-referencing leads me to believe this lace is a 85% Polyamide, 15% Lycra blend. The styles come in a highlighter hues of green and pink. The green comes in a trunk, and thong, while the pink comes only in the bikini cut.

Black Lace Pop:

This other lace family features black see through lace as the background with a pop color accenting the lace design. They come in red (a deep purply red), blue, and a yellowy green. The red color comes in the trunk and kini cuts. The yellow color comes only in bikini. The true front-runner, the blue color, comes in trunk, bikini, kini, AND g-string cuts.

Leopard:

The last theme in this collection is a mini leopard print sheer fabric. It comes in a G-string, Kini and Thong Cuts.

I have my eye on the blue/white stripe, but I’d love to hear which themes you are into.

In Men's Underwear

Jockstrap Wednesday Nasty Pig Zap Jock

February 17, 2016 No Comments

Hey folks, I am so happy to be returning to the Underwear News Briefs family. I had to take a bit of time, cause moving across the country twice took a lot out of me. But now I’m back and ready to discuss one of my favorite subjects…men’s underwear. For this Jockstrap Wednesday, I wanted to profile one of my favorite jock brands’ new jocks for 2016. The ZAP Jock Strap in Light Blue by the one and only NASTY PIG.

To be honest, when I decided I was doing Jockstrap Wednesday. I originally planned to do something a little more edgy than a regular fashion or sport jock. I was thinking maybe finding a cool neoprene one, or leather, or something with a cool special material detail. In my search to find what I wanted, I stumbled upon this jock, and the search ended.

The first thing that obviously caught my eye was the color. A lot of the more kink-friendly menswear manufacturers stay with the darker colors, and bold hues like navy, black, slate, red. It makes me happy to see the kink-friendly companies embracing a little bit of levity into their collections. In a time when “masculinity” and “femininity” are being seen as ingredients and not polarities. Not all muscle-bears and leather-daddies want the traditional “code” colors (i.e. black, navy, crimson). This light blue/turquoise happens to be my favorite color, so when I saw it, it was love at first sight. I need this jock.

The next thing I know I’ll love about it is…a MODAL POUCH! I have a couple Nasty Pig jocks and they have a cotton/spandex content. Those are wonderful to wear. I can’t even begin to fathom how nice this jock’s 94% modal/6% spandex blend will be. This jock features vibrant citrusy yellow stitching. The logo on the waistband to match.

This pair is for sale on the Nasty Pig website for $29. If the brilliant light blue isn’t your flavor. They also make the ZAP in Orange and Navy (both with turquoise stitching and logo).

In Jock Reviews

Review – NDS Gold Anatomical Pouch Jock

November 25, 2013 No Comments

I am really excited to get back into the swing of UNB by reviewing this jock. I had a hiatus this summer because I was working at a job with no internet connection…and then moved across the country. So this undies writer is now a Seattleite 🙂 In my new apartment’s mailbox last week, arrived this gem. I had never heard of NDS before I got this jock. I had no preconceived notions, but I was very excited from what I opened. When I first took it out, I saw that it was going with the “new” cut of jock (referring to not just the pouch in front, but more of a brief cut in the front). And the back is a traditional jock (not the brief jock that looks like a brief in back with a porthole cut out) with straps.

I googled my jock and found that it is available in black and a really vivid purple (I got the black).

Upon fondling the pair a bit before trying it on, I became really eager to see how it fit. The fabric is a 95% Viscose 5% Spandex blend, Viscose being the derivative of Rayon (a great man-made substitute for silk made out of cellulose fibers (wood pulp mostly). I’m a sucker for Rayon, it just ends up having a better feel to it than cotton. The pouch definitely had room in it, but the straps felt secure. Obviously, you can’t see this pair without noticing the BIG DEAL, the sexy 1 1/4” gold waistband. It’s pretty bold, but I’ve never shied away from bold undies before. Another few things I like about the undies are the fact that the butt-straps are cut WITH the front pouch, as in, there is no seam where the butt-straps get sewn on. The fabric from the front pouch just glides up and over the hips and then thins out into a butt-strap. The front pouch has a VERY comfortable front seam down the center. I literally had to check with my hand cause I couldn’t tell just by wearing it.

So now, let’s get to putting it on. It fits very nicely, snug without being tight. I am a 34-36 underwear size kind of guy, and Tim sent me a Large which is listed as 34-36”. Perfect fit. NDS makes this pair in small through 2XL, but they do have a 2$ materials surcharge for cuts above XL (I find that a bit annoying, 2$, really?). The butt-straps are pretty much perfect, they are comfortable, sit just at the right place without really needing to do any manual adjustments (except for the first trying on moment, but that’s the case with any jock right?). There is no chance of awkward tag-sightings, because they sewed their label right above your junk. I didn’t even know it was there, I’d risk to say if you go for the “bald” look down there, maybe you’ll notice the tag.

I wore this around town, and to a hot yoga class (more than once). It is probably my new favorite jock. It fits in all the right places, has room in all the right places, doesn’t need constant strap adjustment. The fabric feels great, even after 2 rounds in the laundry (I washed it just like I do all my clothes, cold water wash, medium heat on dryer). My only real negative I can think of is maybe it’s a bit too roomy in the pouch, but I think that’s a personal thing (I’m not small, but I’m not one of those droopy elephant trunk kind of guys either)

PROs:

Sexy waistband/butt-straps.
No midday/midyoga adjustments needed.
Great feel on skin.

CONs:

Limited color range
I don’t own more of them
Seriously, I can’t think of any.
Maybe a little too roomy in the pouch.

RATINGS:

Daily Fit: 9
Sizing: 8
Construction/Materials: 10
Styling: 8
Daily Performance: 9
OVERALL: 8.8

Abc Underwear furnished this pair for review.

In Men's Underwear

MARCO MARCO Collection 2 Spring/Summer 2014 Fashion Show

October 30, 2013 No Comments

On October 17^th, at Fashion Week, fashion company MARCO MARCO, mostly known for their female fashion work, rendered quite the runway show, debuting their men’s underwear collection as well! The show was walked by ALL men. Now half of these men happened to be famous drag queens, but the other half were presenting as men. While the queens wore the female side of the new collection, the guys were wearing some briefs with some sleeveless hoodie concepts, but most intriguing to me was the interesting riff on pants Marco Marco presented.

To describe this, I would say they are a lovechild between skinny jeans and boxer briefs.

Now, I know this isn’t the first time a designers has done a legging for men that let’s their junk jiggle around (à la N2Ns running tights…), but MARCO MARCO takes this to a funny level by cutting the “pants” so that the underwear aspect of it, are the highlight. The “pants” and most of the underwear include the very IN mesh paneling that shows off the models ass-ets (bad joke, I know).

I like the undies; nicely cut, supportive without being too constricting in the pouch. I am intrigued by these tights though. Are these for the extremely bold to wear out to the clubs? Are they just elongated legs to highlight the underwear for the show? It will be interesting to see when their men’s underwear collection is released what these tights have turned into. I’d wear a pair 🙂 maybe not in public? Maybe as long underwear when it gets cold.

Another thing I HAVE to point out, which I know is a little off topic. But it was really beautiful to see a full runway collection displayed by a giant talented group of men. I am not saying that it is how I want all fashion shows to go, but it was a little awesome. The queens were KILLING the looks, better than some of the more demure model methods you see today. The men were able to have fun with it. Usually the females get to do the model stomp, and the men kind of burly trample down the runway with their shoulders hunched up. These guys were not only walking the runway, they even threw some wacking style movement in there, which made it all the more fun.

So what do you think? Tights? Public? Yay? Nay?

The New Marco Marco Men’s Underwear coming soon.

In Boxer Brief-Trunk Reviews

Review – Inter View Underwear 2013 IV League White Blue Boxer Brief

August 17, 2013 No Comments

I had the fun pleasure of reviewing a new brand for me, Inter View. I received their IV League design white/blue boxer brief in the mail, and was curious. Just out of the mail, I felt the fabric, knew it was cotton, but it had a nice feel to it. I knew nothing about Inter View Underwear before I received this pair so I had no real preconceived notions about what this pair would be. I did some interneting and found interviewshopping.com. On the site, I found out more about their company and this pair. Inter View is a newer brand based out of Los Angeles, stating their designs are for the everyday needs of stylish men. The IV League White/Blue Boxer Brief is part of their “IV League” line which features design elements reminiscent of old school gym shorts. The IV League Boxer Brief can come in White/Blue, Blue/White, Red, and White, but the combinations of blue and white are the only ones with the additional lettering and logos. The pair I got is the White/Blue pair, which is a mostly white boxer brief, with light blue piping around the pouch, and binding around the leg holes. The waistband is a 1 1/2” white band with a blue strip on the bottom and a thick red stripe in the middle with Inter View repeating around the band. The pair features an ample front seamed pouch, and a full back. The Blue/White combination pairs also have a #13 printed on the right hip, and a IV wreath logo on the left hip.

I wore this to a day at my job as a circus coach at a summer camp. It is a pretty active day for me. I’m running around, doing warm-ups, stretching, spotting children doing circus, demonstrating tricks… I was surprised they held up quite nicely. I’m usually a little worried about boxer briefs because unless the pouch is REALLY defined, I find some of my parts drift downwards below the pouch as it sags during the day, and I keep pulling the back up to tighten the under-crotch area again. This pair kept my parts in the pouch the whole time. I wouldn’t go running in them per se, but it was fine to do a basic warm up with some stretching.

I got a size large, and it fit me perfectly. According to Inter View’s size chart, I am in the middle-upper range of their large size, so I’d say that is a spot on size chart. The sizing only accommodates waist sizes between 28 and 34”…not the widest range, hopefully they will open that up in the future.

What I like about this pair is that it feels comfy for the most part, and has a very handsome look to it. The old school gym class shorts design elements really gives it some whimsy However, I did have some issues with some choices made. Specifically the tag, which is a sewn in tag and gets a little irritating until I forget about it after a while. I also think that while the 95% cotton 5% spandex blend is a very nice fabric used here, I have felt nicer 95%/5% cotton/spandex blends, and which is had a little softer quality to it while still maintaining it’s structure.

Out of the boxer briefs in my life, this is one of my new favorites because it doesn’t let my stuff fall down below the pouch. I like the styling and I don’t have a lot of “sporty” designed underwear. I am interested to see where Inter View goes with their brand. They are focusing on the “basics” right now, which is fine, but I think they’ll need some bolder design ideas in order to pass into the big leagues.

PROs:

Comfortable fabric.
Classy design details.
Snug but well designed pouch.

CONS:

Standard color choices.
Sewn in tag.

RATINGS:

Daily Fit – 8
Sizing – 9
Construction/Materials – 5
Styling – 7
Daily Performance -7
OVERALL – 7.2

Interview furnished this pair for review. Find it on their site http://www.interviewshopping.com

In Brief Reviews

REVIEW – PPÜ 1314 Brief

June 24, 2013 No Comments

I had the ultimate pleasure of reviewing this new PPÜ brief that came into my possession. I am new to the PPÜ world, and this was a more than wonderful way to start me out. What came in the mail is this sleek little brief that prominently features this color block two-tone structure. The black fabric is a solid black matte, but the white is a unique white on white stripe with a slight texture to the striping. It comes off as a very chic pair. After doing my research, I found out the pair also comes with purple fabric replacing the white fabric.

Before trying it on, my thoughts were excited, and hopeful that nothing would FEEL bad about the pair, or that putting it on wouldn’t all of a sudden reveal that it is an awkward color blocking. The dividing line between the black and the white (because I was sent the white) hits mid-bulge, which I didn’t yet know if that would be HIGHLY attractive, or not. Looking at the seams of the underwear, it made me think putting it on was gonna be very nicely “huggy” because it had some really nice contour seams. The black is actually a flat panel on the front, with two panels in the rear (center back seam for butt contouring). The sculpting in front is due to a gentle curved dart on the bottom of the center front white, scooping right under your bulge. This connects, to a “gusset” like panel of white that goes to the low under-butt in back, where it joins up with the black again. The waistband is a woven PPÜ band with a main logo placed every few inches, and then LITTLE logo trailing like a top and bottom border on the band. There is a sewn in woven fabric label on the center back, which you’ll read later, is my ONLY real negative moment with this review.

Once I tried the pair on, I studied the way the color-blocked line was placed, and I must say, PPÜ took a risk putting a line there, but it really works. Sadly, my day I wore these consisted of me grabbing a lot of heavy stuff, putting in my car, then driving for 2 hours, stopping, picking more stuff up, driving 5 more hours, taking all the stuff up three flights of stairs, and then promptly taking all my clothes off so I could shower the sweaty mess that I was. The day showed how the undies would hold up in two situations, the sitting for long periods of time activity, and the running around hauling things and getting sweaty activity. This pair was a trooper for both. During the hauling parts, it was super comfortable, giving me support through all the flights of stairs. During the sitting part, I didn’t experience any discomfort, no lowering back band to pull up, or adjustments around the thighs. While it’s not one of those pairs that literally slides under your junk and pulls it up like you’re over a ledge, this pair has a very nice supportive pouch. The only negative I ever noticed, and it was rarely noticed, is the woven sewn in tag in back got randomly itchy a few times during the day, but then I got distracted by life and forgot.

According to PPÜ’s sizing chart. I’m at the VERY top of the Large, which is the size I was sent, or at the very bottom of the XL. Having said that, I found it super comfy, and not at all “too snug” so I would say if you straddle the sizes, definitely go down a size, not up. The care instructions say to only hand wash and air dry. As it’s a 93% Nylon 7% spandex blend. I decided to do what I do to my entire wardrobe (basically my entire wardrobe is a blend of nylon and spandex….#trapezeartist) and stick it in the washing machine with everything else on cold water only, then put in the dryer on medium heat. It is absolutely fine. I don’t like underwear that needs too much “care”. I like my underwear like I like my men…dry, good looking, filled with greatness, and strong. But I digress…

I really love this pair, and I kind of want to buy the purple option for myself as well. And then pray that I get sent more PPÜ to review, since this was a VERY good first impression. If only they could just print the tag on or something, that sewn in tag was KILLIN me, cause it was top stitched rather than integrated into the back waistband seam. Another random thing I probably only care about because I’m a seamster, but I think they could have taken the extra second to line up the MAIN logo on the waistband with the center front. It’s not a singular logo band, but the logos have a space of about 6” apart between them, so the slightly off center one in front almost looks like the only logo if you’re looking dead on, which makes you go crazy wondering why it’s not centered.

PROs:

The line of the color blocking was a risk that seriously paid off.
Amazing fit, hugging just the way I want.

CONs:

Limited color range.
ANNOYING top stitched tag.

RATINGS:

Daily Fit – A+
Sizing – B (because I would have probably ordered up a size if I didn’t know)
Construction/Materials – B- (tag)
Styling – A
Daily Performance – A+
Overall: – A

PPU furnished these for review.

In Jock Reviews

REVIEW – PIKANTE 9227 Sporty Jockstrap

June 3, 2013 No Comments

This week, I had the pleasure of reviewing Pikante’s new 9227 Sporty Jockstrap. It’s one of those jockstraps that looks like a brief from the front and most of the side, but then sneaky, you turn around, and there’s a big ol’ opening framing your booty. I am not too familiar with Pikante, I think I probably only have one or two of their pairs, and they are both trunks or boxer briefs. As you might know if you follow my reviews, I am somewhat weary of mesh material in underwear, due to a bad experience with a certain pair along time ago (in summary, I had to return and get the next size up, not once, but twice, before I realized the mesh on that pair just DIDN’T stretch, and wasn’t meant for people with butts), but recently, I have come in contact with happier mesh underwear, and this was no exception. Right when I opened the package and saw the mesh, I pulled at the fabric in both directions to check. So, I opened the package to see what mostly looked like a brief, except for that big opening in the back. The waistband and edges of all of the openings are a black material, with the waistband featuring Pikante’s woven in logo. The entirety of the garment is made up of the white spandex mesh. The briefy jock is also available in sunny yellow with a bright teal trim, black with purple trim, and yellow with black trim (but note that on the yellow pair, the waist band is also yellow, not black).

I got to wear my pair on my New York city weekendcation. I wore it while walking around NYC seeing the sites, buying sewing supplies, and visiting the MET. I did also had a date that night, with a nice guy I’ve seen a few times, (not to get too graphic, but he thought the pair looked really nice as well). I didn’t work out in the pair, so I can’t completely attest to it’s workout-ability, but from wearing it, I can say it stayed in place and (obviously, due to the mesh) breathed very well. I’d imagine this would be a VERY nice workout pair.

The size I got sent was a Large, which fit me wonderfully. Looking at the size chart, the Large is a 32-34 and XL is a 34-36. Depending on the brand, I base my size off of a 35/36, so I would have bought the XL, ESPECIALLY since this was a mesh pair, thinking the mesh wouldn’t stretch nicely. I find the Large to fit very well, and I would say, if you might be near straddling two sizes, order the size smaller, because the mesh is very accommodating.

I wanna start by saying the pair is very comfortable and I like it very much. The small things that I have problems with aren’t big enough that it truly hurts my opinion of this pair. Think of them as things to keep in mind, before you go ahead and order this pair (heehee). Mostly, my issues revolve around the butt straps. They are really wide, and there is elastic trim hemming the edges (both around the thighs, and around the butt-framing edge). This creates a strap with a much sturdier edge than middle, whereas a standard elastic strapped jock would be equal tension across the entire strap. I found that this, mixed with my nice muscular but sizable, demanded some “dressing” when I first put the pair on. However, once the pair was properly on, I found no real need to adjust the straps any more. The next negative might only be towards a specific audience; if you like some support from under your junk in your undies, read on. I like the anatomical pouches and the lift and protrude-type undies, as well as my normal tighter briefs and things, because I like keeping my goodies in their pouch. If a pair of undies doesn’t have enough tension from behind pulling the bottom of the pouch into your perennial region, it allows enough slack that some of your “treasures” might fall out of the “chest”. I found that to adjust for that slack, i’d just discretely grab the straps from the back and pull them up a bit. It wasn’t horrible, but it did happen a couple times.

Having said those two things, I really did like this pair of undies. They were extremely comfortable, with a sexy look to them. As I said previously, this pair has definitely helped me start to overcome my avoidance of the mesh type underwear. I wanna get the black with purple pair for myself as well. Cause I can’t say I am a white underwear guy at heart, but I do know I’ll be wearing this pair a lot in the future (especially to the gym, I wanna try that out).

PROs:

Very comfortable stretchy mesh.
Very breathable to wear in warm weather.
Sexy look (approved by myself as well as an outside eye).
Cute, non standard color combinations.

CONs:

very small amount of fuss to get on and dress the back straps properly.
Not perfectly fitted to keep the goodies in the pouch.

RATINGS:

Daily Fit: 7
Sizing: 8
Construction/Materials: 7
Styling: 8
Daily Performance: 7
OVERALL: 7.4

Pikante furnished this pair for review

In Candyman

REVIEW – Candyman Boxer 99004

April 13, 2013 No Comments

Today, I am happily reviewing my first Candyman brand undies; the “Boxer 99004”. I’ve been hoping to review Candyman for a while cause I’ve wanted to know if their quality matches their creativity. I received the sexy fire engine red pair in the mail last week, and definitely had a fun first impression. When I opened the bag at first, I didn’t actually know whether my manly bits were going to actually be visible or not, there was so much mesh netting. Not that I’m against wearing translucent front pouch underwear, but I truly didn’t get it at first. Once completely unfolded though, a pair of quite sassy underwear came into my view. The pair I got to review is a new pair by Candyman, with a front pouch in opaque black, that is set into a fire engine red panel of fabric (you can also get this boxer in a Royal Blue, and a Gunmetal Grey). However, the panel of red ends not soon after as black netting swoops in front of your hips and continues onto the entire back of the underwear, leaving your rear very visible. The boxer is a 93% polyester 7% spandex blend fabric, with a separate pouch cut and a back center seam to contour for the butt. The boxer is a longer cut than you might be used to, I would probably use the term “sport boxer” for the leg length. The black pouch looks to be a fairly standard boxer brief pouch. My worry was about the netting, cause being a seamster myself, I know that some netting just doesn’t have a good amount of stretch to it, so putting the pair on could get awkward. I’ll fill you more in later, but the netting was NOT a bad fabric.

While wearing the pair, I didn’t do too much, but I did run around to do some errands, and felt very comfortable. I wouldn’t wear this to the gym for reasons I’ll talk about later. It is a very nice loungy “bedroom” pair. I could definitely wear this on a date I think was gonna get spicy later…ya know.

I found the sizing on this to be fine. I got a Large size which according to the Candyman size chart is for a 32-34”. I usually buy whatever size a 34” falls under, and I must say, judging by the fact that I’m the higher end of the L range, I could probably wear a medium. Having said that, I am not ready to say Candyman runs large, because I think a lot of the elasticity of this pair is due to the majority of it being made out of a very flexible net. I would say for this pair, definitely you could go a lower size, but I cannot test that fact on all of Candyman until I try other pairs out.

I really like the look of this pair. I mean, I like my butt, people who get to see it do too. I think visually, it’s a really interesting idea, because the front is almost “tame” if I can say that, and then the back is just BAM! My issues are with the wearability of the garment, rather than the aesthetics. Maybe I’ve been spoiled by the whole anatomical underwear revolution, but I’ve never been too fond of boxer briefs that have a pouch that doesn’t actually hug the genitals. What I mean is, my favorite boxer briefs are when the fabric on the outside of the pouch is snug enough that your package stays in the pouch, instead of having things run around elsewhere. The pouch on this pair doesn’t really hold my stuff in place. Because of the netting being so flexible instead of having tension, there’s not too much support UNDER the genitals, so it’s fairly open down there letting some things wander down below the pouch. I think an entirely net back is a bold idea, and it’s a very sexy idea to pull off, but my biggest issues is that the sheer area the net covers takes out a lot of the structure that would be there if a more sturdy material were covering the same area. I must say though, this did help me recover from a fear of mesh in underwear. I bought a pair of underwear made all out of mesh from an underwear company I love, and I couldn’t even get it up my thighs. I returned it for a larger size, and couldn’t get that over my butt, it was the LEAST stretchy mesh I’d ever seen, and I think the pair would have only worked on some twinky butt that doesn’t curve as much. Getting this pair did restore my ideas about using mesh in underwear.

PROs:

Sexy look.
Open breathable construction.
Comfortable sizing.

CONs:

Un-supportive crotch construction.

RATINGS:

Daily Fit: C
Sizing: B
Construction/Materials: B
Styling: B
Daily Performance: C
Overall: C+

Candyman Furnished this pair for review.

In Men's Underwear

Review – UNIQLO Heattech Long Johns

February 25, 2013 No Comments

Hi everyone, here is the second item from my lovely new found fav UNIQLO, from the Heattech line: the Long Johns. Now, these have the same luxurious feel of the UNIQLO Airism line, with the added technology that their fabric absorbs moisture from your body and converts it to heat. It is made of a very thin synthetic fabric that can keep you warm without the bulk of heavy winter underclothes.

Like the Airism line, I am in love with these long johns. Living in Vermont, I experience a LOT of cold, and these are the perfect under-pant garment, as well as a lounge garment. They have a two panel back (center back seam), and a separate crotch panel in the front with a functional fly opening. The waistband is a woven elastic, with a tag center bag. Much like the airism line. The fabric for the Heattech line is 34% polyester, 33% rayon, 27% acrylic, 6% spandex. The line has two styles, the “long john” and the “tight”, both seem to be exactly the same in all composition, except the “long john” features a waistband that’s encased into the top of the long john, where the “tight” has a sewn on elastic band as the top. Both are extremely comfortable.

The fabric is extremely silky, and not overly warm (the type of overly warm where you are sweating all over it, which is the reason why I dislike a lot of winter garments). The fabric is breathable, and nicely stretchy to give a nice form to your legs without outlining every contour to your package. My negative thoughts on this long john focus on the ankles. I have shorter legs than my size demographic in most brands. My jeans are usually 34-32 where I usually end up shortening them to 34-30. Having said that, if I put on these long johns, and mark where it hits my ankle, and remove them, there’s definitely more than 2 inches of extra length on these. It wouldn’t be a problem if the whole thing was baggy, but because the rest of it is more fitted to your legs, having a bunchy ankle makes it look a little like awkward legwarmers. The other note is that I have fairly small feet, and it is hard to get my foot/ankle through the bottom hem of the legs. I think there’s a little too much “infrastructure” in the hem of the ankles, which is not letting the fabric stretch as much as it could if just folded over and sewn.

At just under 20$ and coming in a nice range of muted neutral stripes/solids with a few bright colors thrown in (fuchsia, lime, turquoise), these are a really great piece for the cold weathered man. They also happen to look quite sexy in my opinion.

PROs:

Very cozy in the cold months.
Silky feel fabric

CONs:

awkward leg length
tight ankles

RATINGS:

FIT 3.5
MATERIAL 5
CONSTRUCTION 4.5
LOOK 4
DAILY WEAR 5
OVERALL: 4.4

Find these at Uniqlo

In Men's Underwear

Review – Uniqlo AIRISM Boxer Brief

February 24, 2013 No Comments

Today, I get to review a line from a store called UNIQLO (read carefully, this is not to be confused with another underwear brand). Though UNIQLO is not a specifically underwear only company, or even a company highly focused on undergarments, I love the quality of their underwear so much, I wanted to write about them.

UNIQLO is a Japanese company that started in 1984, but I hadn’t heard about until a couple years ago. As a store, it’s like a Japanese H&M-like store, focusing on basics and quirky accent pieces at an affordable price, but still retaining sturdy quality. Their underwear visually isn’t groundbreaking, but to wear them is a treat, so I own many pairs.

The line/pair I want to talk about today is the boxer brief from the AIRISM line. Visually, you won’t be that impressed. The entire line is saturated in deep neutral solids with occasional low-vibrancy accent prints. For instance, you can get a basic all black, a charcoal, a dark midnight blue…as well as a black/charcoal small checker print, or a black-grey-deep navy stripe pattern…etc. No bold primaries, neons. It’s not that kind of line.

The boxer brief in construction isn’t groundbreaking, but feels amazing. It features a single rear panel (no seam down the butt), and separate slightly contoured fly-front pouch. The waistband is exposed woven elastic, as well as a sewn on tag on the back center. It is made of a 87% polyester 13% elastane fabric that truly feels and reads as silk (I’m not making this up, and I’m a professional costume designer, I can tell you when it feels like silk). The name of the line is because of the fabric and fits making it almost feel like you’re wearing a cool breeze, instead of a pair of underwear.

When I’m wearing my AIRISM Boxer Briefs, I truly do forget that I’m wearing them. The tag has never bothered me. It’s not a truly low-rise undergarment, but it doesn’t ride up or down at all. The legs aren’t elasticized at the bottom, and I almost never notice them riding up. The pouch isn’t fussy with any lifting or pushing out type details, but it has enough contour to keep the goodies from getting smushed all the time. I wear these in any situation, I’ve lounged around at home in them, I’ve worn them to go teach circus in (I usually wear a dance belt, but on “light” circus days, I wear these with NO problem).

I love these so much. I’m pretty sure I have at least 8 pairs if not more (in all different colors/prints of course). And at about $13 a pair, it’s an amazing deal on the quality you’re getting. I find they run pretty true to size, so trust their size chart when you’re ordering. You won’t regret these.

PROs:

amazing silky feel
very great price
nice fit

CONs:

mellow in color choice

RATINGS:

FIT 4
MATERIAL 5
CONSTRUCTION 4.5
LOOK 2.5 (NEUTRAL)
DAILY WEAR 5
OVERALL: 4.2

Find this pair at Uniqlo

In Joe Snyder

Review – Joe Snyder: Launch Bikini

December 18, 2012 No Comments

I had a tingle of joy when I heard I’d be getting a Joe Snyder pair for this review cycle. Joe Snyder is one of the brands I’d always wanted but never could find on sale as a very budget restrained college kid. Low and behold it arrived, and I received…THE LAUNCH BIKINI, in white.

As I took the pair out of the packaging, I had a two-part reaction. Part one was the ooh and ahh over the feel of the fabric in my hand. Part two was the moment of confusion upon inspecting the front of the undies. I’ll go into more detail on that in a minute.. The Launch Bikini is an 80% Polyamide and 20% Spandex Lycra blend which gives it the luxurious feel and luster. It is available in White, Black, Red, Turquoise, and Mango (a goldish yellow). There is a tag on the back of the undies that is QUITE noticeable, it’s actually folded over the band so there is taggage on the inside of the back AND the outside of the back, but having worn them for the day, I honestly only felt it a couple times. The price point is on the more expensive side for a pair of underwear, but if you factor in the construction techniques, it is totally understandable (my degree in costume design stands behind this statement).

Now, to explain the confusion over the front of these undies. This bikini features a dual front, the outer front is a nice full contoured pouch to carriage the genitals. The INNER panel is an uncontoured panel with a hole in the center. This pulls your testicals UP and out from your body, and lets your penis drape over them, being presented even FURTHER out. This bikini also doesn’t elasticize the ring, so luckily, you don’t feel like you’re being choked until the elastic is worn in more. The built in ring isn’t a new concept in men’s underwear “technology”, but this is the first time I’ve seen the construction like this. The outer POUCH on this bikini is attached at the front and the top of the pouch, leaving the sides open. It was slightly fussy to put it on and “dress” everything properly, but not too bad. I have two slightly opposing opinions attached to this engineering.

Having worn it all day, I found it very sensational…in a good way, and a very nice feel for a pouch. I felt supported while still given breathing room to hang, and it definitely added a little SOMETHING to the front of my pants, but without the pants on, it kind of turns into a peek-a-boo pouch. Because the front pouch panel is not connected on the sides, when I’m wearing it, my genitals were pushing out the pouch panel so much that I was getting the male version of “side-boob”. In my opinion, the outer panel would do better to be attached from the bottom and sides, leaving the TOP open, so if there is a peek-a-boo panel, it’s a slightly more alluring sight”

Although I think the front pouch is not great for “show”, I completely recommend this for daily wear, it felt great all day, and it added a little spring to my step.

PROS

Beautiful fabric
Great “display” features
Comfortable
Durable

CONS

Not the most appealing front construction
A little hard to put on

Ratings

FIT 5
MATERIAL 5
CONSTRUCTION 2
LOOK 2
DAILY WEAR 5
OVERALL 3.8

Joe Snyder Furnished this pair for review

In Men's Underwear

Review – N2n Bodywear Galaxy Wrestler

October 27, 2012 No Comments

It is with GREAT happiness I write to you about the Galaxy Wrestler singlet by N2N Bodywear. Now anyone that knows me intimately will be able to tell you that N2N was my first designer underwear crush. Sadly, being the college student I was, I had to wait until the sales happened, as I gleefully clicked through their 5$ and 10$ digital “bins” looking for my selections. Those who know me through circus, will know that I usually end up wearing a one piece to train in. I’m a professional aerial circus artist. I need my torso covered or else I’ll get friction burns all over the place. So, I was the lucky reviewer picked to tell you all about a great wrestling singlet by N2N called the Galaxy Wrestler.

The Galaxy Wrestler is N2N’s most covered singlet. The Galaxy is a one-piece tanktopped singlet, made out of 83% Nylon, 17% Spandex. The design features contrast block panels down both sides, with N2N branded in little flat metallic dots down the side. There is no front seam, but there is a back seam, which is the optimal fabrication for a singlet, so your behind gets nice definition to it, while the front doesn’t get the “guillotine” feeling. I really like the design of the singlet, because the seam lines and color block detail really emphasize the chest, and help narrow the waist. There are three-color options for this singlet, black with platinum sides, olive with cream sides, and navy with baby blue sides. Putting it on, as always with N2Ns stuff, you can’t help but feel sexy. They sure know how to make products that feel good on the body.

Since this is an article of clothing I train in, and I train everyday, I happily gave it a test drive through my daily schedule. Putting a singlet on can sometimes lead to some odd arm/shoulder contortions to get through the neck hole without stretching too far and ripping the elastic. The Galaxy is cut open enough that getting your body through the neck hole isn’t that big of a hassle.

My day usually consists of about 1-2 of stretching to gain flexibility and elongate the muscles before training. Then usually about 2 or more hours of actual circus training (trapeze, aerial hoop, hand balancing, acrobatics). Followed by at least 2-5 hours of teaching circus classes.

During my stretching was when I really put the singlet through its paces. Because a singlet is a top and bottom connected, your lower half movements have an effect on your top half garment and vise versa. The 3 areas you’ll notice can go VERY wrong on a singlet/leotard…etc are the front crotch, back crotch and shoulder straps. If any of your forward or backward bending body movements make it feel like either the front of your crotch or your tailbone area are being sliced by the seam of a singlet, it doesn’t fit well. Also, you will notice the straps digging into your shoulders to accommodate the lack of room down at your crotch. Having dropped that bit of knowledge, I am happy to say the Galaxy fits wonderfully. It feels snug, without chafing, but doesn’t feel baggy either. Goldilocks’ hunky brother would be happy to wear this.

The fabric feels great, it manages sweat very nicely, it fits snugly (and looks sexy), and is designed well. I am proud to not only to add this to my collection of training clothes, but it’s probably my favorite now too.

Pros:

Great fit
Good color choices
Sexy design

Cons:

Kinda pricey, but the fabrication is quality.
I wish I was sent all three color options to review 🙂

Fit – 5
Materials – 5
Construction – 5
Look – 5
Daily Wear – 4

Overall: 4.8/5

The singlet was scheduled for review by N2N Bodywear.

In Empirio Armani

DAVID BECKHAM the face of a new culture of underwear-consciousness

October 15, 2012 2 Comments

FLASHBACK: I’m in a class for my costume design major in college, and I’m surrounded by a bunch of women and a straight guy. Today’s assignment had focused on designing the character’s clothing from the ground up, even their underwear. As I mention that one of my characters is wearing a trunk in one of my designs, I get interrupted by one of the girls. She asked me why the character was going to be wearing “swimming trunks”. I explained what a trunk was, and slowly the rest of the class acknowledged that none of them really knew that there was any other cut of men’s underwear besides the horribly named “tighty whiteys” (also known as y-front briefs) and boxers. Shocked was I for the girls (the straight ones at least) for having a history of dating men with such limited wardrobes, and the boy who had yet to see the world through the eyes of stylish underwear. My costume design professor noticed the information gap, and asked if I would mind preparing a small presentation on the current state of men’s underwear, to update my classmates’ knowledge a few decades. I hurried home and got to work…

David Beckham has many pop-claims to his life: major American-soccer/football cred, popstar turned fashion icon wife, movie with his name in the title, and especially ruggedly handsome model-good looks that have been put to good use leading to various endorsement contracts.

Beckham first brushed with the men’s underwear world back in 2007 when he modeled underwear for the Empirio Armani Brand. This underwear campaign did lead to controversy, because here was not just some anonymous model, this was a celebrity, who is lying back with a rather ample bulge prominently displayed for the public. When Marky Mark back in the day did his Calvin Klein ads, even the front of his undies were pretty baggy. Beckham’s ad left NOTHING to the imagination. Beckham has reached quite a gamut of positive facts. He is a sexy husband/father, who works hard, and looks good. Aside from the usual celebrity alleged sex scandals (none of which have been confirmed), he seems to be a great guy who also gets to live this magical life of riches, fashion, and fame. He represents what I like to call “straight man gold”.

Now, it’s one thing to be a model for an underwear label, but Beckham upped his game in early 2012, joining forces with H&M to create a line of David Beckham Underwear for their stores. This line is starting classic- no Andrew Christian competing here. But what these pieces offer, is a step in the right direction for guys who have had limited underwear wardrobes up till now. His designs are fairly classic in genre, but modern in cut and quality.

I am really excited about Beckham’s journey into men’s underwear marketing. He is a positive image that I think can help straight men who don’t consider themselves “metrosexuals” to start considering putting thought into their underwear choice. I think celebrities like Beckham and Mario Lopez’s “Rated M” underwear line, will help straight men realize it’s not necessarily a “gay” thing to put thought into your underwear.

What do you think? In the onslaught of certain companies targeting gay men in their advertising to increase their more popular demographics sales, do you welcome Beckham and Co’s no-nonsense marketing of classic underwear redesigned for the new modern straight male? Or do you see it as just a random marketing campaign by a celebrity and it will not open the less popular demographic of straight men to opening their underwear opinions?

In boyRio

Review – BoyRio Full Brief

September 20, 2012 No Comments

BoyRio is an underwear/swimwear company based in Rio de Janeiro, and you can tell because all of their pieces would look great on a bright sandy beach locale. I got a pair of their Full brief to review. Disguised as a basic pair of briefs, these undies are quite nice to wear, even though you’ll be a little surprised at the fabric.

The fabric blend is a 90% Polyester, 10% Spandex blend. The result is a cool forest green that has a slight luxe sheen to it. The brief is a pouch brief style, with the two-panel pouch inset into the front of the brief with deep brown contrast flatlock stitching. To finish off, the brief has black finishing on the leg holes, and a black elastic at the waist. The only wonky part of the fabrication for me was the taggage; there is a tag at the back center with the size and washing instructions, as well as a little hang tag coming out of the front hip with the brand.

In addition to that, the waist elastic seam (when the elastic is made into a loop) is set at the center front, so they added an additional brand label at the center front. For me, that’s a little too much, but the front two are at least on the outside, so it shouldn’t affect your comfort level. The leg holes are nice and stretchy without being too loose.

What I like about the underwear is it has a nice lifting effect to everything. The pouch isn’t a c-ring style lift, but it does keep everything up front. The elastic in the legs picks the butt up quite nicely. This is a very low rise brief. I would suggest ordering a size up as well, because my regular size is a bit too snug for my comfort.

All in all, a nice sexy brief, design wise, I wouldn’t say it’s anything special, it’s the sexy Rio version of a classic.

Pros:

Surprisingly nice fabric.
Snug pouch.

Cons:

Not too special in it’s design.
A little excessive on the taggage.

Fit – 3

Materials – 4

Construction – 4.5

Look – 3.5

Daily Wear – 4

Overall *OUT of 5* – 3.8

These were furnished for review by BoyRio

In Brief Distraction

Review – Mundo Unico – 7” Short Boxer Numeral in Blue

September 6, 2012 No Comments

Ladies and Gentlemen, today I have a very nice pair of underwear to discuss with you. It is the 7” Short Boxer Numeral 2. I received them in Blue, and was intrigued by the design elements before trying it on. This sexy pair of undies is made out of a 84% Nylon, 16% Spandex blend. The main part of the boxer is blue, with an orange UNICO logo waistband. Not part of the “construction” elements of the boxer are these two sleek black piping lines that run around the hips from front to back, only stopping at the pouch.

The initial putting on of the underwear was verging on heavenly. The material is so rich and breath through the fabric feels great. The seams where the piping hit across the butt almost make it feel like there are sexy cutouts back there. Legs fit very nicely on this pair, hugging without squishing, and the un-elasticized hems put a very nice leg line at the bottom.

Now, today, I had to go in to the circus studio and train,. Which usually starts with stretching, including the greatest underwear tester of all time…SPLITS! Splits are the event where good underwear construction and GREAT underwear construction separate. While I was in the split, it felt like I was wearing nothing, which is not a common feeling with boxer-style underwear in high mobility activities. The big wonder was whether I’d have to readjust everything once I stood back up, and I can tell you, this pair needed NO adjustments. I even did them without pants on at home, just to see what it looked like after the splits, and they looked sexy, sure the legs rode up a little bit, but they didn’t CURL up, which is important, and they only made the “centerpiece” look better.

In terms of maintenance, the underwear label specifies hang dry, but I found that after putting it through the dryer with everything else I own (I use medium heat, cause my life involves a lot of spandex, with the circus and all), it looks perfectly fresh and fine.

The biggest thing to know is that I’m a 34” waist, usually getting a Large or Medium in most brands, I was given an XL in Mundo Unico sizing, and it fit great. So definitely check their sizing before you buy.

Pros:

Wonderful construction
Really breathable fabric
Sexy design

Cons:

Only available in Red, Yellow, and Blue.
Tag in back can be itchy depending on skin sensitivity.

Fit – 4.75

Materials – 5

Construction – 5

Look – 4

Daily Wear – 5

Overall *OUT of 5* – 4.75

This pair was furnished by the Mundo Unico Store

In Men's Underwear

Review – N2N Cotton Pouch Boxer

June 26, 2012 No Comments

I have been a fan of N2N for a few years now. They’re material and fabrication is always extremely quality, matched by a very comprehensive understanding of design. The whole brand has many facets (their sportier looks vs their loungewear…) but as a whole, they are always known for being comfortable, looking sexy, and feeling good about what you’re wearing.

This week I get to review the Cotton Pouch Boxer, I actually own 2 of these, one in an olive color, and the one I was sent for reviewing in white. The first thing you’ll notice is the texture. This is super soft cotton. It’s actually a 90% cotton 10% spandex blend, but all you feel is the heavenly cotton that practically put you in a state of serenity just upon wearing them.

The magic trait of the Cotton Pouch Boxer is the elastic sewn into the seam around the pouch. This creates a slight perch for which your genitals will hang down over. This creates a natural hanging but very full pouch in front. The waistband is sturdy but soft elastic to keep the underwear in place. Other than that, the underwear is very subtle in its wear, with no leg elastics, or tight thong-like seams in the back.

I find this underwear wears best in low-athleticism environments. They make great sleepwear, or undies to go under a loose pair of shorts for a nice stroll. I wouldn’t recommend these for running/working out at the gym. Because of the looseness/comfortable cut of the boxer, it can be slightly prone to bunch up at the leg holes. Not to be vulgar, but if it’s cold out, or you’re not a necessarily “hanging down” type of guy, because the pouch elastic border isn’t being anchored from behind (for example like a jock strap would be) you might have some slipping out occur. This doesn’t necessarily feel uncomfortable because the elastic isn’t tensions to an uncomfortable level, but the “presentation” might be thrown off a bit.

The price was fair at 19$ for this super soft pair, and the sizing is on point (as N2N always is), and it will really make you feel extra sexy.

FIT 4.5

MATERIALS 5

CONSTRUCTION 3.5

LOOK 4.5

DAILY WEAR 2.75

OVERALL 4.05

This pair was furnished for review by N2N Bodywear

In Bum Chums Underwear

Review – Bum-Chums Moon Pants Hipster

April 2, 2012 No Comments

Bum-Chums is quite adorable in their approach to underwear shopping (even their little tushy logo is cute). I was sent a pair of Bum-chums to review, and low and behold, this hilarious pair of undies came into my life.

At first glance, it looks like a space suit turned into a trunk. After reading that the pair was Bum-chums’ “Moon Pants” hipster, I realized they lived up to the name perfectly. Without further ado, I slipped the hipster on.

I was surprised at how soft the inside felt compared to the shiny metallic layer on the outside of the nylon/lycra fabric. The hipster (aka trunk) fit very nicely in my allocated size, and hugged my butt firmly (the Brand knows what it’s doing), and had a nice amount of room in the front, I might even say verging on a little baggy.

As I said for a metallic underwear, they are very comfy to wear, but the Bum-chums site states that the Celestial (metallic) collection should be considered “Occasional” wear, because with too much heavy wear, the metallic finish might “tarnish” (read: rub off), and they won’t look as Moon-y.

The waistband was very nicely sewn onto the metallic fabric, leaving no uncomfortable metallic edged seam to rub against your hips. The cut on the undies has a seam up the back for more contouring on the “bum”, while the front has an inset two-panel pouch. The waistband also has a branding label sewn to the outside of the Left front hip. It’s a nice idea putting the uncomfortable tag on the outside, but it’s visually a little uncalled for.

Price-wise, for roughly 20$ USD, it’s not a bad price for such a cute pair.

PROS:

Super fun metallic look.
Really comfortable.
Well cut in the bum area.

CONS:

Not as great fit in the front pouch area.
Not great for daily use (mind you, wearing silver undies daily might be a bit much anyway).

Fit	3.5
Materials	4
Construction	4
Look	4
Daily Wear	2*
OVERALL	3.5

*OUT OF 5*

*because of the inability for daily wear

These were furnished for review by Bum-Chums and can be purchased at their site, http://www.bum-chums.com