Jocks have been around for over 100 years. They started out for athletes and in the 70’s it came to the gay fetish world. The 80’s saw some advancement to the style. It was available in colors. The colors were mainly black, red and blue. However, there were brands making other colors. It wasn’t until the late 2000’s that jocks really went more “mainstream.” I called 2009 the year of the jock. Every brand had them and they were no longer work out/athletic gear but a pair of fashion underwear.

Since 2009 the jock isn’t in as many collections. In the world of athletics, UnderArmour has taken over and certain sports now don’t even wear the classic style anymore. In our reader polls and through friends of the blog, I have had a few talks with guys (gay, straight, and bi) on the style. It tends to be the gay guys who love and still wear the jocks. Now, this is not a scientific study but more of an observation on my part.

Young Guys don’t wear them

I am on a few gear sites and it amazes me how many young guys never owned a jock. When you ask them if they wore them in sports they said they would wear UA gear. It’s more about compression gear than the jock. I remember playing little league and being given my first jock. I have a few friends on the sites who told me when they buy their first jock. Most of the times these guys are buying it for the fetish side and not for everyday wear.

Straight guys prefer thongs

Straight guys have bypassed this pair and gone straight to thongs. I asked one of our long-time readers why this is and he told me that his gf/wife didn’t get them. They think the style is silly. They would rather see their man in a thong. This has been echoed by several guys. On top of that, most of them find the thong sexier than a jock. It’s a matter of preference with them and their partners.

Innovation is being done on the Fetish Side

When you see what innovations are happening in the world of jocks, it’s on the fetish side. Look at brands like Cellblock13, Nasty Pig, 4 Hunks and AD Fetish. Each of these brands has some of the best jocks on the market. Timoteo’s Cellblock 13 has fully embraced fetish and been making neoprene jocks with matching harnesses. Which are super hot, well to me. Then you have Nasty Pig making jocks for fetish and fashion. They have done many colors, prints and more. And one that is really making statements is 4 Hunks. They are mixing elastic and mesh! (We will some reviews on them soon). Lastly is the new kid on the block Addicted Fetish.

Is the Jock just for Fetish or does it have a future?

I don’t think the jock is done yet. There are guys who still love the pair and it’s all they wear. It’s always had a place in the fetish world and that won’t be changing anytime soon. Like other things in life, it all happens in cycles. Just the way boxers/boxer briefs are popular, we will swing the other direction. Plus, there are still lots of brands making the pair. Such as C-IN2, JOR, Cocksox and more. I think we will have three areas. The first will of course be Fetish. The second will still be old school athletic jocks in athletics. And the last will be fashion.

If you have an opinion, let us know!

The last few years we have been challenging you guys to wear a swim brief. We have had various writers over the years to encourage you guys! Then last year we added in the Swim Thong challenge. UNB Ryan and a few other writers have braved the Thong in public and want more guys to join in on the fun. We are bringing them both back this year. I know that is a shocker!

We want to do more with the challenges. Not just talk about them but hear your stories about wearing a brief or thong for the first time in public. Share with us your feelings as you dropped the shorts for the first time. Then how your day went. Would you keep wearing them? Where you at a pool, beach or lake? Was it private or public?

The next big question is would you do one or both? Some guys have no desire to wear a thong and that’s fine. While other guys who want to wear a thong don’t want to wear a swim brief. It’s really surprised me over the last year how many guys want to thong it up. I have done both over the years but have never been brave enough to wear the thong in public. It’s always been a private pool. Swim briefs I have worn in private/public pools, at the lake, and at the ocean. Many times I was the only guy in them and I didn’t care. What can I say I was in my 20’s and said fuck it!

If you aren’t doing the challenge, why aren’t you? Is it because you’re married and you don’t want to do it around kids? You may not feel you can pull off either? Maybe it’s body image issues? Just why? There is no wrong answer. We are all guys who have bonded over underwear and you do you!

How can you share? You can email us directly or I’m going to set up an easy form (below) and on a page, you can do it anytime. I”ll probably add it to our contact form!

This is an on going debate with our guys and a few readers I talk to on a regular basis. Who should model underwear? Not just for us at UNB but in the industry as a whole. It’s always a divided issue some want models to be models and others what real guys. I think there should be a mix of both guys.

Why use Models

Male models are important to the world of underwear. Brands want to show you their underwear in the best light. Put their best foot forward so to say. Next, it’s aspirational as well. When you see a guy in an ad/pic/packaging for underwear, you want to feel you look as good as he does in the undies. This can be subconscious, but it does work in selling undies.

Lastly, models can create fans. Fans that will pay attention to what he wears and what companies he is used as a model. The primary example of this is UnderGear. They created a few celebrities in the world of underwear in their day. Today we have models like Steven Dehler, Eric Turner, Bruin Collinsworth, and Murray Swansby. The right model can add personality to the brand.

Why use Real guys

The biggest advantage is that you can see how underwear fits on real guys. Not models with washboard abs and 30-inch waists. We have a lot of readers who want to see this kind of guy in undies. We are starting to see more of this in social media. More brands are sharing their fan’s pics in undies. Nasty Pig is a brand that is embracing guys of all sizes in their content on Instagram. It’s not the “in shape, abs, and pecs.”

So far very few brands have used real guys for their campaigns. Brands that do use them always get rave reviews online for promoting a positive body image. It shows all guys can look great in their underwear no matter your size. Body Image is something that is growing in importance and should be addressed by all guys.

Each one of these has positives and negatives. I’m curious as to which you guys prefer and why? Or should there be a mix of both?

How long have you been into spandex gear? What got you initially interested?

My love of spandex goes back as far as I can remember. I loved comic books and superhero cartoons as a kid; I was obsessed with Batman ’66 and Christopher Reeves in the old Superman movies. Later, when my sexuality began to assert itself, it was clear that spandex gear on guys turned me on instantly. There was a guy named Derek in my junior high gym class who loved to wear spandex shorts, and I was obsessed with how they looked on him. I wanted spandex shorts for myself as badly as I wanted him.

How did you get the name Capitan Spandex?

It goes back to a joke that my friends and I had in university about a superhero whose only actual “superpower” was that he wore spandex – as much spandex as humanly possible. I secretly took it to heart, because I feel like a superhero when I’m wearing spandex gear… and the name has stuck.

You wear all spandex to the gym, in the pics you post on Instagram. Do you have any reactions at the gym either positive or negative?

It may be a function of where I live (in Western Canada, where everyone has opinions, but nobody shares them), but most of the reactions I get are positive. The hardest part about wearing tights openly in the gym was doing it the first time – and it took a while to work up to it for fear of what people might think. The first time I did it — terrified — I wore plain black tights and tried to look confident. It was almost shocking to me that nobody seemed to care.

Over time, I’ve gotten more and more brave about spandex gear in the gym and public (I also wear tights regularly, as everyday wear, when the weather’s good in the summer) and plain black tights now almost absent from my collection. I pick some designs because I like them, and some because I wonder if they’ll finally hit the “limit” of accessibility at the gym and attract different attention. More often than not, I get a thumbs-up from people. At worst, people tell me I’m brave or that I pull off the look well. At the end of the day, though: what matters is what makes me feel good when I work out.

May guys want to go full on spandex at the gym (no shorts over), what advice would you give them?

I can promise, based on personal experience, that it’s only terrifying the first time, and just up until the moment you start your first lift.

I feel like it took months for me to get to the point where I was confident enough to walk onto the gym floor in full tights, with no shorts. On the day that I finally forced myself to do it, I packed tights in my gym bag with no shorts and no other option: if I wanted to work out, there was going to be only one thing to wear. I dressed in the locker room, walked out to fill my water bottle, and expected there to be a line of people pointing and laughing. But nobody cared. Nobody noticed. Nobody said a word. I did my workout, felt amazing, and have worn tights every day since.

Most people in the gym are there to get their workout done. They don’t care what you wear nearly as much as they care about whether or not you put your weights away or wipe down your bench.

Wearing shorts over your tights is more conspicuous. It looks like you’re confident in your body but afraid of your genitalia. Take off the shorts.

I keep a couple of retorts in my back pocket, in case I need them to respond to a heckler in the gym. I’ve never had to use them. If someone were to mock my attire, I’d say “you wish you could make tights look this good.” If someone were to call me a faggot, I’d say “you’re darn right. Why – you want some?”

Who are your favorite brands for gym gear?What are the must-have pairs in your collection you think all guys would have in their gym bag?

For workouts – especially if you’re into things that take a toll on the legs, like spin class or powerlifting – I am a big fan of high-end compression gear from brands like 2XU, Skins, and Virus International. These tights are expensive – I can’t lie – but they’re built to support your workout, and the fit is unparalleled.

If you’re looking for more basic gym wear, leggings from Under Armour, Tesla Gears or SUB Compression are easy to find, and they look good. These don’t offer the same kind of support as high-end tights but they are very comfortable, and designs are excellent.

For middle-of-the-road spandex wear for inside and outside the gym, I like supporting Jeffery Scott (tightsguy.net) and LED Queens. Both are independent businesses run by men who know how to design tights for men. Jeffrey’s range of patterns and colors goes from badass gym gear to formal wear, and he has a bunch of different fabrics you can try (from cotton jersey tights to high-compression nylon). LED Queens gear has a wide range of striking prints that all come on a lovely, soft, comfortable lycra blend.

Are you a DC or Marvel fan in your superhero gear?

I am mostly a Marvel fan. I like the grittiness and flawed nature of their characters better. But I have always had a soft spot for the mainstay DC characters (think of the original Justice League). Superman, Batman, Flash and Green Lantern are all in my collection alongside many Spider-Men and others.

How many super spandex suits do you own? Do you have a favorite superhero to wear?

I have 12 superhero costumes at the moment if you include a wild Wolverine suit made of spandex, suede, and leather that has seen rough times and needs some repair work. My favorites are always shifting, but right now my Infinity-War-style Spidey and my Batman bodysuit (I still need to get the cape, cowl, boots, and gauntlets) are very exciting to wear.

What superhero suit is high on your list to get next?

Because I’m Canadian I have a soft spot for Captain Canuck and hope to get a suit made based on the design in his recent Chapterhouse Comics reboot. If the stars align, I may have that put together by the end of the summer.

I have looked for suits before; they aren’t always easy to find. Where do you get most of your suits?

My go-to site for mid-priced suits is herostime.com. They’ve always been good to me. They have a vast catalog of costume designs, will customize an outfit to match your measurements and preferences for zippers, and have a decent turnaround time and fast shipping. You have tons of options for things like zippers, which can make the difference in a suit that’s practical and one that’s a pain in the butt to wear. For the record, I like forearm zippers (to help get gloves off and free up hands without having separate pieces), crotch zippers (get the male version for essential practical use and the female version if you also like to bottom), and a U-shaped zipper in the back (which is less noticeable/visible than a straight back zipper).

Follow Captain Spandex on Instagram!