This week the Baskit $12 Tuesday is the Light Yoga Cut V-Neck. Each week Baskit puts one pair on special. When can you get this shirt only today. Also while on the special page see the other pairs on sale!
“LETS SEE REAL GUYS IN UNDERWEAR” is something we hear all the time on the blog. This was even written up in a recent New York Times Article called “Changes in the Marketing of men’s underwear” (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/23/fashion/changes-in-the-marketing-of-mens-underwear.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0) They explain how guys don’t want to see models with 3% body fat and washboard stomachs, and how companies are turning to more realistic models.
This is something we have been doing for a few years. Since the advent of our guides we shoot, we have purposefully chosen models that looked a little more realistic to our readers. Yes, we have gotten negative feed back from brands and also readers. Some of the readers have been the harshest. Comments on facebook range from the polite “not my type” to not so polite “Ugly models”, “Why did you choose fat guys” and “I don’t want to see more of them”
Granted beauty is in the eye of the beholder and not every model will be for everyone. But to say guys who have a 32 waist are fat? That I don’t understand. I would say the average guy is anywhere from 32-36 waist. Our models have all been around a 32 waist. Most of them have other jobs and doing this for fun. We even recruited one of our waiters one day. I want use to continue this trend in our guides, and it has been suggested that we include a staff member in the guide, by one of our guys, who said he would be willing to do it.
We also have started to include our reviewers in review posts. Speaking for someone who’s underwear picture has been over the net, it’s a little nerve racking. I posted a selfie in a review a few months back and was super nervous. Why? Because I didn’t want to hear the “You’re fat”, “Why are you wearing that” and even worse things going through my mind. The internet can be a very cruel place when people speak from anonymity. But comments aside it take a brave person to strip down to their undies and post a pic for thousands of people to see. It’s not like sharing it with friends via a text. You are literally exposing yourself to all!
In order for us to continue showing real guys in underwear we really need your support. You are now asking, how can we do that? Comment on posts and guides we produce that have more real guys in them. Give words of encouragement. This goes not just for out blog but all bloggers out there doing this, remember it takes guts to put it all out there. Email us, if you want a bit more anonymity, we love getting emails and we will answer you back. Share the pictures on social media (Facebook, twitter and Tumblr) but make sure you tell guys where the pics are from!
Are bold enough to share yourself in undies? Submit it to the UNB Tumblr http://underwearnewsbriefs.tumblr.com. The picture in this post is form reader Dash (@DashDistraction on Twitter) submitted these to post when we asked for real readers pics! See the full pics below
By Robert Bundrick – BOISKIN BODYWEAR
At BOISKIN BODYWEAR™, we are striving to be not only creative in style of underwear, but also extremely consistent in comfort. We are a U.S. made, designer brand, which we are very proud of, and we plan on doing everything we can to both source and fabricate all of our materials and lines from U.S. companies. Great underwear, in our opinion, should be sexy and fun, and something that you can show off in. There are not many United States made, American designers that do what we are doing and we are proud that our underwear both accentuates the male form, and will be consistently ultra comfortable; a very important aspect that is often overlooked in underwear design by other companies. I think to many designers have focused on extremely broad lines of products that may look “cute” but don’t really fit. Those briefs and boxer briefs and jocks and thongs end up sitting in the bottom of the drawer, and that is not where we plan for our BOISKIN™ undies and swimwear to spend most of their time!
Of course aesthetics are important and, as designers, we believe a great pair of underwear definitely stands out, perhaps often in subtle ways, while still offering options to customers. BOIKIN™ will begin be releasing our Razor Brief, in multiple colors, utilizing premium materials, and in a design that most importantly fits incredibly well. When we design, we start with fit then work on aesthetics. Creating with passion makes for great underwear and, as my husband and I design our products, we put a great deal of effort into ensuring that what we create isn’t just something attractive to look at. If we don’t want to wear our products all day everyday, then chances are our customers won’t either.
Lastly, my husband and I, take a holistic approach to creating our swimwear and underwear, and are always willing to take feedback on how we can make products even better. Listening to our customers and fans has definitely helped us create the best products, as we launched our first swimwear line earlier this year, which is available at BSBodywear.com, and will be launching underwear in the coming weeks. We feel that the clothing we wear, whether a three-piece suit to the office, a brief to the gym or a swim trunk to the beach, says something about how we feel about ourselves. We ultimately believe that underwear should be inspired, and embody a spirit of playfulness that makes the wearer feel sexy and just generally great. Our company moniker, “BOISKIN”, really summates how we design and the fact that wearing our products is truly the next best thing to being naked. I don’t want to give to many secrets away, but you will see when you try a pair of our underwear or swimwear on that we know what great underwear are and should be.
Find Boiskin at http://www.bsbodywear.com
We wrap up our retro pics from this pic from Pistol Pete in 2011. We got a peek at their underwear. It was a fun collection and they continue to make amazing undies.
There are as many ways to organize and underwear drawer as there are pairs to buy. This has been a debate on the site since it was created. How you organize your drawer or in most of our cases drawers is just as personal as the underwear buying process.
We are going to cover a few of the more popular ways to organize your collection:
Organize by Style
One popular way is to keep all of one style together. This is great for a guy who has a wide collection and wants to easily find a pair. It may not be good if you want to organize a big collection of just briefs. Some guys I have talked to put briefs, boxer briefs and jocks all in different drawers.
Organize by Brand
Do you have multiple brands? Or Do you have a favorite brand? This way of organizing your undies all your brands together so you don’t have to search for a favorite brand. All of your 2(X)ist or N2N Bodywear are in your top drawer.
Organize by color
Are you a fan of color? Do you match your underwear with what you wear? This organization style would allow you to find that perfect shade of blue. This will allow you to find any color you need fast. You can organize by colors of the rainbow, from red to purple. That’s not the only way, you can put your favorite colors together. This is endless
Organize by favorites
Do you have several favorites you like to wear over other pairs? You can put those in front. This method allows for you to do some of the other methods above as well. You can organize favorite by color, brand or style. It doesn’t have to be just one way to organize your undies.
No organization
Or you can do the opposite and just throw all your undies in a drawer and pull out what ever you grab. This I know would drive certain of our reader’s crazy. But we do have some guys who do just this or pull it our of the clothesbasket and rarely put it up.
The way I organize my drawer is basically, Organize by Favorites. I have several drawers of underwear. I think I have over 300 pairs. The top drawer is the ones I love wearing the most. The drawer below it are those that are just ok, I have no strong objection but just not ones the fit me really well. The bottom drawer are older pairs, may not be in fashion right now but I still like them. This isn’t all I do, I then have those large storage bags in the closet for those pairs that I have yet to go through and don’t like to wear. If you could see how much undies I have in the closet.
How do you organize your underwear drawer? Do you use one of these methods, a combination or another method
By Marcuse – Michael
To me, it has to be a balance of style and comfortable. I would not wear any underwear that is lack of one of those above.
I was a brief guy when I was younger, but I found the comfy of boxer later on. But there was always a problem with ‘holding it in place’ and it is annoying! So it was either ‘in place but not comfy’ with briefs or ‘comfy but hanging..’ with boxer.
I have been looking for an underwear that is both comfortable with the support needed, plus to give it a ‘Outstanding’ look men want. So we created our first underwear ‘Bounce’, it looks like an advertisement to you probably, but it is really the most comfortable I ever wore and I am still wearing them since they had been launched.
The good thing about ‘Bounce’ is it gives you the support needed, it is stylish, used a fine single layer fabric and it breaths.
To me, it is still the best undies around! 🙂
Find Marcuse at http://www.marcuse.com.au/
We go back just one year this year with this picture from Private Structure. This was taken at Magic 2012. Private Structure has some really great colorful underwear at great prices.
I admit it, I am an underwear addict. If there were a meeting for Underwear Anonymous I would probably be the president of the local chapter. But, I don’t think it’s a problem. I mean I have over 400 pairs and love getting new underwear.
I would say my love of underwear went back to childhood. In second grade I remember getting this pair of blue briefs with bright red trim and loved them. There was something about them that from that day forward I wanted to have different underwear.
Growing up I was really shy. I mean painfully so, that I rarely talked to people I didn’t know. This progressed into my teens as well. This is when I discovered bikini briefs. The first time I saw Jim Palmer wear them I knew I had to have a pair. Here was a mainstream jock in undies that weren’t tighy white. It really turned me on to go by the first pair on a family-shopping trip. I got all the courage I could to get a pair, go to the register and pay for them. My heart was racing, what would the cashier think, what if someone saw me with them, how would I get them home?
I ran to my room and put them on and they felt amazing. I was wondering where had this underwear been all my life. It felt so amazing. I would let my collection grew to about 10 pairs before my family found my stash. It seemed the world ended but no one in my family cared and from them on it was up to me to get my undies.
As I said during this time I was super shy. One reason I think I got different undies was to express myself. Most guys were still in those tighty whities, that you get six to a pack. But I was sporting red, green or pink bikinis on a regular basis. It made me feel a bit more confident. However, I never let anyone see them in HS for fear of the hazing in gym class. Which looking back no one would have said anything? There were several guys in the locker room that wore bikinis and it was a non-issue.
These were the days in the gay world I could be called a Twink. Which is I was a tall thin kinda preppy boy. I was 6’4” at 165 with a 31 waist. I could wear anything. That changed and when I hit 27 my metabolism slowed and I went form 165 in my 20’s to 302 in my early fourties and a 42 waist. I was super frustrated that I rarely got great undies. I made up my mind to change that, over the course of the last year I have lost 75 pounds and kept it off. My goal is to go down to around 200 pounds. My current waist is between a 36-38. I can wear great undies but my undies still make me feel awesome.
Flash forward to today. My confidence and underwear companies are up. I turned my love into a blog that is showing guys undies are fun and always should be. I’ve always been the go to guy my friends talk to about what undies they should buy, even before UNB. I love giving advice and hope to be doing the blog for many years to come
My name is Tim, I’m an editor of an underwear blog, have over 400 pairs of underwear and an underwear addict.
By Cocksox
Great underwear is underwear that makes YOU feel great. It’s as simple as that. And that means comfort is key.
As far as Cocksox® is concerned, comfort is the number one priority for making great underwear. We put a lot of time into designing the pouch, choosing the best fabrics and ensuring every Cocksox® garment is as awesomely comfortable as we can make it. The pouch is supportive, the high tech fabrics feel great against the body and the shape keeps your boys well presented all day long.
Comfort is super important BUT it’s not the only consideration. As well as feeling great your underwear has to make you look great too.
Cocksox® underwear has an advantage over other brands in that they keep your boys looking their best even when they’re under your regular pants. You don’t have to show them off for you to look great. No one will know you’re wearing them but you’ll be looking better and feeling awesome. Now surely that’s great underwear 😉
We wanted to have some fun in this week’s Underwear of the Week. Something skimpy but yet a lot of fun that you could actually wear for an entire day. Several companies were considered but it came down to just one company. That company is Vizeau and the pair we chose was the Yon Brief.
Vizeau is one of those companies that really thinks outside the box for its designs. They are never afraid to take risks and just creat something wild and fun. This is their unique take on a bikini brief!
Reasons this pair is our Underwear of the Week:
- Very creative design
- soft jersey knit with front cutouts
- half-back and pouch
- Elastic covered in matte tricot
- Only Available in White
- Retails for $26.00
It amazes me at what they come up with! I would suggest they surf their site to see more great pairs. The Yan brief is available a the Vizeau website, http://www.vizeau.com
By Joe Snyder
At Joe Snyder, we believe that feeling great begins with underwear: it is the most intimate item you wear; the first thing you put on and the last thing you remove. Underwear is probably the single most functional garment you put on every day and one of the most important factors that determines whether you feel comfortable with the rest of your clothes or not.
Another very important thing to consider when referring to “what makes great underwear” is support. This is the reason why since 1977, Mr. Snyder started creating men’s underwear as, in those days, men’s undergarments were only covering men’s anatomy, failing the objective: supporting men’s virility. All the Joe Snyder’s collections are ergonomically designed.
Great underwear is simply the one that makes each person feel comfortable, confident, and sexy and this depends on the type of fabric used as well as the cut, style, color, support, etc. Joe Snyder knows that the world of men’s underclothing has come a long way in recent years, and today you can find contemporary styles to suit even the most discriminating tastes.
JOE SNYDER is known for its unique style and versatility. Because of the superb quality products, JOE SNYDER’s garments are both, lightweight and very comfortable to wear. All the JOE SNYDER’s garments are made from 80% Polyamide 20% Spandex Lycra ® that fits like a glove and provides excellent male support.
Today, in Joe Snyder we use our extensive experience to produce exactly what men want: not just underwear and swimwear, but the sensational feeling of comfort and exhilaration you get when you wear a garment from our wide range of products.
The Joe Snyder product line makes use of the best fabrics, which are guaranteed by DuPont ® and supported by the Lycra ® label, so whenever you get a fresh, new, exciting Joe Snyder you know that you are getting a top of the line product which is manufactured using our extensive knowledge regarding what men want and by using the most modern technology available.
Our mission is to transcend fashion by creating a distinctive environment that allows clients to express their individual style and uniqueness with designs, colours, and fabrics that match their image. The success of the Joe Snyder range of products is its points of difference with its unique Exclhom (exclusive for men) design and unique Polyamide / Elasthan fabrics.
This is another great picture from N2N Bodywear! This is the new collection from this year. It’s always great to meet up with the N2N Guys. They always show their creativity and make awesome underwear
It’s always great to come to Vegas and catch up with all the brands. It’s three days of non stop meeting covering the Sands Convention Center at the Venetian and Mandalay Bay Conference center. This year before I started I had 33 brands to meet up. Luckily I have several of those brands are the same stop.
My typical day at the shows I get up, get out the door by 8:30. This is Vegas so it’s not always that easy. Grab a granola bar and eat it on the way to the show. Get to the Convention center then go around and hit a few appointments and then see who else can meet. My day flows rather then be static. Most bands will fit me in between buyers and most happen on the last day. When I meet with the brands I usually get to see the new collection coming up. They go through pair by pair and I get to make notes and report to you guys. Some brands have a model, like Good Boy Gone Bad, that I get picture and videos in at the show.
This year we are changing up our coverage. I have talked to a few people in the underwear world, brands, retailers and readers. We are going to do our main post next week about what we saw and some of the trends happening in the world of men’s underwear market and then when pairs are released give them more coverage so you guys know when underwear is out! For more popular brands we will be giving a quick write up of things to come, more of a preview.
Some quick highlights of the trip are:
- Met with some of the favorites; 2(X)ist, C-IN2, Pistol Pete, Gregg Homme, Clever, Mundo Unico and more
- Ginch Gonch is coming back strong
- Fluorescent accents will be big
- Purple was in a few collections and will be a strong color
- Several brand will bring you more then just underwear, will reveal more on this later but super excited
Stay tuned for more coverage, pictures and videos. There is a lot more to say but I”m too tired to remember it all. I have great notes and pictures to refresh my memory! Three days of walking about 8-10 miles a day wears you out
By Timoteo Ocampo – Chief Creative Designer, Timoteo & CellBlock 13
“A great pair of underwear starts with a great design. Period. The design can be inspired by color, shapes, fabric, the male anatomy or anything visually inspiring that translates to design. Every new idea must be unique with qualities that appeal to that particular garment.
Today underwear is a fashion statement. Its not just about the “3-pack” your mom bought you as a kid. When every guy is stripped down to his very last piece of clothing, its the underwear that is making the statement. Guys want that once piece to be something they connect with because of the look, the design and and how it shows off their best assets.
Every pair of underwear I design is influenced by so many things around me. How guys live out in the world. Some are more conservative. Some more fashionable. Some guys live in athletic wear all the time and some like street wear. Each are unique and their is a design that is right for them. There are so many possibilities that keep emerging year after year. The sizes and shapes of their bodies. Its my job as a designer to find out what qualities are important in the designs they wear. Some guys like color. Some guys like certain fabrics. Some guys like design techiques to enhance their anatomy and show off their best assets.
Choosing the right fabrics, top notch construction and a perfect fit are the critical steps to design a great air of underwear. Design, fit, fabrication and construction are the ingredients to create a great pair of underwear that pleases the customer and gains their loyalty. The best part of my job is seeing a happy customer looking and feeling his best in one of my designs.
We manufacture everything in the United States and do this as a way to have control over the quality of the product. Most companies that produce overseas have the same companies design their merchandise that produce it. We feel like this robs the customer of such a unique piece of clothing. PROUDLY MADE IN THE USA is on every garment we ship. And yes, there is pride in knowing that people come back to my designs because we are consistent with our fit. They like our designs.
Each one of our waistbands is created by myself and our graphic team in house. Another detail we don’t leave to someone else. The waistband is a framing device to showcase an original new design. A place to explore the junction of creative design and the limitations of the manufacturing process that goes into making a classic waistband.
Everything I design comes from a very personal place. Having been in business for more than a decade and hearing and seeing how customers respond is an amazing affirmation for my job. The advent of social media is an immediate billboard and feedback for people to tell you what they think by snapping a picture or posting a comment.
I love my clients. I am inspired by my clients and more importantly I love being a fashion designer.”
Find Timoteo at http://www.timoteo.net or http://www.cellblock13.net
This is another picture from this year. Taken in February and it features 2EROS swimwear. This again features model Mark, We hopefully will catch up on him this trip!
As I write this post I am going through this dilemma. What do you do with some of your favorite pairs that you can no longer wear? It could be for a weight change or if they just wore out from too much wear.
What are your options for dealing with undies:
Option one – is the most drastic. Just throw them away. I will say It’s very rare I do this to a favorite pair. I mean to me its like parting with a great friend. It has to be a pair that has virtually fallen apart due to damage.
Option two – The most eco friendly. Give them to a friend. If the pair is still in good shape and you have lost/gained weight, it could be a good way to share the love of the pair. I know when I went from a 32 waist to a 36, I gave a lot of my underwear to a friend. He loved getting them. Let me say all the undies were in great shape and were clean.
Option Three – Just keep them. Let them have a place in your underwear drawer and hold on to them. This may seem like hording but there are those certain pairs you just can’t give away or get rid of. They could be a pair you had for a special occasion or ones that just fit you so right
Last Option – Make something out of the old undies. This I the most intriguing option. I posted this on Twitter or Facebook back in the day and one person suggested making a quilt out of your underwear. This may sound odd, but if you read this blog you keep great care of your underwear. I think it would be pretty cool to make a quilt out of undies.
How do you guys part with favorite pairs of underwear? Do you do one of the options above or something different?
By Andrew – N2N Bodywear
For me, it’s always been about comfort, style and of course FIT!
Ok, and the pouch! Anyone who knows me and N2N for the past 16 years knows I’ve never shied away from showcasing the male package. From an early age I was always curious and slightly annoyed at the need for mens fashion, specifically underwear and swimwear, to camouflage and essentially squish men’s genitalia. Even before N2N was conjured up, I created swimwear for myself that satisfied my own desires…a sexy suit with a good pouch!. Flash forward, the N2N of today has come a long way from when I was affectionately known as the “thong guy”.
Besides all that, I think the fact that for the past 16 years, N2N has been made in Los Angeles, CA is pretty unique, especially now when MOST companies outsource. In the world of mens underwear, It’s nice to be in the minority!
We support the local economy and proud to be U.S MADE!
“Grown in LA” baby… Always have been, always will!
Find N2N Bodywear at http://www.n2nbodywear.com
We catch you up to the current year! This one was taken back in February featuring Skivvies underwear. This is Mark their model who you saw in our videos.
As I approach the 5th year anniversary of UNB it has me thinking of where we came from when the blog started. Our readers were mainly self identified gay as was the entire staff of UNB. We had a small but loyal following and each year the audience has grown. Flash forward to the readers today. We have more self identified straight guys reading the blog. Then we got some really great straight staff members. It’s surprised me in just 5 years the underwear market has changed so much.
I have always run UNB as middle of the road. I have the feeling regardless of sexual orientation all guys need great undies. Being gay I think it’s a given we love great underwear. We want to feel good and look great. Also we want our partners to look sexy as well. How many times have I met a guy, seen his underwear and went, “no I don’t think so” and introduced him to great undies? More times then I can count. Then when I talk to the guys years later they are still wearing good undies. I think this is more of a public service to ban the bad underwear of the world. I do what part I can! But, with straight guys, why would they like underwear? Well,except for the seeing your partner in them, it’s the same. They want some great support, having a great fit and look good wearing them.
The future growth in the men’s underwear market is straight guys. The potential is huge for every company involved. I have talked to most companies and they all realize this and are starting to go after this market. Some have changed their marketing while others are just starting too. This is not to say gay guys will be left out. This is not a warning the end is coming but a new beginning. There was a recent article that said underwear companies were toning down their advertising and making them to appeal to a regular guy. What does that mean? The article said they were showing less bulge, having more sedate ads and not trying, for a lack of better words “gay up” the ad.
To me this is the wrong way to go. I have had several conversations with some of our straight readers and contributors and this is not an issue with them. They want to see how the underwear actually fits. So companies don’t need to shy away from showing the underwear. The companies are taking the sexiness out of the underwear. Let’s face it gay or straight we both want to feel sexy in our underwear. If you go this route, then whats the point of doing away with the six pack underwear at the local big box store?
Proof that guys don’t mind pictures is our very own Brief Distractions. When I first put them in I wondered if it would potentially scare off straight readers. But I think it has has the opposite effect, I have received more email regarding the pictures from the straight readers then gay. Most guys know underwear is sexy and they don’t mind seeing great pics of underwear!
It’s going to be an interesting and exciting future for men’s underwear.
Photo by Joe Snyder
By Head Baskit Maker Eric – Baskit Wear
First and foremost, I think a great pair of underwear starts with a great design. You want the underwear to not only fit well but look good on the men who wear it. To that you add good fabrics, quality elastics, premium waistbands. At Baskit we’ve been focused on good design. We’ve always tried to bring a mix of good designs to the marketplace so that our guys have options within our brand. So whether they reach for our original jockbrief or a pair of our boxer shorts, we want that pair of underwear to serve them well.
We share the underwear drawer with a lot of other great brands too and I think what we all strive to bring to the marketplace is underwear that gives a man confidence in himself. It’s really sort of that basic. When you put on a pair of underwear it needs to fit your body and feel good to you. It needs to feel like it was made for you. While we know our fit is not going to give every guy out there that feeling, we really try to focus on our guys, the guys that like baskit and wear it well. For those guys, we want to be the brand they dig through their drawer to find day after day. When we do that….well, that’s great underwear.
Find Baskit at http://www.baskitwear.com
This is another shot from 2010. This was my first time at Curve and I got to meet with Tulio. This is their model at the time Jason. Enjoy the the retro pics!
Men’s Underwear market today is constantly changing. There are always new brands coming into the market and established ones releasing new lines. It seems it has been this way forever. But just back 40 years ago it wasn’t so much fun in the underwear market. There were very few choices for a guy. Mainly it was a choice between boxers and tighty whities. Granted the tighty whities came in colors but the two styles were all there were for the general mass market of underwear shoppers. If you were in the know you could find other things in catalogs and in magazines.
There have been several pairs over the years that just changed the men’s underwear market. We have broken them down into a few categories and feel these brands really broke barriers in the men’s underwear market and either left a mark or changed the way men’s underwear was perceived by the mass market.
Jockstrap:
Today it seem standard that most brands have a jockstrap. But back in the day jocks were used by athletes. There seems to be some debate about when the jockstrap was invented, but Wikipeida says the Bike #10 Jockstrap was invinted in (year). This is the most classic jock. The Bike #10 has the classic 3 inch waistband, mesh pouch and inch leg straps were the standard for decades. It was the form all other jocks we have today are built on. Without the #10 Jock we wouldn’t have the jocks we know today. Bike just announced they were discontinuing this style
Bikini Briefs:
Bikinis are another mainstay in the the worlds of men’s underwear. They go in and out of fashion but they are always there. So, it’s hard to think of a time when we didn’t have them. The pair we think influenced the men’s market the most are the Jockey Elance Bikinis. You may remember the ads with Major League Baseball’s Jim Palmer molding them. This was in the late 1970’s-1980’s when you rarely saw men in their underwear in ads. Here was a major athlete wearnig neither the boxer or tighty whitie. His presence in the ad let more guys to try bikinis then ever before. He did a series of ads that featured several styles of bikinis from Jockey. Jockey opened the door for something other then a plain brief.
Fashion Briefs:
Fashion briefs are ones that look like tighy whities but made to fit a guy and the way he’s built. Calvin Klein did this in the 1980’s. Their iconic ad of the guy in white briefs leaning back against the stone made guys stand up and take notice. That underwear was indeed sexy and should be made to fit a guy. The classic CK briefs were not only available in white but they made them in a rainbow of colors. Even a purple pair made it into cinematic history, with Michael J. Fox wearing them in “Back to the Future” CK’s marketing effort really put underwear in the public’s eye. I would say this was one of the reasons men’s underwear expanded in the 80’s. No longer is shopping for undies relegated to catalogs, it came front row center and to major department stores.
Thongs:
Thongs are not for everyone. They have been around in the fetish market for many years. But none of them ever crossed over into the main stream until the 2(X)ist Essential Thong. This thong is also known as the Y-Back thong. It was released in the (year) in major department stores. This was the first time I remember thongs being in general public. 2(X)ist embraced this and made underwear that was comfortable and fashion forward for the time. The thong has a basic brief waistband with a pouch and then a y-design in the back. It was also an innovation in the thong arena that influenced thongs since. You see other designers who were influenced and had their own take on it. I tried but couldn’t find the original package pic by David Morgan.
Boxer Briefs
CK is the only brand on our list twice. The boxer briefs were released in the 90’s (? check date). It was a hybrid of the boxer and the brief. When it was first released there were many questions, “What is it?” but CK created an advertising campaign around Marky Mark aka Mark Walhberg. You may remember it, he was grabbing his crotch in the ad. When they were first released I don’t think anyone could have known they would take off and still be one of the major styles in the market today. Boxer Briefs from CK were only available in the classic White, Black and grey with a 1 inch waistband. These definitely made brands take note and create new hybrids of underwear.
Jock Brief
One of those hyrbrids that have gained massive popularity is the Jockbrief. Which is just as it sounds you take a brief with a jock backgroun. Many have come out with them over the last few years but the first company to do it was Baskit. They created the Ribbed Collection Jockbrief. At the time when it was released many kind of gave it that turned head look, “What is this?” But Baskit created a pair that the public loved. Guys couldn’t get enough of the pair. It was available in (colors). This ground breaking pair is still being sold today. Baskit took a risk and it paid off big, which is what you have to do in the world of fashion. Within the year other brands followed suit and created their own versions of the jockbrief. I think one reason it took off was that from the front it was a brief, but the back made you feel a bit naughty. If you were wearing in jeans a large jock waistband wouldn’t show over the top, most would think you were wearing a brief. Now we have jocktrunks, jockboxers and more!
These are six pairs that changed men’s underwear. These are the ones we feel did it. Do you agree or disagree with the list. You can let us know by leaving a comment here, on Facebook or Twitter. What other categories would you have indluded
By Jason Hoeung – 2EROS
Underwear is so personal because it’s the closest thing to you. Its the first thing you put on and the last thing you take off. Its the wrapping to a present, or an entree before the main. Men has become aware of this and are paying more attention to what they present. Mens underwear needs to be comfortable and represent their personal aesthetics.
When I design underwear I always think what I look for and why I purchase certain brands and style. With this in mind this is my list on what makes a great underwear.
- Basic function: Know your body and know what feels comfortable, you just need to test out a few brands, once you like a pair from that brand you can experiment with other fits from that brand. Certain brands will focus on a certain body shape and normally they will deliver for that body type.
- Then you need to find the right fit. You have to selection between a variety of fits from briefs, trunks, boxers etc. The right fit will not irritate you throughout the day. A good fit can support and contour your body nicely.
- Finding the right brand that represents your style and personality. 2EROS for example is sexy and sophisticated, so the fit will sit low on the hips yet supporting you. The selected fabrics are luxurious such as Modal, bamboo and wicking fibres to name a few, you pay a little more for the feel of fabric against your skin. SUPAWEAR on the other hand is fun, loud and comfortable. The styling is meant to grab attention especially when it gets exposed over your designer jeans. The vibrant colours and variety of fits will get you excited to get dressed or undressed 🙂
Find 2EROS at http://www.2eros.com
This is one for the “Do you remember?” Files. This is Cocksox from 2010 featuring Tory George. He was in a few of our guides and we have since lost touch but enjoyed working with him.