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NOTE: UNB Tim does consulting work for Candyman Fashion

I have been an underwear aficionado for many, many years. I have been lucky to try many brands that you normally don’t find in the United States. I feel these unknown brands should be brought to the attention of the underwear connoisseur and let them wear and judge for themselves.

I was introduced to a brand called DIM about 12 years ago when I was in Paris. I found them in a nice store near the hotel I was staying in when I was in Paris. The bikini briefs were so comfortable and stylish. They were great to wear for long periods of time, like a flight form Paris to Los Angeles. Dim also made a great underwear in the trunk style.

I know there are lots of great, smaller regional brands  out there that most people don’t know about.

If you have a favorite, not so well known brand, please let us know about it and we can search for it and give a try for ourselves.

I want to start this segment by acknowledging that (hopefully) years down the road. The stigma associated with swim briefs will be extinct. and this post will merely be a record of our archaic social state.  I know that was a little heavy. Let’s face it, swim briefs currently are not socially acceptable in the States.  Americans are fearful of the “banana hammock” style swimmers. It’s not only a damn shame, it’s an epidemic. Which is why I am inspired to write about my first experience wearing my swimmers at the beach.

I remember the experience quite vividly. It was Labor Day weekend and my girlfriend and I went to Zuma Beach to celebrate her birthday.  We got a hotel for the weekend and while I was packing my bag for the trip. My girlfriend encouraged me to bring the slate grey swimmers (swim briefs) I bought from Manus.  As apprehensive as I was to wear them, I decided to bring them along in good faith.  As fate would have it, my girlfriend swindled me into wearing them under my board shorts, aka parachute pants.  Just in case I worked up the nerve to sport them.  When we got to the beach, it was a typical scorching hot California summer day. My black board shorts weren’t making the cut.  Within an hour of being uncomfortable in my board shorts. I decided to make a utilitarian decision and opted for the breathable and unrestricting swim briefs. In lieu of the baggy, rigid, hot, unsupportive board shorts.  Let’s just say that since I’ve made this decision, I haven’t worn board shorts again.  It was crystal clear to me why swim briefs exists, and not just as a cliché laugh to conservative America.  Initially the swimmers felt a little foreign to me. Due to displaying parts of my body that have never been exposed to the public. But that was short lived as the comfort factor set in. Prior to this experience I only ever swam in shorts. So I had no clue how awesome they were to swim in, which is why I refer to swim briefs as “swimmers”.  The revelation was earth shattering.  From then on, it has only made sense to wear swimmers.

As an underwear fanatic. I had always been curious to wear swim briefs. It’s interesting to me why I was so fearful of wearing them in public in the first place.  There are many theories as to why the social stigma surrounding swim briefs exists.  I am not going to bore you with them. But I want to at least want to clarify that there is a derogative association with swim briefs in the States.  Men are afraid that the moment they put on a pair of swimmers. The whole world is going to point and laugh/taunt them. Their picture will be published on all social media outlets.  Not the case.  Now that I wrote it out, it seems a little narcissistic and insane, but it’s the truth; men think like this.  It didn’t take me long to figure out that no one cared about me, let alone what I was wearing.  It could be because I live in LA and everyone is too cool for each other.  It could be because I wasn’t the only person in Malibu wearing swimmers.  It could be because people were too preoccupied enjoying time with their friends and families to worry about my swimmers.  It could also be because no one genuinely really cares. All of my worries were internalized fabricated fears.  I know my experience might not always be the case with wearing swim briefs. There may be an occasion where some Joe Shmo feels it necessary to speak his opinion in public to discourage you from wearing swimmers.  If you think about it. Someone who actually has the time to be concerned with your wardrobe and makes the effort to call you out. They clearly has no respect for individuality. The guy certainly doesn’t have the capacity to know how to act in public.  At any rate, I just want to clearly make the point that after I ripped off my board shorts (as self-absorbed as it may seem). I was a little self conscious and I felt that all eyes were on me. But in reality no one cared and it didn’t take me long to come to this realization.

Since my first experience, I have worn my simmers to beach countless amounts of times.  My collection has expended quite drastically.  One of the pros of having so much swimwear is that it incentivizes me to wear them. I want to look good in them, so I am more motivated to make time in the week to exercise and maintain my body.  Now that I exclusively wear swimmers. The excitement and liberating effect of wearing them is nearly gone. As they seem natural and normal to me.  What has remained is the empowerment of choosing to wear what I want to. Because that’s what I want, and I’m going to do it with confidence.  As a man, it’s empowering to be proud of my manhood, not in a chauvinistic prickish way.  But in a comfortable and modest sense.  Just like how women have the confidence to display their bodies at the beach. Men should be comfortable enough with their bodies to wear more revealing swimwear.  It’s like my girlfriend states, “do you think men would find women attractive at the beach if we wore shorts that went below our knees(?).”  Probably not for most dudes, and it makes sense.  Most guys are programmed to think if women see them in swimmers, they will be considered gay.  But can’t men also assume that at a primal level, wouldn’t a man’s package be of interest to the opposite sex?  Just like women’s breasts and butts are to men?  Just food for thought on the swim brief angle. While I’m on the topic I want to clear up one last stereotype associated with swim briefs.  It is not true to assume that someone who is wearing swim briefs is gay.  I could write a novel about the derogative association of swim briefs and gay men. But I’ll save it for a “Brief Talk” segment I am working on with UNB Tim.  I will say that I think it is true that more gay men have the confidence and choose to wear swim briefs. But there is no direct correlation between being gay and wearing swim briefs.  All men can wear swim briefs.  And they should.

Whether you’re gay, straight, bi, big, small or whatever. As men we need to unify and be proud of our bodies and have the confidence to display it.  Typically in America we are ahead of the times. We drive the current technologies and trends. But we are far behind on this front; especially compared to many other countries.  Maybe I am being optimistic, but every year I see more men wearing swim briefs.  Hopefully it won’t be long before all men agree to wear comfortable, supportive, and fashionable swimwear.

Two weeks ago I attended Magic/Curve/Mrket/Liberty. The first thing I have to say is my camera had issues so I only have what I took on my phone, which wasn’t too much. I didn’t do too many pictures on my camera, but did with Junk UnderJeans. It could be worse that the pictures didn’t come out. I realized this when I got home last week and put the card in my computer and it said “What card?” DOH! Well that’s the bad part lets get to the new part.

I love going to Vegas to see everyone. I got in Vegas on Monday night and let me just say it was not my night. The flight was good but once there, transportation issues. The biggest was witnessing fisticuffs on the bus with a passenger and drive. After this I said I”m done! I went to bed.

Waking up on Tuesday I went to Mrket to see Wood Underwear. They have some great things coming this year. A few things are a bit off so I’ll save it till then but one thing is super soft! They have a very classic look and feel. Which is a great thing and new colors pictured above are out soon.

After Mrket I went to Liberty to see Nasty Pig for a second and Naked. Liberty doesn’t have a lot of men’s underwear but I expect it to grow over the next few years. It’s a really cool show. I saw a ton of shoes I wanted! Liberty and Mrket are both in the Sands Convention Center. So it’s super easy to get to both shows.

Then I headed to Curve. Curve used to be the big show for men’s underwear. Now its only a small representation of the industry. Its now pretty much all women’s lines. It also moved from the Sands/Venetian to the Las Vegas Convention Center. If you have been, the LVCC is MASSIVE. It’s one of the biggest convention centers around. My feet can vouch for that!

I then went to the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. I made a quick “Hey how are you.” trip through the brands. We hosted our meet and greet and had a few brands come. It’s always a good time if 30 people come or if only 3 come. It’s a laid back social activity. Some talk business and others just talk what ever.

The next two days were spent at Magic. The brands that I met with are: 2EROS, Timoteo/Cellblock13, Danny Miami, MyPackage, Marco Marco, Freedom Reigns, Cocksox, Junk UnderJeans, Rounderwear, Baskit, Todd Sanfield, Go Softwear, Andrew Christian, Gregg Homme, 2(X)ist, Jack Adams and Saxx.

We will have a lot more about these brands soon. We don’t want to release information about lines not out yet! But there is some great things coming. So be ready for some great undies!

When I founded UNB I always took a middle of the road approach to the world of undies. I wanted straight guys to read the blog and discover new brands of undies. Also, to embrace how awesome great undies feel while wearing. I didn’t know if this would happen back in 2008.

Flash forward a few years and we had Jon on our site. Jon was one of the biggest underwear lovers I have ever met. He was an average guy who loved great undies. He showed that passion here on UNB for a few years. Due to commitments outside the blog he had to step back. We def miss his point of view.

Now come to present day UNB and we have 5 straight writers. They are from all walks of life. It just sort of happened that we got all these guys in the first of the year. You will see a lot more writing from them in the future and they will being something different to the site! I”m amazed we have so many!

So back to the title, Gay Vs. Straight. I say this because it’s really not a us versus them in the world of underwear. When guys come on the site we talk about when you first discovered underwear. And the gay and straight loves happen around the same time. That time is in the early teens. Our “origin” stories, for a lack of better word are so similar. It’s crazy to me we are so a like.

I have had more in depth conversations about underwear with straight guys lately. Brady on our site, when he first came on, we had a 3 hour conversation about all things undies. It amazes me the passion guys have for undies. The same goes for UndiesRock, we have great conversations.

Instead of being a Vs. each other we need to team up and work together to share share great undies. We nee the market to grow and change social norms in the states. This would include swim briefs, bikinis, thongs and more. Underwear is neither gay or straight and we need to work together to make great undies front and center for all guys!

I would love to hear what you guys think of the gay vs. straight debate

Tyler Rush is a well-known and very well loved gay adult film star. He started out as the hit of the Seattle Pup scene and went on to merge areas such as Cosplay, Bondage, Pups, and so much more into a very successful film career. (Read more about him on the Huffington Post here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matt-baume/tyler-rush-connects-cosplay-rope-bondage-geeks-and-kink_b_7558464.html) When not shooting films he can be found Go-going in Seattle and at various conventions with groups like Bound Jock and more. One thing that anyone who has ever seen him or seen anything he’s been a part of will know and that…is his ass. And how better to display said ASSet than in a jockstrap. I sent Tyler some questions about Jockstraps to get his take on this popular underwear style and here is what he said.

When did you first wearing jockstraps?

2009 Actually

Do you have some favorite brands of jockstraps or assless briefs?

Mr S Leather, Cellblock, Timoteo

Where do you buy most of your underwear/jockstraps?

I can honestly say that the majority of my jocks are from Mr S Leather (@MrSLeather).

Do you consider jocks better than regular briefs/trunks? If so, why?

I think each undie has its time, place and event. A little better, sure, but again, I appreciate briefs for being comfy and giving a comfy layer against denim or other pants.

Do you have a preference between jockstraps and assless briefs?

Jockstraps for sure. Assless briefs are great, but I like having my legs uncovered. The less fabric the better.

What do you look for in a good jock?

A good lift of the butt up, but without any unnecessary skin folds, and a good dick push forward in the pouch.

How often do you wear jockstraps?

If I’m going to an event or going out and about I’ll put on a jockstrap, I honestly only own a few briefs, of which I only wear at family functions or professional job things. Jocks are my preferred underwear of choice. 

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The new Clever line has just been released and you can get 25% off! Also get the same off JOR and WildmanT. This is all at CandymanFashion.com Shop till 3/3/16, Don’t miss out

NOTE: UNB Tim does consulting work for Candymanfashion