Hello everyone. My name is JP and I am the newest contributor to UNB. I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself.  I’m 31, a bit of a geek and I live in our fine nation’s capital with my husband. I’ve been a reader of UNB for about two years after stumbling onto the site looking for a review of 2(x)ist. Recently, while weathering hurricane Sandy, I decided to take a chance and click the “join UNB” link. The rest is history as they say and here I sit penning my introduction and preparing to share my love of men’s underwear with the denizens of the Internets.

Unlike John and Brandon’s introduction, I’m not really sure I have a genesis story to share about how I got interested in underwear. Maybe it is because, as Brandon referred to it, “…. the very organic attraction of gay men to designer underwear.” but I remember being interested in underwear even before I could identify as gay (however, maybe there was another reason I was always so interested in the Jockey section of the J.C. Penny big book).

Even as a preteen, I remember being at what passed for a supercenter in the late 80’s and going to the men’s underwear section trying to figure out how I could buy a pair of Spalding Briefs (they had mesh panels if I remember correctly) without raising questions from my mother. Once I was in high school and had my own car, I started to build my collection. There was something extremely exciting about wearing a pair of Hilfiger or Calvin Klein boxer briefs under my school uniform and knowing that unbeknownst to the rest of my classmates, I was wearing an expression of my individuality.

During my college years, I continued to grow my collection however I was relegated to the more traditional department store staples that were readily available in North Eastern Ohio (and one or two online purchases from International Jock).  It was not really until I moved to DC that the style and brands of my collection started to diversify. The city offers both a much wider selection of high-end department stores and smaller boutique-like stores with a great selection. Also, living in an urban environment lends itself well to mail-order shopping. My collection now includes almost all styles, except maybe bikinis/thongs.

With such a vast collection, I’ve developed many opinions and look forward to sharing my feedback on my favorite styles and any new pairs I add to my underwear drawer. I hope you find it fun and informative and maybe it’ll help you become a wiser underwear fan.

This past weekend we shot the UNB Holiday Guide. It had to have been our largest guide yet. We had over 80 pairs, 3 models and some great sponsors. The picture above is the three models – Kyle, Cody and Adam. They were so much fun to work with, and we definitely will be using them again. It was a very long day, it started for me at 10 am finishing up the last details, tracking down packages and stressing. Which followed by checking in the room, setting up and getting everything started. The shoot started around 3:30 PM and ended about 8:15 PM. Way longer then I had expected. I will say all three models kept me laughing through out the shoot. Cody you have seen in our Swimwear Guide and he’s back for the Holiday Guide. Adam has the boy next door look,  great sense of humor and looks great all kinds of undies. Kyle seemed very serious at first but really enjoyed the shoot and a spoiler he looks great in a singlet.

The picture below is the aftermath of the shoot. There were 80 pairs of underwear laying around the room. I kept saying it looked like we partied with Guns and Roses! But we were worn out! Let me know which model you want to see again soon! There are two people I have to thank, the first is Brian the photographer and send is Matt From Designer Drawers. He found us Kyle and Adam! The guide will be out on Nov 23rd! So stay tuned, I am picking the pics tonight. It may sound like a fun job but it’s HARD to pic the best pic!

Problem: How does an underwear conscious straight guy in college not only feed his desires for the finest quality underwear available while living on a budget?

Solution: To save money buying underwear, one must be patient and buy clearance undies, take advantage of designer sales, and buying from wholesale department stores when possible.

To love high quality, super fashionable underwear while living on an very tight and almost miniscule college budget is a very difficult scenario with which to be faced. Unfortunately, I am currently faced with these budget constraints; however, I still find a way to buy the undies that I like by never overspending on a given pair. I would estimate that most guys waffle between buying new undies or some other essential product a few times throughout the year. Unfortunately, this is a harsh reality of the real world, but a tight budget should never deter any man from buying the undies that he desires. Through being a very patient shopper and having the savvy to know when sales are throughout the year will yield major savings on underwear. In the following paragraphs, I outline a few techniques which I use to ensure that I am always wearing high-grade undies while still being able to pay my rent.

Chances are that if you are a frequent visitor of the Underwear News Briefs website, you know that wearing the best underwear is not a cheap proposition. You can quickly find yourself spending upwards of $100 dollars on only few pairs of underwear. Doing this while living on a college budget is nearly impossible so you must be patient and wait for products to reach the clearance rack. By doing this I have purchased a great deal of my favorite briefs for a fraction of their original price. Recently, I purchased one pair of Andrew Christian ‘show it’ low no show briefs and one pair of C-IN2 low no show briefs for $12 each on clearance from nordstrom.com. Which  is 50% off of the original price. There are pitfalls to this money saving strategy such as a very limited selection of colors and sizes.

Online sites keep our top drawers fresh and diverse with new undies. Being an underwear junkie, I look forward to wandering various online retailers of undies and find new styles and cuts from my favorite designers. Large semi annual sales featuring brands like 2(x)ist and Calvin Klein are the times where I try to buy new underwear. For instance, during one of 2(x)ist’s 25% off all their products’ sales over the summer, I purchased three pair of their touch no show pouch briefs for $18 each. I have also found equal savings during CK’s 25% all products’ sales and most recently picked up two X micro limited edition hip briefs for $18 per pair. I understand that resisting the urge to purchase just released undies is incredibly tough, but through waiting for the big designer sales throughout the year, you will be able to match my savings.

Discount and wholesale department stores such as TJMaxx or Marshalls sometimes carry great undies from Calvin Klein, 2xist, Hugo Boss, and and Diesel, but it is usually tough to find the perfect pair since these stores feature closeout and clearance items from designer’s factories. For example, I am a thin guy and I wear size small underwear. As a result, I usually don’t find the undies that I am looking to buy. Even though this is very frustrating, you must not let this stop you from checking these stores often because each week they receive new shipments of products. As a result, you will eventually find undies that suit your preferences at a price which is very modest for designer underwear. In the past, I have purchased brand new CK X Cotton and X Micro hip briefs at TJMaxx for $7 per pair! This is less than a third of the price that designers and other retailers charge. Granted this does not happen often, but underwear scores at wholesale stores are very exciting. When you don’t have much money to dedicate to buying undies, finding cheap briefs in a TJMaxx or Marshalls store makes for a wonderful day.

Wearing the best underwear available is not something that is always super affordable, but it should be a right for all guys. As underwear aficionados, we understand and deal with this. There are ways to do it affordably. As long as you the consumer know what you are buying and when to buy undies, you will save a large amount of money. Just make more intelligent purchasing decisions. Don’t sacrifice underwear quality because of your budget.

The Holiday Season is coming up. We want you to know we are going to be your underwear sales central. We will run Sales Briefs every day starting the week of Black Friday. We will add extra sales info that is either a spontaneous flash sale or sales ending on our Sales Tumblr. So make sure you check it out daily.

The annual UNB Holiday Guide will be out on Black Friday. We are shooting it today! It’s going to be the biggest guide we have ever done. We will be tweeting and sending pics out via twitter and instragram. So make sure you stay on top of it! You will see a preview of our models and undies!