Why move away from men’s traditional mainstream underwear?
In general, men’s underwear selection in stores is very limited. Compare the men’s section to the women’s section and guys will be lucky to have even 25% of what women have to choose from. There is a lack of style and fabric selections in the men’s section.
What is Mainstream Underwear?
Mainstream is the conventional or dominant trend. So based on store availability the mainstream underwear choice for men is boxer briefs along with briefs and boxers. That is what you’ll find in most stores for guys. You may find smaller brief cuts that are sport or hip briefs.
What Other Underwear is Available?
Men really have the same selection out there as women. They just have to go to the Internet. There are bikinis, string bikinis, thongs, g-strings, and more. There is varying coverage of all of these styles too.
Reasons to Move Away from Mainstream Underwear
Let’s take a look at some reason why guys should consider moving away from the norm in men’s underwear. Also these points can apply to Mainstream Underwear, because there are better versions out there than what you find in stores.
Better Fitting
I find bikinis and thongs are better fitting to the male body over a lot of the boxer briefs and briefs. They hold the package better even when the pouch isn’t contoured. The pouch cuts of these styles cup the male anatomy so much better. Contour pouches do an even better job. Less rear coverage can lift and define the rear nicer. Don’t have much in the rear then get rid of the saggy underwear rear by wearing a thong. The right cut bikini back can do wonders for the rear too. Sometimes less is more.
Better Comfort
For me having a good pair of supportive underwear is key for comfort. I want little movement with my package. I find bikinis and thongs do a better job than conventional store bought boxer briefs and briefs. Bikinis and thongs provide no restrictions on your thighs. This gives you the feeling of more freedom of movement. Then these styles are a cooler option compared to mainstream underwear especially in warmer weather.
Better Material
There are a lot more material options out there than you find in brick and mortar stores. I personally aim for pairs of underwear that contain some lycra in the fabric. This gives the fabric some cling and stretch, so it can mold to you and hold you in place. You can find fabrics that wick sweat better. There are lighter weight fabrics that will allow you to breathe and keep cool in warmer weather. Another thing is you typically have more color options and print options than you’ll find in a store.
Better Looking
I’m going to argue bikinis and thongs in general are better looking on the male body. Now some of the other styles can be too, but what is available in mainstream stores isn’t that flatter in my opinion. To me, saggy isn’t good looking. As I mentioned a lot of the mainstream underwear doesn’t have the fabrics that kind of mold to the body. You can get the baggy rear look and even in the front. They’re lacking pouches that keep your package under control. A pair of good fitting underwear will flatter much better.
Just Better
Getting away from mainstream underwear is just better. Better fitting, better comfort, better material, along with better looking. Another thing you get with underwear that isn’t mainstream and better fitting is a boost in confidence. It’s really surprising what happens when you pull on a pair of underwear that fits your body well and is a bit sexy. It just gives things a bit of a boost. It’s also fun being able to mix things up a bit too and no one knows what is under those clothes. Why do you think women have such a selection of underwear out there? It’s because they don’t want to wear the same boring underwear day in and day out.
Skip the Mainstream Men’s Underwear
Those are some of my thoughts on why you should skip the mainstream men’s underwear. Guys need to put more thought into what underwear they wear. Finding underwear that is comfortable, supportive, fits your body well can make quite a difference. Let’s stop with the frumpy men’s underwear!
Ways to Support The Bottom Drawer by Shopping
Great topic, Nate. I very rarely look at the underwear in the shopping centres because I know that the choice will be limited to boring boxers, long trunks or very conservative briefs/slips. Can’t remember when I last saw a string bikini, thong or g-string in a high street store or supermarket. I’m sure if they became available to buy over the counter, more guys could be tempted to ditch the boxers etc for something a bit more daring, or perhaps their wives and girlfriends would pick up a cheeky thong in the hope that their man will look like a hen night stripper when he drops his trousers.
It’s been a long white since I’ve seen a string bikini in the store. Walmart is the last place locally I’ve come across one and that was probably 5 years ago. Been even longer for thongs for guys in a store. Like you, I rarely check the men’s underwear sections in stores anymore.
Great Article! I agree 100%. I am almost 60, and I never considered myself mainstream underwear guy except for the reason there was nothing else out there when I was a kid or a young adult. I hated briefs, forget about boxers or long trunks and then there were boxer briefs. Those were better, but I still had issues with them, they would bunch up between your legs and made you feel like you were wearing a diaper. Hated it!
But now is a whole new story. The internet! You can find anything! I was always a bikini guy, when I could find them. There was more freedom of movement in legs, less bulky and better material but not perfect. Over the passed couple years I have lost 75lbs, now 160, which means there are even more choices to pick from. With the design of the contour pouches, that was a game changer and I’m in heaven. I definitely like a looser fitting pouch, for freedom of movement, natural hang position and no more tight squashed in feeling. For me now, less is more. A string bikini, thong, g-string or nice jock is where it’s at and that’s all I have now. I am obsessed with finding the perfect pair and my wife just thinks I’m insane. I just like to be comfortable in the underwear I wear.
I purchase all of my underwear online since I primarily wear thongs. I do not remember the last time I bought underwear in a store or even looked. I thoroughly agree with your comments about thongs looking, feeling and fitting better. My mood is more upbeat, energetic and confident when I am wearing a thong.
Totally agree Nate, maybe a better question would be “why would you stay with traditional underwear”?
I have a massive collection of underwear, but my Top Drawer get the most use, its chook full of skimpy thongs and g strings and now we’re moving into summer (in Australia) its getting warmer and I can’t bear to wear my bikinis (which are the largest briefs I own)
I’ve just received some thongs and briefs from DUGG.com..au, Cut4Men thongs and one brief as well as a Doreanse thong with a zip in the front, look great online, but its massively too big (even as a thong), so its going straight into the bin.
I can’t tell you when I last bought undies in store, maybe about 20 years ago Myer had a selection of Elle Macpherson guys undies, that I really liked, but unfortunately don’t stock any more.
These days, I buy everything online, I get to choose the style, size, transparency, its way better, I don’t even understand why clothes stores even stock gawd almighty bloomers any more.
I completely agree with all of those, better material, better fit ,better style options, and even better quality then what the main stream options are. I wish I would have switched sooner. Pretty rare if I wear boxer briefs , bikinis ,thongs and jocks are my go-to now. I wish that more physical stores carried them , it would make going to the store a better time! The last time I bought a thong at physical store, sadly an adult store. I told her women are so lucky they have more options at the store and she had to agree.
Well said! No boxers in my drawer!
I was in a Kohl’s recently, I couldn’t find their line of bikini underwear in the store. They did have a few Nike or Addidas briefs on the shelf. Walmart, Target were the same – mostly boxer briefs with a few briefs – nothing skimpier than that. Even the last time I was in the Jockey store, they didn’t have many briefs (this was a year or more ago). Men do have better choices, but big box stores do not carry them – it’s not for a lack of space. Most boxer briefs do not provide good support, so why not try something that does – at the very least a good brief (but honestly the ones at the big box store – aren’t great). Women have whole stores of nothing but underwear – men get a few shelves in a store. Why shouldn’t men get the same privilege?? There are times I feel I wasted years wearing boxer briefs instead of better underwear. Even missed out on brands because I didn’t think I looked like the models. So, go for it – try the bikini, the thong, the jock – enjoy life – enjoy your underwear. Review the size chart and enjoy your choices.
Kohl’s used to carry a brand of mens bikinis called Equipo. I bought some years ago and they were pretty comfortable, although the pouches were a little small. I had both the Equipo bikinis and low rise briefs. I remember the packages with the bikini briefs in the store were always opened and had been raided. I guess guys were to shy to carry them to checkout, so they stole them out of the boxes lol. Then, I was in our local Kohl’s a couple years ago before they closed and they weren’t carrying anything fun or skimpy at that point. It was disappointing. This was about the time I noticed Walmart quit carrying any bikini styles.
Great post. I remember thongs & bikinis being mainstream when I was a kid. Every store had multiple brands of them in all sorts of colors. A lot of stores didn’t even have boxer briefs. The shift to them was acute though, and in my mid to late teens they went from being widely available to non existent.
To this day it is rare to find anything other than boxer briefs or boxers in store (even briefs are somewhat rare). It is a bummer too as the real shopping experience is far superior to web browsing. Truth is media and presentation play a big role in public perception and there was a big pop culture shift. The oversaturation of women in bikinis used in advertising/media caused a stigma where anything that showed thigh was feminine. Wearing something that wasn’t sexually dimorphic to “women’s wear” meant that you were trying to be one…
The one thing I miss with online shopping is that the items have to be purchased based on a photo, and I’m not able to inspect the item. Occasionally this results in an unsuitable item being purchased since I was not able to see some design detail that I am not keen on. Other times I have purchased items that fail quality control in some way, with them being junked as with the high return costs an exchange is not worth it. Now I would modify an unsuitable garment if I can, but in the early days I guess I wasted quite a bit of money trying different brands. I can understand why some people would be put off.
That said, I really do not have any choice here with underwear and swimwear purchases having to made online. That’s not the case with my partner, and she still gets all her underwear and swimwear from stores. She has seen the meagre offerings that these stores offer men, so quite accepts me purchasing mine online.
With online shopping, I can get good quality and good fitting underwear in styles that I like since they also tend to be smaller and cooler. It would be getting on for 15 years since I last purchased underwear from a chain store. I started online shopping about 10 years ago as I had let the current stock wear out hoping the chain stores would restock with the styles that they used to have. It wasn’t to be unfortunately.